We left Seattle on Saturday morning and drove down to Portland to have lunch. We stopped at Bunk Sandwiches which had been on The Food Network but I also heard about it from several other people. Here is an image of the sandwich Cole had that day:
It was their Italian Pastrami sandwich, however, I was particularly happy with my Pulled Pork sandwich! The line was long but to me that almost always is a sign of something worth waiting for. After Portland, we drove down to Medford, Oregon. We planned on grabbing a bit to eat and then resting our little heads before the long drive to Napa the next day. Not expecting to find much in Southern Oregon, we were pleasantly surprised by the food and ambiance provided by 38 on Central. I think we would both agree that their Mac & Cheese with Rogue River cheddar was probably one of the food highlights of the week. But just wait, there are more to come!
In Napa, we stayed at a place called Vine Bello Resort. It is not normally the kind of place that Cole and I stay at but we got a great deal and it actually turned out to be the perfect location, even if we would stay somewhere else if we returned to Napa for a second time. This particular location forced us to familiarize ourselves with the entire valley.
The day after driving, we headed up Silverado Roard, apparently the most famous road in Napa. We saw four wineries that day. First, Grgrich Hill, known for it's winemaker, Mike Grgich, who created the Chardonnay for Chateau Montelena that beat the very best wines in France in a famous blind tasting in Paris. The story of this tasting has now been captured by the film Bottle Shock. After that we went to Groth Winery and Vineyard and then we headed over to The Miner Family Vineyard where a special treat waiting for us.
Cole had taken an International Sommelier Guild (ISG) course in Seattle a few years ago. As it turns out, Dianne, one of the woman he had taken the course with, had been working at Miner Family Winery for some time. When we arrived she took us down to her lab and took us on a tour of the caves that housed all of the barrels. We barrel tasted Tempranillo, Grenache and Pinot Noir.
This has got to be one of my favorite parts of the whole wine making process. I think when you taste the grapes directly from the barrel you realize what kind of effort and ultimately, love, goes into making a great wine. You get to see these wines in their preliminary states, which allows you to appreciate them much more once they are sitting in pretty bottles on your dinner table.
Next was Far Niente, a breathtakingly beautiful winery, fully of history, that sits above the fields of grapes just off of highway 29. We toured the facilities and walked through the expansive underground caves. I think the woman that was giving the tour said that the total square footage of the cave was equal to that of a football field! The winery, which was build in 1885, closed for prohibition but was then restored by Gil Nickel sixty years later. The interesting part for me was that Gil Nickel had an obsession with cars and on the property they have a barn full of the most outrageous old cars on the planet from a 1961 Chevrolet Corvette to a 1954 Bentley Continental R and last but not least, a limited addition 1966 Ferrari 500 Superfast.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....................
After Far Niente, Cole and I returned to the hotel to relax before a lovely dinner at Thomas Keller's Bouchon.
The next day, we continued on our journey through Napa wine country. A very cool part about this particular day was that we were visiting wineries that were pretty much owned and operated by women. We started the day off at Spottswoode and then headed over to a very boutique winery called Crocker & Starr, which is run by Pam Starr and Charlie Crocker. Both of these wineries were very impressive and I was very excited to have been privileged to see and taste both of them.
Cole saw one more winery that day. Since wine is his passion and I had a feeling he might want to geek out with his fellow winos for a bit, I thought he might enjoy it more by himself. So I stayed in the car and thus cannot remember the name of the winery.
A quick side note before I continue...wine is tough. It can be pretentious, arrogant and exclusive on one hand but it can also be dirty, down-to-earth and fascinating on the other. I am really happy that Cole and I took this trip because it gave me an opportunity to get closer to what I consider to be the "real" wine. I have a great appreciation for people like Cole and Dianne. They fielded every question I had and patiently explained in more detail when I needed a better explanation. They are the reason that I have begun to love wine. They have a passion that is indescribable. They know so much about wine and the process of making it but beyond that, they desire to spread that passion and knowledge to others. And in all honesty, I appreciate those type of people across all industries and different professions.
That evening, we were able to spend more time with Dianne in St Helena. We went with her to a restaurant that does a family meal for the locals from 5-7pm (I believe). I apologize for not being able to remember the name, I was just more focused on the company. The family meal is served in the cellar which has been converted to a cool bar area underneath the main restaurant. It was a lovely space and we had a great time chatting to Dianne about what she had been up to since being in Seattle and what she was doing in Napa. The night ended at Ana's Cantina with dollar bills and rolls of quarters wrapped in duck tape...
The next day we left for San Fransisco... which is a post for another night. :)
