I spent several days last week in the heaven on earth that also goes by the name of Napa Valley. My girlfriend and I rented a car in San Francisco – a convertible, of course – and headed North across the Golden Gate Bridge, still one of the most awe-inspiring man-made structures in the world.
(Two quick Golden Gate Bridge stories. First, my 80-year-old father told me once that the happiest moment in his life was when he was sailing back to the United States after serving for several years in the Korean War and spotted the Golden Gate Bridge. “I knew I’d made it home,” he said, a rare display by my dad of… well, of actually speaking. My dad makes Gary Cooper look like Jim Cramer. Second, I once biked across the Golden Gate Bridge and nearly froze to death about halfway across. It was 80 degrees on either side of the bridge – and about 40 degrees in the middle.)
Base camp for us in Napa was the Westin Verasa Napa, an absolutely beautiful property built, rather curiously, in the middle of an otherwise empty field. I love Westin hotels. Yes, they have the Heavenly Beds, which are, indeed, quite comfy. But more than that, I love the Westin vibe, which is sleek and cool and contemporary – just like me. (Stop laughing, goddamn you.)
After dropping off our luggage, we walked over to the Oxbow Market, where we sat down for an afternoon snack of – what else? – wine and cheese.
Let me say right here that I am not a “wine guy” by any stretch of the imagination. When given the choice, I will generally have beer, rather than wine, and when I do drink wine, it’s almost always wine purchased at Trader Joe’s for no more than $7.00 a bottle. (We actually passed the Hacienda winery, which is one of our favorite Trader Joe’s labels. It was reassuring to know that it is an actual winery in California, not five guys in a basement in New Jersey peeing into a bottle.)
Still, when in Rome you do as the Romans do and when you are in Napa you drink wine or you go home. Or, as one local put it, “If you don’t like wine, this really isn’t the place for you.”
For dinner on our first night, we headed to Tra Vigne, which is on all of the “best of” lists and for good reason. The food was ridiculously wonderful. We started with some padron peppers, grilled then drizzled with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. One bite and I realized that I was in the presence of genius and that the rest of the night was going to shape up just fine. For my main course, I took the advice of our waiter and ordered half portions of two pastas: a risotto with sausage and a pasta with lamb. My girlfriend ordered a different kind of pasta with rabbit. Should I ever find myself on death row, I will order one of these three dishes as my final meal.
We grabbed breakfast the next morning at the downtown Napa branch of the Model Bakery. Excellent.
Then it was time for some pampering at the Greenhaus Spa. I had a deep-tissue massage and a pedicure. My girlfriend was exfoliated and then basted with some sort of Chardonnay-based cream. Smooth as silk.
And then it was time to hit the road and get down to some serious drinking. (I’m already a bit hazy on the order of the vineyards we visited. It doesn’t really matter.) Our first stop was the Cliff Lede vineyard. (It’s pronounced “lady,” by the way, which will allow you to avoid making an idiot of yourself, as I did, by asking if Mr. “Luh-day” was still active in the winery.) We sampled two tasting menus, one of sparkling wines, the other of “regular” wines. All good.
From there, we went to lunch at another local favorite, Taylor’s Automatic Refresher, which is just downright fun to say out loud. Go ahead, say it. The line was about 40 deep, but worth the wait.
In the afternoon, we visited Sterling Vineyards, which is distinguished by an aerial tram that takes you up, up, and away to where the winery is and to some absolutely stunning views of the valley. At one of the tasting stations, we met a Sterling employee who chucked his career as a tax man in order to work at a vineyard. “Is your life better now?” I asked. “Oh, yeah!” he said, laughing. Dumb question.
Our final stop of the day was Peju, which I think was the most beautiful winery we visited. The grounds were absolutely gorgeous, as was the main building, which included a spectacular 50-foot tower. Oh, and the wine was good, too.
Dinner that night was at Cole’s Chop House. My girlfriend had the filet mignon and I had the rib eye. Man, there’s nothing like a good steak every once in a while, and these steaks were VERY good.
The next day, we drove through Sonoma and up to Healdsburg, a sweet little town in the Russian River Valley. We ate lunch at the Bear Republic Brewery, where we drank…beer. It was excellent.
Having gone more than five minutes without a glass of wine, we dropped by the tasting room of La Crema Winery, where I ended up plunking down $90 for a bottle of Nine Barrel Pinot Noir. (That’s a lot of Hacienda, baby.) I couldn’t resist and the description on the web site explains why: “Each vintage, our winemaking team tastes through every barrel to find the nine barrels which best characterize the distinctive personality of the Russian River Valley for that particular vintage.” Yes, I am special! (And, no, you cannot come over for a glass!)
Our final meal was at La Toque, which recently moved to a beautiful new location right there at the Westin. We decided to let it all hang out by ordering a three-course meal, complete with wine pairings for each course (and lovely descriptions of each wine by the sommelier). I started with the foie gras (which I always confuse with pate because I’m just that stupid), then the halibut, and, last but certainly not least, the antelope. Yes, I said antelope. It was absolutely fabulous.
On Sunday, we headed (sadly) to the airport, each with a box of three bottles of wine ready to carry on. Precious cargo. About halfway there, it occurred to me that if you can’t carry a 10-ounce bottle of shampoo onto an airplane, you probably can’t carry on three bottles of wine. We decided to roll up the bottles in our clothing, pack them into our checked luggage, and pray to the Gods of Wine for mercy. At the Newark Airport luggage carousel, our prayers were answered – and how many times can you say THAT?
The perfect end to a perfect few days in paradise.
Tags: cliff lede vineyard, cole's chop house, greenhaus spa, la crema, la toque, napa valley, oxbow market, peju, sterling vineyards, taylor's automatic refresher, tra vigne, westin verasa napa
September 10, 2009 at 3:55 pm |
Sounds like a G*R*E*A*T trip. Just what the Dr ordered.
Hey! A new marketing idea- La Crema in 4 oz bottles – so as to be allowed on airplanes. Wonder how many minis would make it through the flight, and how many would be consumed midway…