California wine country has become one of our favorite domestic travel destinations in recent years. We made our first of three trips in late September, 2013. My wife and I enjoy a nice glass of wine on occasion, but the main attraction for us is the food. We wanted to sample the fine cuisine of a select few of the excellent Napa and Sonoma restaurants. Of course, we couldn’t pass up the chance to tour wineries and sample some of their wares. We arranged two days of winery tours with wine tastings, three fantastic dinners and a special lunch.
The first full day, we booked a tour of Napa Valley wineries. Since we’d never been to California wine country, we decided the safest route would be a group tour. We agreed on an 8 person, 7 hour, 5 winery excursion in a stretch limo. At the appointed hour, we went out to the hotel’s front drive and, as promised, there was the stretch limo and driver. I told the driver my name and we got in the back of the empty limo to begin the tour.
As we traveled north on Route 29, the driver offered us champagne and filled us in on the premium boutique wineries we’d tour. After about 10 minutes, I asked how long before we got the rest of the group. He responded we were it; he was already headed to the first winery. I concluded the tour was overbooked and we got bumped to a car of our own. Nice! Two of us in a stretch limo for 8 with a bottle of champagne.
After a few minutes, my cell phone rang with a local number on the ID. I see the driver on his cell phone and wonder why he would call me rather than just speak directly. I answer and the man says he’s my limo driver. I asked, “Why are you calling me? I could hear you just fine without the phone.” He asked where I was. I said, “Right behind you.” After a few more confusing exchanges, the driver put his phone down and yells back that his office is on the phone and we’re in the wrong limo. I was on the phone with a different limo driver. The driver in our limo told me he was turning around and to tell our real driver we’d be back to the hotel in about 15 minutes.
It turned out our tour provider scheduled 2 identical cars for the same pick-up time at the same hotel, one for Gordon and the other for Orson. The driver apparently misunderstood Gordon for Orson, who reserved a private tour for him and his date. What’s the chance of that happening? Apparently 100%.
Back at the hotel, it was clear Orson failed to see as much humor in the situation as we did. The 6 people in our limo, despite the half hour delay, didn’t act stressed over the mix-up and other than a little good natured ribbing, we got along just fine.
The weather couldn’t have been better, with sun, beautiful blue skies, temperature in the mid 80’s, and low humidity. The wineries were perfect for us and we had a congenial group of people. The lone exception was, That Guy. You know, Mr. Captain of Industry who is working on a big deal the entire day. He was constantly on his cell phone: in the limo, during the winery tours, in the tasting sessions, probably in the bathrooms. Despite this, it was a great day.
On day 2, we toured four Sonoma Valley wineries. Instead of a limo, we booked another group tour on the Sonoma Valley Wine Trolley, a motorized replica of an 1890’s San Francisco cable car. The open-air trolley allowed us to enjoy the perfect weather as well as great views of the country-side. We met at the Sonoma town plaza, where the Blessing of the Grapes, a long-standing tradition to promote a safe and bountiful grape harvest, was being celebrated. The blessing kicks off the Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival, which is held on Sonoma’s old, historic plaza. The plaza is covered with booths offering food and fun activities. We had another enjoyable day in wine country.
While we had great dinners at some of the finer Napa Valley restaurants, our most memorable meal was our last day’s lunch at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. The Culinary Institute is a highly regarded culinary college housed in and around a 100,000+ square foot grey volcanic stone building built in the 1890’s. The building sits on a terraced hillside facing the highway and overlooking vineyards to the east. It was originally built as a wine cellar for Greystone Cellars Winery, switching ownership a number of times over the years until it was purchased by the Culinary Institute in the early 1990’s.
The weather was a carbon copy of the prior two days. We were able to secure a table outside on the Wine Spectator Restaurant terrace with a spectacular view overlooking the neighboring vineyards. The interior of the restaurant is an intermingling of customer tables and an open air kitchen with cooking stations where you can observe the students and chefs in action. The food was amazing. While perusing the wine section of the menu, I noticed a couple wines being sold by the ounce. I wondered if a $15 an ounce wine tastes that much better than the wines we normally drink. My wife suggested I live it up and find out, so I ordered a glass of cabernet sauvignon.
The sommelier presented the bottle with a really cool looking gizmo attached to the top. He explained the restaurant doesn’t sell much of this very expensive wine and if they uncorked the bottle, the wine could oxidize and be ruined before it was all served. There isn’t much of a market for $15 an ounce vinegar. To prevent this, they use this special stopper system which allows the wine to be served without removing the cork. The stopper pierces the cork with a very thin needle and argon is injected into the bottle forcing wine out while preventing oxygen from entering. Argon, an inert gas, has been used by winemakers for years to protect fine wines. Once the needle is removed, the small hole re-seals.
Below is a picture of me with my first, and likely last, $60 glass of wine. By the way, I wasn’t impressed with the first sip, possibly because the wine hadn’t been allowed to properly ‘breath’. As I continued to drink, I did enjoy it. In the end, I’m glad I tried the wine, but decided I can find a perfectly acceptable wine for well under $350 per bottle.
The intense dark purplish red color of the full bodied glass of cabernet sauvignon I drank on that beautiful fall day in 2013 while sitting in the sun overlooking a vineyard reminds me of the center stones of Rubellite Tourmaline and Diamond Cocktail Ring in 18 KT White Gold and Rhodolite Garnet and Diamond Cocktail Ring in 14 KT White Gold. Feel free to see if you agree.