Saturday, our first full day in Napa. I enjoy heading to Napa during the fall, also known as Crush. When you visit at this time of year, you get to taste grapes off the vine, if you are lucky you see the sorting and crushing process, but my favorite part is the smell of freshly crushed grapes in the air. It’s magical to be in Napa during crush, it really is the best time of year to visit.
We started out the day early, with breakfast at the hotel. You need a good base for a day of tasting. The Napa Valley Lodge has a great continental breakfast that includes mimosas along with your coffee. When in Napa, you must start the day drinking. First stop after breakfast, Oakville Grocery for items to have for our picnic lunch. I love this place, from sandwiches, salads, cheese, bread and sweets, it’s the perfect place to grab and go. I packed a lightweight foldable cooler that we filled with ice before we left the hotel. This way we have a place to store our picnic items safely.
Our first winery of the day is Castello di Amorosa. I like to head north and work our way back down valley to make the most effective use of time. We spent about 90 minutes at the Castle. It was Becky’s first visit and she enjoyed the surroundings and bought a Dragon aerator to take back as a gift for her husband. I had several orders from friends to bring back from this winery and as usual shipped home a case. I can honestly say more than half was not for me.
Off to the next stop, Bennett Lane in Calistoga. Travis had a special tour scheduled for us to celebrate Becky’s birthday weekend. We went out to the vineyard to look at the vines. I learned something new on this trip, depending on the grape variety, the leaves have a different shape. I had no idea and love when I learn new things on a trip. We tasted grapes off the vine and walked around the winery. We saw the crush pad and looked at the barrels waiting to be filled with wine. Travis talked about the “toast” on the barrel and how to look at the barrel to understand the cooperage and the toast factor based on the coding on the barrel. It was fun to watch Becky learning and enjoying herself. Of course, Travis brought wine with him for the tour. After the tour we landed in the tasting room at a private table to taste through the rest of the menu. The Lynch Cabernet was a favorite along with the Maximus Red. We liked the Maximus so much, we bought a case that we split. After tasting, we purchased a bottle and had a picnic lunch outside the tasting room in the garden.
Stop number three, Handwritten back in Yountville. We met up with my friend Brennan, his wife Nancy and their friends John and Jen. A tip, make sure you allow enough time to get from winery to winery, Calistoga is very far north and we mistimed our return to Handwritten. I hate to show up late for tastings, we did call to let them know we were running late so no one worries. The wines at Handwritten did not disappoint. Matt took us through the tasting, Bill Miller whom I’ve met multiple times wasn’t available this particular day. But Bill was so sweet, he left a handwritten note for me to say Matt would take great care of us. Matt really did a great job. We all loved the wine, single vineyard Cabernets are amazing. The Coombsville is still my favorite!
The final tasting of the day was at one of my clubs, Silver Trident. I visited them in May with Moni and liked the wine so much, I joined their club. We lost our friend Nancy who decided to go back to the hotel and relax. Being in Yountville, it was easy for us to split up. We walked down to the Silver Trident tasting room. I was excited to see Beth, who I met in May, she is a great wine educator. Marie, Becky and I enjoyed our tasting with food pairings. The rose, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and cabernets all are consistently good.
Dinner that evening was at Coqueta, a newer restaurant in Yountville. We had a reservation, but the newness of the restaurant caused a long wait for a table. Once we were settled at a table, we did enjoy our meal. This is a tapas restaurant, so menu items are meant to be shared. Barring the service issues, the food was amazing.
Back to the hotel we went after dinner for a good night sleep. Sweet dreams after a heavenly day in Napa.