Feathers and Flowers: Wallowing in wineries

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Wallowing in wineries

I was looking at vacation pictures yesterday, and realized we went to 8 different wineries in 4 days. With time for swimming, shopping, dining and mud baths in between. That sounds like a lot now that we're back, but in the Napa Valley you can slip into a la-di-da lifestyle pretty quick. Everyone else is indulging! And it's all great until you get home and realize your pants are tight and the credit card bill is in the mail. Oh well-- we only go round once, and you can't put a price on the good times.

Basically, making wine hasn't changed in 6,000 years (crush the grape, make the wine) so you wonder what's the big deal here. And on any winery tour you hear and see the same things: the crusher, the tanks, the oak, the bottles, the genius wine maker. But wine has been turned into "art" in the Napa Valley, not to mention big business with 4.5 million people visiting a year. These wineries are not fusty cellars but marketed as "temples" to this art. This sounds a bit much, but these places are like lavish destination estates, some with museum quality collections of art. Remember the days of dropping in for a free taste? Now a single tasting (meaning a sip of 5 different wines) will set you back $15-$25 in the Napa Valley. I know that sounds shocking, but at these beautiful places even normally sane, frugal people can get caught up in the magic!

Here's a little photo tour of the places we visited:

V. Sattui Winery

They have been making wine in the Napa Vally since 1858, so a few of the wineries have a long history. This one was started by immigrant Vittorio Sattui who also had an Italian bakery and deli in San Francisco. In 1985, one of his descendants built this stone winery along the busy highway under 250 year old oak trees. The V. Sattui wines are not sold in stores, only here. They have a wonderful deli, so it's a popular picnic destination.

Here's John, showing how it's done.

And after lunch, carefully considering the tasting notes.

The Hess Collection

How about some fine art with your wine? The Hess Collection winery is up a winding road in a secluded canyon close to the city of Napa, but it feels like another world.

At this historic winery, Donald Hess has built a three-story museum showcase for his art collection and wine making.

John in the Hess courtyard with an art wheel thing.

Clos Pegase

We've been stopping by Clos Pegase just outside Calistoga for almost 20 years. The Clos Pegase Winery was designed by renowned architect Michael Graves following a competition sponsored by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The owner Jan Shrem made his fortune first in the Japanese publishing industry and then went on to spend it in the Napa Valley.

John with his goodies and the Clos Pegase Thumb.

Taking a break from all that exhausting wine tasting...

Beringer Vineyards

Beringer Winery was founded in 1876 by brothers Jacob and Frederick Beringer from Mainz, Germany. The Rhine House in St. Helena was built on the Beringer estate as a residence for Frederick.

You can taste reserve wines in the Rhine House while looking at the stained glass and all sorts of old-world treasures.

Clos du Val

Clos du Val is a nice quiet spot for a picnic and the only winery we visited that was crushing grapes last week.

The harvest is late this year...

Leaving with the goodies.

Inglenook (now Rubicon)

Rubicon Winery is owned by Franis Ford Coppola of Godfather fame. It was originally the lovely, historic Inglenook. After dinking with it for many years, he is in the process of changing the name back to Inglenook and supposedly getting back to basics. In this economy, there's a lot of that going on now in the Napa Valley.

Markham Vineyards

Markham is one of those old-new wineries. It has a long history in the Napa Valley but has changed hands many times. The facade is part of the original building.