March 31, 2007

• Napa Weekend Getaway

  Ahhh, vacation feels so good.  Z-Man and I are in Napa Valley, at the River Terrace Inn.  Pictures will follow.  Highlights here.

  Thursday:  Arrival.  Spent an hour by the pool at the hotel.  Ahhh, warm and sunny.  I got some sun.  This evening, we went to La Toque for dinner.  This was a score by Z-Man.  His pal had a gift certificate for the restaurant, wine pairing included.  Wow.  Much like Michael Mina, it was a tasting-based menu, though not with the profligacy evinced at MM.  Amazing pairings, and a great sommelier who pointed us to local wineries for our Saturday excursion. 

  Friday:  COPIA.  An underrated gem that I'm going to take 2R to when he visits California at the end of April.  Z-Man was enchanted, as was I.  We had a good Wine Tasting 101 class, but my favorite event was a wine blending class.  We used traditional Bordeaux varietals, Sauv Blanc, Merlot, Cab Franc, Malbec, and Petite Verdot.  We got to make our own percentage blend from these single varietals, and not only that, but we had a whole bottle made of our blend, we corked it with a corking machine, and then even wrapped the top in foil in another slightly scary machine.  Dinner was Ristorante Allegria. 

  Saturday:  We actually went to wineries.  We started at Frog's Leap, then Cliff Lede, Darioush, Chandon and the restaurant therein, and, by far the best experience yet, we had a tour of Hendry winery, a very small winery that used to sell to local vintiners, who decided to do his own thing.  The tour was led by George Hendry himself, the elder owner (his nephew is the next generation).  It was a small affair, and had been reccommended to us by the Sommelier at La Toque.  Mr Hendry is a physicist by training, vintiner/chemist by necessity.  He was hilarious and no-nonsense and reminded me of a beloved but difficult college professor.  It was a very unique experience, largely because he didn't retread wine making, but gave his opinion and insight into his personal experiences making wine, the heartbreak and the challenge.  2R will get along with him splendidly...

  More later.  Tonight, we go to Tra Vigne for supper.

  • 9:27 pm
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