Picking Only a Few Wineries in Napa

(let’s see how far key words will get me)

DAY FOUR

So the cool thing to do in Napa Valley is hiring a private driver. They drive you to wherever you want to go while making recommendations and giving tips. I was a little concerned because I didn’t want a stranger sitting with us the whole time or staring at us from the corner of the winery. That is not at all how it works. They drive you there and then sit in the car in the parking lot. Take your time. They get paid by the hour! We booked ours for 5.5 hours and ended up using 7. Besides, our driver was so cool (despite ordering a half-pound of artichoke hearts for lunch) I wouldn’t have minded her joining us.

The first stop is our only long tour. Inglenook Winery. The rest are all just on-site tastings. We walk in and they hand us a glass of wine. It’s going to be a good day. This place has a lot of history so they tell us all of that. They made one of the 12 best wines of the century. Their wines are certified organic. They explained that if you don’t kill the bugs when birds swoop down they just eat the bugs. If you use pesticides to kill the bugs then the birds swoop down and eat your fruit. Also, the director Francis Ford Coppola owns this winery. I know he has bottles with his name on them all over, but this is his higher-end brand. After the history, we go for a walk among the grapes.

After seeing the grapes (and eating some), we ventured inside to see the endless barrels and their ‘Library Wines’. The Library Wines are old vintages. He takes us into a room full of the Library Wines (which aren’t for sale or tastable) and we sit down for our tasting. There are already cheese plates waiting for us with pairing instructions for the wines. There were also some tasty almonds. We drink up and head out after tasting what would be our most expensive wine of the day. Rubicon. Retail $210 a bottle and 1 of my 3 top wines from the day. They take the best fruit of 3 different kinds of grapes and blend them. I used to think blends were cheap. I was wrong. Blends can be the best wines a winery offers.

In preparation for this trip, you already know that I read a book about wine drinking. We also watched the movie Bottle Shock. (SPOILER ALERT). It’s about the Paris Tasting. This was an event that put Napa winemaking on the map. At the time, pretty much everyone on Earth just accepted that all of the best wines came from France. There was a blind taste test in France by French judges and guess what. They picked a Napa Valley Chardonnay as the best overall wine. The head winemaker of the winery (Chateau Montilina) now owns his own winery. His name is Mike Grgrich.

We head to the Grgrich Hills winery to get our hands on that chardonnay (remember it’s not the same winery but it’s the same guy). Since Mike is 95 years old he probably has taught his staff everything he knows. I don’t think he’s out there stomping the grapes himself. Well, I guess that’s our job. They had a grape stomp station while Mike himself was on-site signing autographs. A grape stomp is where they trick you into free labor (just kidding they obviously don’t use your gross foot grapes). They also give you a white shirt that you step on to see your purple footprints.

The wines are of course phenomenal. Probably the best stop on our trip. The chardonnay is so good we aren't discussing whether or not to buy a bottle. We are discussing how many bottles to buy. I guess I brought up Unoaked Chardonnay on Day Two but didn’t tell you about it. Chardonnay in your basic liquor store is usually oak-aged. This means it goes through Malolactic Fermentation. This means it tastes like alcoholic melted butter. This might sound good to you, but it is not for me. Chardonnay aged in stainless steel tanks allows it to taste bright and citrusy. Whenever we drink chardonnay that’s what we’re talking about. This place also had Red Zinfandel that finished as 1 of my 3 favorite wines from the day. It was so peppery I loved it. I talked to the guy about the Zinfandel for like an hour. "Bro, this is so peppery." "I know, bro. Imagine it with a steak on the grill." I probably could have gone to a BBQ at this guy’s house if I brought a bottle of this. I was thinking about a cigar with it, but it’s so spicy I feel like my mouth would explode at the combo.

Now, we need somewhere to go to lunch. I got it! How about a winery? We go to V Sattui winery and deli. You had me at the winery. Oh and deli. We buy ravioli, horseradish havarti, brie, and Thai noodle salad by the pound (this is where our driver bought a half-pound of artichoke hearts. Ew.) I got a meatball sub for good measure. We sit down to eat and have nothing to drink. Freaking amateurs. I run back in and grab a bottle of their Sauvignon Blanc since it’s been a crowd-pleaser so far. As I’m about to check out the manager tells all cashiers to stop taking transactions for the time being, then spends ten minutes on the phone. I sigh as loudly as I can as often as I can for the next ten minutes (I get to about 800). Then bring the bottle out. As far as consumables go, there are no survivors.

Now we go back in because it is a winery after all, and we haven’t gotten our tasting. I don’t need a Sauvignon Blanc. I tried that one. This tasting lets you pick your wines from a list. It’s not like the first two that were prepackaged. My wife gets the assist by letting the guy know that we are splitting a tasting, but I like reds and she doesn’t. So he asks what I like and I hit him with some vocab words. He tells my wife to pick whatever she wants and not to worry about me. He won’t charge me for my tasting as long as he gets to pick the wines. This is so very extra that by the end of this my Mother-in-Law and I both tipped him. I had to put up with him sniffing all the glasses, but I accept the stipulations. After I get the final wine of my top 3 for the day, (a 75% Cabernet) he brings out a 133 year old brandy. He lets every one sniff out of the bottle (this guy is really into sniffing) and then POURS ME A SIP. Oh, thank you vocab. I accept all envy from my group and cherish each molecule. I don’t share. Obviously.

We don't know what we're doing next, but we know we want to go to this medieval castle winery last. We need one more winery in between. Our driver recommends Flora Springs. The host at Flora Springs gives us little breadsticks and explains how the owners are obsessed with Halloween. A lot of their bottle art makes this very apparent. I keep talking about percentages and varietals. Let me explain why. Each state is different, but in California, you only have to use 75% of a varietal to call the wine by the name of that varietal. For example, Cabernet Sauvignon is typically the driest wine and scares a lot of people off unless you’re eating it with a steak. Well, if you're looking at a Cabernet sauvignon from California there’s a good chance it’s only 75% Cabernet sauvignon and they shoved in some other varietals with a sweeter fruitier flavor. That’s why I keep asking hosts if they use 100% varietals. The wine here is delicious and she lets us try their flagship wine (another blend similar to Rubicon). That wasn’t on the tasting menu! #tipped

Now it’s time for the medieval castle with an included moat. Yes, moat. Castillo de Amarillo. The owner here studied winemaking and medieval architecture at college. What a combo. The castle has an entrance fee that includes a free tasting. That works for me. We get led down into the tasting room and begin. We stick to the menu and drink what they put in front of us. I’m definitely ready for dinner at this point. I’ve been fantasizing about it for a while.

We head outside to find our driver, but I get distracted by the wildlife. There are all kinds of fowl running around in the yard. Peacocks, chickens, and ......emus. I always have found emus to be suspicious. They just always look like they’re up to something. I have to routinely visit the one in Busch Gardens Tampa just to make sure he hasn’t accomplished his evil plan yet. We head home to get ready for dinner.

Dinner is at one of those farm-to-table restaurants, but in this case, the people who own the restaurant also own the farm. It’s all streamlined. We're thinking about wine for dinner, but I don’t know if I can do another glass. So we get a bottle instead. Thank goodness we had a reservation because the line was out the door. We start with the world's most incredible mac and cheese. The kind of mac and cheese that makes you think, "Why do I eat foods that aren't mac and cheese?" My wife gets the daily special of meatloaf wrapped in bacon and I get the obvious choice of ribs. My 3 favorite foods are 1.Cheese 2. Meat 3. Ribs. After I finish mine, my wife tags me in on hers. The meatloaf is great, but it needs a helping hand. Trying not to embarrass myself I whisper to the waitress that I would like ketchup. I was waiting for the chef to come back and smack me but he didn’t. They came back with ketchup in a little sauce dish (how fancy) and I tried to apologize explaining that I'm originally from Pittsburgh. I’m happy to report that it was Heinz ketchup.

Well I'm full of so many different things. Food, alcohol, memories, and ..... terror? Yes the wine part of the journey is over. Next I have to get on a hot air balloon. Please send help.