California Day 3

California Day Three

Today took us some time to get situated in our new hotel. It was so incredibly fancy that no one really wanted to leave. It took a trip to Downtown Napa to get me motivated. We stop at the Oxbow market which is like a giant gourmet food court. I head straight to C Casa because I'm not not getting tacos. I order 3. Buffalo, duck, and lamb. My SIster-in-Law asks if I was aware of how big they actually are. I remind her that I can handle 3 measly tacos. I cannot handle these three tacos. They look like 3 medium pizzas, but it’s too late now. I crush them and walk around downtown with a food baby belly.

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Downtown Napa is full of Tasting Rooms. It’s for the wineries that are a pain to drive to. They buy a storefront and you can try the wines just like if you were in their winery. That's today. Tomorrow is the wineries.

So today is a great day to drink wine and to start practicing asking the right questions. Unlike my bakery story from day two where my only reward is information. Today my goal is extra wine. The information we got says it is standard to tip if the host goes out of his or her way to give you a spectacular experience (aka extra wine). So basically if they risk their job to pour you an extra ounce you can slip them a little something. Understood.

Getting the extra pours is all about asking the right questions. We started with "Can we split a tasting?" Tastings are 1oz pours of each wine on the list. Are they actually going to measure out .5oz after years of practice pouring 1oz? No. Every tasting we split they gave us each the standard pour. Basically half off the whole time. The only reason it wasn’t half off the entire time was that I was too stubborn to share my wine at first. I didn’t want to give up any wine! But I eventually caved and saw what my wife was trying to do.

The next questions are a series of things only people serious about wine (not me) would know. I purchased "Wine. All. The. Time." Before this trip and focused on vocab more than anything. Also as we went along I picked up things that the pourers were telling us and I turned those into questions. As usual, my wife was embarrassed right up until she was jealous.

Do you use 100% varietals? Does your chardonnay go through malolactic fermentation? Which recent vintage do you believe was your strongest?

These often led to heavier pours or even extra wines. Something as simple as letting the pourer know that you enjoy reds when the rest of your party likes whites might lead to, "Oh if you like reds I got something you'll love." #morewine

Our first stop is the Mark Herold tasting room. A great first stop because our host was unbelievably friendly and informative. She began circling the places we should go on our map. She also gave the rare anti-recommendation by crossing off places we shouldn’t go. What a lifesaver! The Sauvignon Blanc was so good we ended up going home with a bottle. Which meant I had to carry a bottle of wine around the rest of the day. At least I'll get to drink some (I didn’t get any)! Extra report: Everyone got to try the Rose' and Chardonnay here. Both were off-menu items. The Rose' just because, and the chardonnay because we were discussing malolactic fermentation.

The Krupp Brothers tasting room was next door. They apparently have so many acres, that they started growing random varietals (types of grapes) just for mixing and experimentation. They also sell 95% of their grapes to other winemakers. They only keep the best 5% of each varietal. If you ever see a wine marked "StageCoach Vineyards" it’s their grapes, but not their wine. The host showing us the article written about himself was strange, but he said we can play any music we want on his Alexa! He ended up being extremely kind and funny. It’s not his fault they just wrote an article about him in the Napa Magazine! His tasting came with 3 big reds that scared everyone off, so I had to chug those at the end. #nocomplaints. Extra Report: He gave everyone 2 extra big reds! Still scary.

When it comes to traveling decisions I am typically ignored due to my lack of any sort of sense of direction. If I am somewhere where I can’t see my apartment I need GPS to get back to it. I don’t care how long I've been working the same job. I still use Waze to get me there. Anyway, I saw this huge stone building and look for it on the map. Apparently, it is Stone Brewing and it is just gorgeous. I recommend we go there, get ignored by everyone, and move on with my life. About 4 minutes later every else notices the building (it’s too late we missed the turn) and wishes we would have gone there. If only someone had mentioned that sooner! Totally a blessing in disguise anyway. Could you imagine drinking wine, wine, beer, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine? Wait, yes I could. I love Stone Brewing!

The next stop on the wine list is Dick Vermeil’s. This is the same guy who coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their Super Bowl in 1999. This was a place where we sat on sofas and waited for service. Everywhere else we were at high tops where the pourer stayed with us the whole time. This was the first place where we weren’t the only ones there. We saw that they had a model of the Lombardi trophy. We spent the rest of the time trying to convince people that this was the real trophy and it was on a tour of past winning coaches. Extra wine report: NONE.

John Anthony (or Marc Anthony as I kept calling it) is known for their sparkling wines. This a right before dinner stop, so I'm at my best. By my best I mean hangry, buzzed, and my taste buds can’t store any more information. I drank sparkling wine which I hear is great for cleansing the palate. Eventually, I teleported to Ca Momi for dinner. (It’s when you're sober enough to remember where you went, but not sober enough to remember how you got there.)

Ca Momi is an authentic Italian restaurant. So Italian they inform you that additions, subtractions, or alterations of their menu items will offend their sweet old mothers. They would not let me add sausage to the gnocchi (Wife pronunciation: No-key. Husband pronunciation: Knock-ee). I get the oxtail. I’ve never had that but it was good with a lot of meat. I had a Peroni (authentic Italian beer) which was just enough to give me that combination hangover I was looking for from Stone brewing.

After a long hard day of drinking wine nonstop, it is time to relax in the hot tub with a glass of wine. I don’t stay in too long simply because I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow. Goodnight!