A Wine Country Visit to New Friends and Old

We just returned from a visit to California Wine Country (Napa and Sonoma counties) where we had the opportunity to make some new friends and to renew some old friendships.  I have been traveling for the last couple of weeks and so this trip, right in the middle, provided a nice respite.

We left Chicago early Friday morning so that we wouldn't waste a complete day traveling. After arrival, we made the trek up to Napa. Our objective was to be at the Pine Ridge Winery at 2 o'clock for their vineyard and caves tour and tasting.

Since we arrived just before 10 am on Friday, we made it up to Napa in time for us to have a little lunch. We drove into the town of Napa and headed to the historic downtown area.  After navigating around a little, we found a parking lot behind the correction facility and walked to the visitor's center.

Not only did they have some great information on the Napa Valley, they also had some items perfect for wine country.  There was one we couldn't ignore -- it was a picnic kit complete with two wine glasses, plates, utensils and a cutting board that fit into the size of a lunch box.

Whoever thought up this design was a genius.

The community is in the middle of restoration work on the river so there's a lot of equipment around. I imaine that when this project is complete the riverfront part of town will be quite beautiful -- and active.  On the hunt for a place to try we passed the Pear, a New Orleans bistro. It was also the location for Chef Anne Burrell's "Chef Wanted" program that evening.

While we were intrigued, we wandered a little further until we came to Morimoto Napa.  Iron Chef Morimoto's Napa Valley restaurant.  I've never eaten in an Iron Chef's restaurant before so I couldn't pass this up. It's both a restaurant and purveyor of Asian items, too.

I started with a glass of white wine -- a Rhone blend from Joseph Kent called 'vieux carre'. I found it to be quite nice.  It went really well with the Ishi Yaki Buri Bop. Prepared table side in a 500 degree stone pot. I had seen the Iron Chef prepare something like this on the show but I never had a chance to try it myself.

Until now.

I found the flavors to be quite pronounced as I ate everything. My dining partner had the ramen noodles. Two very outstanding dishes. Sometimes you're easily disappointed at restaurants of famous Chef's. This clearly was not the case here. I'd definitely recommend it anyone who's looking for a place to eat in Napa.

After lunch (and the purchase of the picnic kit, it was off to the Stag's Leap AVA for our visit with Pine Ridge. We arrived just before 2 and had an opportunity to taste some wines that were not part of the tour. I had first learned of Pine Ridge right after Crimson Wine Group had purchased Seghesio Family Vineyards.

We had two other groups of people joining our tour and met them as we left the tasting room and headed out to the demonstration plot. This makes for an interesting visit. They have samples vines of Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and others in a variety of trellis options.

With the grapes close to ripe, it gave us an opportunity to taste a variety of grapes. Very different than table grapes. Much more acidic and sweeter. The skins can be a bit tougher than table grapes, too.  I was trying to remember what I learned last year on my visit to sister winery, Chamisal Vineyards.

From there, we toured the winery. I was intrigued by the set-up that Pine Ridge has for barrels.  The barrel room is set up with these wine racks that allow for easy turning throughout the process. They didn't seem to take up any more space than standard barrel racking.

We then moved into the fermenting room to check out the various fermentation tanks. Unlike some of the smaller wineries where they utilize open tank fermentation methods, all the fermentation takes place within the tanks utilizing special yeast cultures.

As we were walking through fermentation room as they were getting ready to bring in this year's grapes as the tanks were all clean, empty and ready to go.

From there we moved into the caves where the traditional barrel aging takes place. While these caves are man-made, they are cut into the hills surrounding the winery. They keep the temperature consistently cool.

As we entered the tunnels, the winemaker, Michael Beaulac, and assistant winemaker, Jason Ledbetter, were there in front of a series of barrels.  They are in the midst of a barrel test to determine the barrels they'll be using into the future. We also had a chance to take part in the testing as we tasted some wines from a couple of the barrels.

I lagged behind a bit to ask Micheal and Jason their favorite wines to make.  With so many wines produced by Pine Ridge it's a little like asking a parent which of their children is their favorite. As it turns out their favorites are different but complimentary.  Michael's wine was the Stag's Leap Cabernet -- a little more subtle, more lush.  Perhaps, as Micheal suggested, the Stag's Leap carried with it more feminine qualities.

Jason's favorite was the Howell Mountain Cabernet. If the Stag's Leap had feminine characteristics, what Jason liked about the Howell Mountain was it's masculinity. A perfect pair, masculine and feminine. I've enjoyed both of these wines. It's amazing to me the opportunities that a winemaker has to mold a wine to their liking  I've had several wines from the Stag's Leap district and from Howell Mountain.  They're all different.

We finished out tour with a tasting in the caves.  They had paired three different wines with different artisan cheeses. I'm always intrigued by the way a wine works with different cheeses. Since we had three very different cheeses, I thought I'd try each wine with a little of each cheese.  I was surprised that some worked and some didn't.

I think, perhaps, the best part was interacting with other folks on the tour. We had a two couples from Miami and another group of college roommates from around the country.

Since we had come in early after a full week of work and travel. The college roommates were tired after a day full of tastings.  They were headed up to Sonoma later in the weekend.  Since we typically spend more of our time in Sonoma rather than Napa, I was able to suggest a couple of options to visit later in the weekend.

After the tasting, we were back in the tasting room to add a couple of bottles to my existing wine club order and to visit further with a couple friends before heading over to Sonoma. I had thought that planning the weekend and a stay and a very attractive Bed and Breakfast was a great idea.

As it turns out the air conditioning wasn't working so well. But more of that in the next post. Thanks, Pine Ridge, for a great visit. Make sure if you're in the Napa region and haven't stopped by before, please put this vineyard on your list of must see places.