The focus on this week’s California Wine Appellation Specialist’s class is Napa. I am taking the online version of the class through the San Francisco Wine School.

Our wine journey included several trips to wineries in Napa Valley. Many of the winery visits are memorable.  Those include well known wineries as well as hidden gems.  One of the well known visits was to Shafer Vineyards. We had a tour that included the vineyards and winery. We the joined a group for our wine tasting. The group of tasters were all interested in wine and no one put on any airs or exhibited snobbery. It was a delightful tasting and Doug Shafer dropped by to spend a few minutes speaking with the group. Doug was accompanied with his dog. It was hard to tell which of the two was the friendliest. We learned that for two years, Doug was a middle school teacher. I taught in a middle school for 16 years.

Doug Shafer dropped in to talk to us during the wine tasting at Shafer Vineyards.

A hidden gem was a tasting we had at Roy off the Silverado Trail. Shirley Roy met us at the gat to the property and talked about the surrounding vineyards. At this vantage point, we had a perfect view of the vineyards as they sloped down below us. We then went to her house for wine tasting in her spacious kitchen. The tasting was highly personalized and we chatted with Shirley about wine and her wine in specific.

View of Roy Vineyards from the gated entrance.

Chef Christina Machamer, winner of Hell’s Kitchen Season Four, conducted our tasting.

A star-studded tasting was at B Cellars. We met Chef Christina Machamer of Hells Kitchen fame. Christina conducted our private tasting in the winery tank and barrel room. Lit candles in candelabra were set in front of the barrels. Stainless steel tanks were in the background. The darkened room, with barrels, candlelight and wine painted a scene from a romance novel. In addition to talking about the B Cellars wines, we also talked about wine and food pairings and if there is any yelling in a commercial kitchen. There is!

The caves were built by the Chinese workers after the railroads construction.

There are some other romantic spots in Napa. We enjoyed a tour in the caves at Del Dotto Vineyards. The caves were built in 1885 by Chinese workers who used shovels and picks. Oak barrels and candlelight sets the idyllic mood. We tasted wines from several barrels. Each barrel had a small card on it. If we wanted to order a wine from that barrel, we could take a card and order the wine after the tour.  Del Dotto’s newest winery in St. Helena offers a similar wine tour in newer caves.

Wine swirling at Girard

We were impressed with our wine tasting at Girard. We were escorted to a private room where we tasted wines paired with a food platter that included different cheeses, meats and pâtés. The wine tasting reminded Kathy and me of the degustations in European tasting rooms. We were not rushed and had time to practice taking photos of a red wine swirling in a wine glass.

We are awed with caves. At Schramsberg we discovered more caves built by Chinese workers. The tour took us through some of the caves and it was impressive to see how deep the stacks of sparkling wine bottles went. The tasting was in a small intimate tasting room with tables and chairs. We were able to get to know the people at our table. Most importantly I learned that sabering a bottle of sparkling wine is not the correct way to open the bottle. Our guide, Tom opened the bottle of sparkling wine, while explaining the “correct” way to open a bottle of sparkling wine. The importance of opening a bottle correctly was related with the following quote. “The ear’s gain is the palate’s loss.” In other words, the louder the pop the fewer bubbles will be in your sparkling wine glass.

Napa has many fine wineries that provide a memorable tasting experience. These are just a few. If visiting the Napa Valley wine region, visit both the larger and smaller producers. Note the passion for wine that is demonstrated by owners, winemakers and staff.

Cheers,
Terry