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Hello everyone! As I am sure most of you know, we (Annie and I) are in Napa this week. We wanted to start posting more of the images and experiences we have while traveling, so here goes!

TUESDAY - was our first full day in the California wine country and we started early (we arrived at about 1 AM from the airport) by rising at 9 AM and heading off for breakfast at First Squeeze Cafe in Napa. They have an excellent menu of breakfast selections ranging from light fruit salads made with locally grown fruit to exotic Mexican specialties (many of which also feature a predominance of local produce). They also specialize in fresh (like they did it right in front of us) squeezed juices, mixed juice concoctions and smoothies. I had orange juice (I know, real adventurous) and Annie tried a carrot/ginger/apple mix. Rabbit gruel if you ask me... (Annie swears it was delicious...)

On our way back to the car we found a monument that commemorated the invention of the phonograph, right here in Napa! We took a shot of the monument to put up in the studio.

After breakfast it was off to our first Napa central vineyard:
Artesa Vineyard is owned by a Spanish family with more than 18 generations of wine makers. They own vineyards all over the world and are the second oldest wine producing family in the world. The museum housed many ancient (1600's) museum pieces brought over from their private vineyards in Spain. The main building is built into the hillside, allowing it to blend into the landscape. From the road, you can not even tell that a three story, 100,000 square foot structure exists! It is an architectural and structural marvel, and was designed by a Spanish architect that the family has employed in the construction of several other wineries owned by the family.
This is the primary bottling facility at Artesa. It has the capability of running up to 70 bottles per minute through the line, filling, corking, foiling and precisely labeling each. The bottles are hand inspected and repacked into the same boxes the empty bottles arrived in. Though the machine can handle 70 bottles per minute, the people often can't, so it is run at 50 BPM to avoid "Laverne and Shirley" incidents.
Artesa has an excellent tasting room and offers full tours of the facility. Though they were not harvesting or actively working on the grapes at the time we were there, the factory was still doing a great deal of preparation and bottling. They also serve as the North American hub for the family vineyards in Spain, so their shipping department is constantly busy. Annie and I took time out from tasting to sit and enjoy the open air atrium in the middle of the Visitor Center. Annie of course went directly for the book rack, while I soaked up the Napa sun. The tour itself was both informative and entertaining. The tasting was enjoyable, but most of the wines are very traditional (read bitter), so we did not find anything we HAD to have.
After the grapes have been picked and stemmed (or not for some varieties), they are placed into HUGE (try 10,000 gallons each) Stainless Steel fermentation tanks for the controlled fermentation process. Red and white wines are carefully temperature controlled throughout this process to ensure the optimal development of the juice. Progress is constantly monitored.
Next, the wines are placed into Oak casks for between 12 and 14 months on average. Here, the tanins are mellowed and the wine takes on the character of the Oak barrels in which it is aged. Artesa uses 110, 55 and 25 gallon barrels, and has nearly $5 million invested in Oak at any given time. They can only be used for three years, then are discarded or sold to other wineries for refurbishing and reuse. Artesa still uses about 25% French Oak to achieve the traditional character of the wines they produce. Annual production for the Artesa winery is about 110,000 cases annually, but that number is growing steadily. The vineyard is capable of producing an estimated 250,000 cases at capacity. The cask room is filled with the lilting sounds of the Gregorian Monks. Piped into every winery the family owns, including their first winery back in the 1700's, which was built next to a monastery, the music is part of the wine.
And of course, we all know that wine is mostly about the grapes. MANY varieties of grape are grown in the Napa Valley, and throughout California and the rest of the US as well, but the land around Napa is particularly fine for this fickle fruit. Sour and often bitter to the point of a hard pucker when picked from the vine. These little globes of happiness mature into some of the most celebrated nectar on the planet. Seeing them lined up in endless rows as we drive by on the road is a spectacle. One of the most labor intensive and complex plants to plant and cultivate, vineyards are geometrically precise and carefully oriented for elemental exposure and water control. Drip irrigation is the process of choice for most vineyards.
While our stay at Artesa was nice. There are many fantastic wineries to visit in the Napa area alone. We went to Clos Du Val, Monticello Vineyards and Hagafen Vineyards (which produces the only certified Kosher wine in the region, a specialty that has earned it a special place in White House State dinners with delegations from Israel). Hagafen in particular had a fantastic variety of white wines that we relished.
After a hard day of vineyard hopping, we headed into Napa itself for some shopping and, of course, food. Our first stop, Bounty Hunter Rare Wine and Provisions, was a bit of a letdown in the shopping department as their web site touted them as having a wide array of cellar development accessories... Mostly, they had a FANTASTIC collection of VERY expensive wines. We moved on to Anette's Chocolate Factory for some EXCELLENT chocolates (and some interesting brittles, including beer and Chardonay), topped off by home made ice cream (how can one resist these temptations? No, I am serious. How can it be done? Pants are expensive...).

We walked about in Napa for about an hour or so before heading off to Angele Restaurant & Bar for dinner. This is a French style restaurant on the river front (no, I am not certain which one) that serves a wonderful array of gourmet meals, at an average price of about $25 per person with a glass of wine. The staff is very helpfull and friendly and Annie and I left the table stuffed and happy. Then back to the hotel for an early night turn in preparation for tomorrow!
WEDNESDAY - OK, so I kinda got busted for staying up too late last night making our log entry. Too much text she said... So, this morning, we ate in the hotel (mmmmm.... cereal). We then went to Vallargas Market and picked up nummies for a picnic at Rutherford Hill Winery. Triple Cream Brie, Pugliese bread, Greek and Italian olives, local crackers, Genoa salami, Provalone, muffaletta olive spread, champagne grapes and an excellent bottle of Rutherford Hill Petite Verdot 2003. We took our lunch under the olive grove at Rutherford before embarking on a wonderful tour that included the Rutherford caves (these are DARK, so sorry about the grainy images).

After Rutherford Hill, we visited Mumm Napa and took our time strolling through the exceptional photographic print exhibits, currently featuring the Ansel Adams Museum Collection (loaned by the son of Adams himself, these prints are 75 that Ansel personally selected as representative of his life's work and were intended for display only, never for sale). Robert Turner also had an amazing display of large format, full color, work (printed on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper) from around the country. The contrast of the classic B&W Adams prints alongside the modern Turner exhibits was very powerful. Turner uses bright, extreme saturation colors in his photographs. Annie had me shoot the placards of the images she liked because they told where the images were taken, so now she knows where to take me to shoot similar work. I AM her point and shoot camera... 8-) The tour of this 100% Napa based sparkling wine vintner was very informative. Did you know that, in America, it is legal to say you are producing Champagne, while the rest of the world is required to utilize an alternative term unless the wine is actually produced using fruit from and bottled in the Champagne region of France. This little feat was accomplished because, when the treaty was signed by the other wine producing nations, America was in the midst of Prohibition, so we did not bother to go the summit at which the treaty was signed... Most reputable vineyards abide by the treaty anyway, calling our effervescent wines "sparkling".

Back in Napa, we visited J&B Wine Store where we tasted some yummy ice wines and a white port! I did not even know there was such a thing as a white port. Tastes just like a regular port, but white, with slightly less bitter after taste and body. We walked about Napa for a bit, then headed to Uba Tratoria for Italian dining and jazz. The band was very good and, when they heard Annie was a singer, asked her to go up and sing Stardust with them. It was, of course, well received by the crowd. Lastly, we went to Target (we need one of these in Anchorage) to shop clothes and sundries. In all, a very full, and fruitful, day.
THURSDAY - Today we spent the day tooling around Saint Helena, about 45 minutes from Fairfield and 20 minutes or so from Napa. We began the day by experiencing our first California traffic jam... After about five minutes of that I reprogrammed our navigation system to keep us off of the highways and Garmina (that is what we call the lady who lives inside our Garmin GPS who knows where everything in the country is located) took us on a very nice tour of the back country roads around here. They are twisty and hilly, but altogether a HUGE improvement over slogging along on the five lane... We saw lots of small farms and family vineyards, little off the beaten path towns, some beautiful gates and gazed at the beauty around us.

Once in Saint Helena, we stopped at V. Sattui Winery and had a wonderful time tasting their exceptional selection of vineyard grown selections. This winery is one of the only, if not THE only, producer in the Napa Valley that is able to sell their entire production directly from the winery itself. You can not get it unless you come to them (although, once you have done that, they will put you on their mailing list and you can do direct mail with them). They also have a HUGE deli attached to their tasting room (featured recently on the Food Network's $40 a Day with Rachel Ray) that features a broad selection of fine cheeses, olives, breads, etc... I am sure most of you know where I am going with this... PICNIC! We have been having such a great time doing the picnic thing here! V. Sattui only allows picnicking if you purchase wine or your food from their deli, so everyone there was interested in the winery, which made for a relaxed and fun atmosphere. V. Sattui was BUSY though (probably 200 people were there while we visited). In all, a fine selection of top quality wines from one of the most respected wineries in the Valley.

Next we took a detour to Taylor's Refresher, a drive-in burger joint in St. Helena proper We had originally planned to take our lunch here after learning through the internet that the locals consider this to be a prime beef patty and blended shake destination, but our overwhelming desire to eat everything in site at V. Sattui made us rethink that plan. Instead, we each got milk shakes to help battle the heat.

Beringer Vineyards and Winery is just on the outskirts of St. Helena, so Annie made reservations (via the web) for a 4:00 PM Private Reserve Tasting. We arrived about half an hour early and did a self guided tour of the grounds. Our tasting included a private guide (there were a total of 12 people on the tour, including us) who took us through the history of the winery (one of the oldest in Napa) and what makes their wines exceptional. Escorting us through the aging caves, we were shown the private Beringer Family Cellar (where a scene from A Walk in the Clouds was filmed) and on into a private tasting room, deep in the caves. Here we were seated around two large tables and tasted 6 varieties of Beringer Reserve wines. Our tasting also included a not quite ready yet barrel wine (one that is still in the aging barrel) which she sampled using a nifty device called a "wine thief". This little gadget looks like a bent, overgrown, pipette that you would use in chemistry class. You put it into the barrel, swirl it about till it fills with wine, then cover the one end, lift it out, point it into a glass and uncover to release the pressure and pour out the wine. Pretty cool... The tasting took about an hour (they gave us lessons on the proper way to taste wine) and gave a nice sampling of wines that ranged in price from about $25 a bottle on up to over $140 a bottle. No purchases at this winery though. Not yet anyway. One nice thing about the Beringer Vineyards is that the two founding brothers actually lived on the property as it was being built (about 140 years ago), and their homes are still there, being used today for tourism merchandising support (they are gift shops) (see images).

We had about an hour to kill before dinner, so we walked around St. Helena and visited a very nice bakery (at which we did not buy anything because we were full and they were sold out of most things), a stationers shop (I can't pass one of those up you know) and then stopped at Dean & Deluca to check out their collection of glassware and stuff. These folks, too, had an extensive selection of fresh cheeses, local crops and gourmet munchies, but we were happily satisfied after our milk shakes, so contented ourselves with buying a cheese knife to put into our picnic kit, and one perfectly fresh peach that Annie bought because it had such a great smell (and tomorrow when we're less full, we can eat it...).

Lastly we ate dinner at Martini House in St. Helena. This is an upscale but comfortable restaurant with extensive patio seating as well as a two story dining room (it is built into a retrofitted three story Craftsman). On a patio, under a pergola, next to a fountain filled with koi, Annie had roast lamb loin, while I partook of the beef (I know, again, real adventurous). Topping it off with a Coffee Pot de Creme with Butterscotch Sauce... Mmmmmm... We took the regular route home (it is considerably less crowded at 10 PM) and were awestruck by the nearly full moon rising over the rolling landscape. We have had a full moon most of the time we have been here, and it is HUGE on the cusp of the horizon.
Oh, I almost forgot, I took the shots of the motorcycles with the funky side cars because, well, LOOK AT THEM!

I also like the one of Annie smelling a flower. I can't pass a stationary store, she can't pass a flower...

Last sequence of images was Annie trying to get me to give a natural smile. See why I hide BEHIND the camera...

FRIDAY - Today we started off the day by visiting Eddie Bauer at the Vacaville Outlet Stores. Annie found some back to school clothes at 60-70% off! Now we just have to buy a box to get them home in. I have been looking for a wine carafe while here, and have been having trouble finding anything decent. To my elation, there was a Mikasa Outlet here as well and they had the perfect item, also at a huge discount. In all, it was a very satisfying shopping morning.

We went to lunch in Sonoma at The Girl and The Fig, a local favorite specializing in, come on, you can guess now, dishes containing figs. I had a cheeseburger... Annie had a fig salad and a cheese tray that featured fig cake and fig compote. I tried the compote and was actually not repulsed. My burger was an Angus beef burger, so I was good to go as well. No wine with any of our sit down meals so far this trip. Too much in all the tastings we have been doing.

Next we visited Viansa Vineyard and toured their extensive grounds. The staff there was very nice and allowed us to do our own little tour of the wine vaults and limited caves there. I believe the caves go deeper than we explored, but we did not want to get lost. They have a HUGE wedding tent set up in the back of the winery, we are talking probably 3000 square feet or more. Beautiful.

We are a little burned out on fine dining, so we ate dinner back at the hotel, finishing off the last of the picnic food we have acquired over the last four days. Annie bought a local peach today as well. Yum. We stopped at our favorite Napa ice cream shop on the way back to the hotel. Hey, if you are going by an ice cream shop, on a hot day (today it was much more reasonable than the past few days), you have to stop. It is the law. Or it should be... Last day in Napa tomorrow. Boo hoo...

Oh, the first image is what happens when you decide to go on vacation instead of tending the vineyard. Annie found a statue that she is in lust with. Annie would not let me go talk with the nice wine maiden (see statue of very respectable looking lady carrying wine urns). Actually, she would have let me, but she (the maiden, not Annie) seemed a bit stone faced and looked to have a heart as cold as basalt rock. I am soooo tired. Even my humor is suffering.
SATURDAY - Our last day here in CA was a bit more laid back. It was very cool (almost cold) and overcast when we woke up. We were pretty tired from all the tasting and eating and viewing of the beautiful scenery... Yeah, I know, poor us... But we WERE tired, so we decided to go to a small bakery in St. Helena for breakfast. We walked around St. Helena for about an hour after breakfast to revive our brains, then headed off to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America, CA). They have a large selection of cook books, so Annie spent about two hours perusing their selections while I shot photos of the casks, antique presses and a hot barmaid (Annie would serve a fine wine, don't you think?).

We decided to have lunch at the CIA restaurant and both choose their French Onion Soup and soufflé. They actually put the soufflé on TOP of the soup and bake it right in the bowl. It was delicious, but still lighter fare, so we left refreshed and ready to partake of the afternoon. It had cleared up quite a bit, so we were planning to head to a winery, but decided we had had our fill of wine tasting for this trip. We went back to Hagafen Vineyards to fill up the balance of our wine case (we were three bottles short) and then decided to head to the seashore for a bit. The drive to the coast was over a meandering road that took us through vineyards and traditional agriculture plots. Since it was a Saturday, we saw many toy cars on the road (a Lamborghini Murcialago, a Ferrari Enzo and probably 50 Porche's and even more Vets, Audi TT's, BMW M's, etc.). We took a short walk down to the beach, recorded about 15 minutes of relaxing waves and then headed home, by way of a Salt Water Taffy shop of course... Packed everything back up, ate a light dinner and watched a movie in the hotel room before going to sleep. Back up at 4 AM to get to the airport ontime for our flight.