Northern California, March 5-17, 2010
Posted: July 26th, 2010 | Filed under: Out Of TownI think we went to 28 wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties . . . no wonder I was tired of tasting by the end of the week.
San Francisco, March 5-6, 2010
Late meal after flying in at Taqueria Cancun in the Mission District. Strange feeling to eat drunk food without being drunk, only tired from flying all evening.
The next morning, we walked down Eddy Street from our hotel toward the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, which we’ve visited every time, it being one of Jen’s favorite spots in San Francisco. The RoliRoti porchetta sandwich was out of this world and worth the wait (though we got there early and missed the rush):
Also recommended — the Humphry Slocombe Candy Cap Mushroom ice cream at Far West Fungi (candy caps smell like maple syrup and the ice cream is not “mushroomy” at all):
And of course the oysters at the Hog Island stand at the farmers market . . .
It’s kind of stupid to try photographing the giant redwoods in the Muir Woods National Monument because they’re too big for any frame:
Drinks and a snack along Chestnut Street in the Marina District before heading over to Chez Panisse for a late reservation and a late drink back in the Tenderloin at Olive Bar.
San Francisco, March 7, 2010
The WPA-era murals at Rincon Center are interesting if you’re waiting to get in to Yank Sing.
Drove out on Geary Boulevard toward Lands End:
Brother Michael always loves watching the Sea Lions at Pier 39 and everyone loves the Chowder Bowl at Boudin Bakery. You can get a nice view of San Francisco from Sausalito:
Napa County, March 8, 2010
Wineries visited: Domaine Carneros in Napa and Siduri, Martinelli and Cline Cellars over in Sonoma County. We liked Siduri a lot.
Napa County, March 9, 2010
Wineries visited: Keenan Winery, Schweiger Vineyards and the Charbay Still House all on Pride Mountain above St. Helena and Frog’s Leap in Rutherford. All of those are recommended. Dinner at Mustards Grill in Yountville.
Napa County, March 10, 2010
Pride Mountain Vineyards on Pride Mountain above St. Helena is both good and beautiful:
A grammar point . . . when they say “today we are tasting,” we finally realized that they’re not using a “how-are-we-enjoying-the-soup?” sort of affectation but rather treating the tasting of the wine as a verb, as in “we are offering for tasting”:
(I found these three examples online, in case you’re interested: “If the winery is tasting a special or reserve wine, the fee may be upwards of $5 per person”; “Along with the offering at left, the winery is tasting three of their reds each with a Woodhouse Chocolate”; and an East Coast example, “Come see what Johnson Estate Winery will be tasting Friday night at Gates Circle”. This is different than saying a wine is “drinking well,” and cleared up some misunderstandings for us, grammarwise.)
Lunch at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher in St. Helena which changed its name just days after we ate there and accounts for the work I didn’t notice taking place while walking down Main Street a few days later:
Return visits to Provenance Vineyards and Robert Sinskey Vineyards, both of which we like enough to go back to. And the Hog Island Oyster Company at the Oxbow Market in Napa has a great dollar oyster happy hour. Most of the time we stay away from dollar oysters but these are fantastic.
Napa County, March 11, 2010
The quirky Old Faithful Geyser of California:
We wanted to try something different, so we searched for some examples of Cabernet Franc in Napa. There were some excellent ones (much better than in New York, which makes sense since New York’s climate isn’t as good for Cabernet Franc — from what we understand — none of the bell pepper or rubbery flaws like you see on Long Island) at Trespass Vineyard and William Harrison Vineyards, both in St. Helena. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars is really expensive, but fun to try (and historically important in the context of Napa County wine history).
We ate at the family meal in the cellar at Martini House, which is a good deal. They also have bizarre animal paintings on the walls of the men’s bathroom:
Napa/Sonoma County, March 12, 2010
After spending so much time over the past couple of years in Napa, we decided wanted to try some places in Sonoma. Drove around Sonoma Plaza in Sonoma before heading over to Gundlach Bundschu Winery. A tip we learned from a food industry veteran is to pay more attention to the older wineries. The cheaper prices at the established places aren’t an indication of relative quality but rather a hint that they aren’t spending millions to pay down their overinflated mortgages (and thus passing along the cost to the consumer). Gundlach Bundschu is a big operation but the prices were really reasonable — we shipped home some of their cuvee, which was on sale at the time. The Pinot Noirs along the coast at Freestone Vineyards were good and the breads at nearby Wild Flour Bread were really good. Merry Edwards Winery (Sebastopol) and Hartford Family Winery (Forestville) were both really nice. Moshin Vineyards is near Gary Farrell, which is worth a visit at the top of the hill overlooking the Russian River Valley in the Healdsburg area.
Napa County, March 13, 2010
Michael and I tagged along on a work-related tour of Rubicon Estate given to Jen. The former Inglenook Estate (yes, that Inglenook — the brand was bought out years ago and has a completely different connotation to most people today) is beautiful and the wines are good (and expensive). We ate lunch at the Taylor’s Refresher at the Oxbow Public Market.
Napa County, March 14, 2010
Folio Fine Wine Partners and Robert Mondavi Winery are both interesting, especially after reading Julia Flynn Siler’s The House of Mondavi, which is recommended if you’re interested in family drama/Napa County wine history.
Napa/Sonoma County, March 15, 2010
We moved locations from the Villagio in Yountville to Euro Spa in Calistoga on Sunday. Jen was otherwise occupied on work-related stuff and I don’t like to taste alone (and sad to say, I was kind of sick of wine), so I drove around Sonoma County. The smart branding of the Christo & Jeanne-Claude Running Fence/Watson School Historic Park made me stop, I admit, but it was cool to see the area where the Running Fence project ran through (which I always thought was part of the idea of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s works — to get you to pay attention to the places they put their stuff on):
The Sonoma Coast State Park/Sonoma Coast State Beach area is just strikingly beautiful:
And in March I saw Harbor Seals all along the beach:
Keep in mind there are separate pages for North Salmon Creek Beach (surfers!), Arched Rock Beach (an arched rock!), Gleason Beach, the Goat Rock Overlook, Goat Rock Beach and the Jenner Visitor Center. The visitor center was being kept open by donations, and closed on the day I visited, as was at least one of the parking areas:
It’s obviously important to close parking areas to make it clear to taxpayers that the state parks are getting shafted save money.
Drove back down California State Route 116 on my way to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa:
Napa/Sonoma County, March 16, 2010
Walked down Main Street in St. Helena, then drove over to Sonoma County via Oakville Grade/Dry Creek Road/Trinity Road to Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen. It’s interesting both if you’re a fan of the Hobo Knight or you want to see nice scenery in Sonoma County:
The Wolf House Ruins are cool:
The farming experiments London undertook are a facet of him I didn’t know about:
The House of Happy Walls museum is good if you’re a fan of London the writer or if you just like stuff made out of human hair:
A walk down Lincoln Avenue back in Calistoga.
Napa/Sonoma County, March 17, 2010
Just when I think we’re done with tasting wine, we hit five more on the way to the airport. Basically, we were wandering though Healdsburg Plaza listening to a barefoot hippie girl shrieking songs on the corner and couldn’t figure out what else to do in wine country. So we went to Quivira Vineyards, Unti Vineyards, Wilson Winery, lunch from Dry Creek General Store, Mauritson Winery and De La Montanya Winery — all in the Healdsburg area. Quivira, Unti, Mauritson and De La Montanya are all highly recommended.
We drove back across the Golden Gate Bridge, then had dinner at Zuni Cafe near Hayes Valley in San Francisco, where we paid a four percent surcharge to support San Francisco’s universal health care program:
(I assumed the restaurant was being self-congratulatory until I read this.)
Then we drank a half bottle of Unti Syrah at the airport before flying back home (don’t ask):
