Napa! (and by Napa I really mean Yountville!)
March 3, 2009
This past Saturday Chris’ friend Ming invited Chris and a bunch of other Stanford Immunology geeks up for the Make Our Garden Grow Napa Youth Symphony fundraiser. Ming is the conductor for the youth symphony and his girlfriend is a year above Chris in Stanford’s Immunology PhD program. So now that all those connections have been explained, on to the good stuff!
Chris and I decided it’d be fun to make a mini-vacation of it, so I took Thursday and Friday off from work and we headed up early for lots of drinking, ungodly amounts of eating, biking, and a generally merry fun time! I had actually never been up to this so called “wine country” before, so I was super excited!
I’ll go over some of the highlights
Wine
My favorite wine stop was, without question, Silenus. Silenus is a custom crush facility, which basically means a bunch of smaller producers can actually crush their grapes and make their wine there. This is all super great for me, the wine drinker, because I got to try lots of different makers’ stuff all at once. And, with the assistance of Erica, the awesome wine hostess we had, we got to hear lots of first-hand accounts about the winemakers. Oh, and they had great wine, too! I ended up getting the MOST delicious wine by Scott Harvey called “Angel Ice”. Oh good gods it was good. So good in fact that after I finished my taste I kept smelling my glass. Embarrassing really. But the nose on that thing! And it was like liquid heaven on the palate! Oh, and if you decide to buy some I recommend serving it super DUPER cold. It’s just totally meant to be that way.
Dearest Scott Harvey, if you ever read this, feel free to send me more of your deliciousness anytime!! Your Jana Rieslings are delectable!
[side comment: yes, I purposely found a way to say both “nose” and “palate” – how will I become a true wino like Chris if I don’t practice my vocab?!"]
In other wine news, I’ve discovered that I’m a fan of Muscat, or at least the Palmaz Vineyard Muscat Canelli Florencia [reviewed by an actual wine blogger person here]. Palmaz ended up being our big tour experience (they have caves… though they aren’t the dark murky spelunking caves with dwarves working away in them like I imagined… sadly) and the muscat was my favorite tasting there. Chris really enjoyed their cabs… I just haven’t gotten to the point of red-enlightenment yet.
Food
Oh dear gods we ate so much food. So. much. food. The gluttony! The glory!
Highlights
Bouchon: Chris took me out for one fancy schmancy dinner and I got to pick the restaurant. I’ve heard so much about this Thomas Keller guy and since French Laundry seemed *just a little* out of our price range, I settled on Bouchon instead. You can see all the food pictures by checking out my web album but let me tell you right now: soooo good. I started with a goat cheese salad followed by steak frites (we were told that the fries are cooked with duck fat and were “must haves”) and finished with an almond pot de creme for dessert (which we split…because we were about to throwup from eating so much that day).
Chris started with a sweet creamy garlic soup (that I wish he would have shared more of!) and had the lamb t-bone (which was seriously yummy and lean). I also ate more than my fair share of the 
warm Bouchon bakery bread and sumptuous butter that was served at the start. Oh! And Chris spoiled me by bringing one of his best bottles of merlot! It was a Blackbird and was actually on the wine list for almost $200! (but don’t worry, while bringing a wine that’s on the list is a faux pas, Bouchon (tragically) post neither their menu nor wine list… so there was no way to know!)
It’s true that we probably would have liked the meal even more if we weren’t seriously over-full but whatever! It was fantastic anyway!
Oysters: The next night Chris and I felt like we needed to detox so we decided to venture back to the Oxbow market for a light clean oyster dinner! Now I haven’t really had oysters before (just literally one at Google back when one cafe used to do that in the evenings) so I was a little nervous. But, thankfully, it turns out I find them quite tasty. We got a sampler of a bunch of different kinds, which was fun. We also had the best clam chowder. It was chock-full of clams and the base was simultaneously creamy and broth-like. Just what I wanted!
Bouchon Bakery: As many of you know, I don’t have a sweet tooth… I have sweet teeth. And so I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I 
found it my duty to try out as many sweet treats at Bouchon bakery as possible. I’d say their best treats were their chocolate chip cookies and macaroons. The TKO (“Thomas Keller Oreo”) didn’t really do it for me. It’s like music – if the original is better than the remake, why are you remaking it?! The macaroons, though, must really be tried by everyone. Oh and their sandwiches are quite yummy, too. But their chai was really bland and generally garners a “meh” rating. Overall I still think Tartine is better (except in the chocolate chip cookie category, Tartine’s are too crispy and thin)
Other
Biking! Chris and I went on two bike rides. The first, on Friday, was supposed to be the full Ink Grade loop (~50 miles) but we were feeling sluggish (this was the morning after the I-feel-overly-full-and-super-ill night) and had to turn around early (~30 miles) to ensure we arrived at Palmaz on time for our tour. I’ve got to say, the roads for that route aren’t paved very well – and there are parts where the cars are driving a bit too fast for biker-comfort.
On Saturday, however, the gods smiled upon us! We biked from Yountville to Calistoga and back (~45 miles) on the Silverado trail and it was fantastic! We ended up eating lunch in Calistoga (I love eating lunch mid-ride) and really sped it up on our way back. 
Chris said there was a straight away section where I was maintaining 23 mph! Go aerobars! Unsurprisingly, Chris caught me on the hill. Dammit! Anyway, I definitely recommend biking up there – Silverado trail is a great road for it. The rollers get noticeably bigger as you near Calistoga but it’s very tame.
The Fundraiser-Concert: I got to get all fancy (which is always fun) and Chris looked dashing in his new Van Gogh-esque tie for this. The opera singing was ok but I wish the kids would have played more. The final song was quite lovely but the Opera singers totally overpowered the orchestra, which is so sad!
So overall we had a super great time! Yountville was adorable and I had my first Napa/Yountville wine tasting experience!
Comments
6 Responses to “Napa! (and by Napa I really mean Yountville!)”
Got something to say?
Can’t believe we didn’t get you to St. Helena. Next time! (Unless we do Sonoma)
Hi Heather,
Thanks for the great comments on our wines. Jana forwarded me your blog. The Angel Ice is really fun to make. I was trained as a winemaker in Germany and was introduced to Ice Wine production there. So, I just have to make it here. Our vineyards don’t frreze, so these grapes are picked and taken to a large freezer to be frozen. Since they are not frozen on the vine we will not call them Ice Wine. Hence, the name Angel Ice. Next time you’re in Napa, give us a call (707 337-9202) and if we are around, maybe we can get together to enjoy a glass of wine.
Thanks again,
Scott Harvey
You’ll be a full-blown oenophile by the end of the month!
You really, really need to try a kind of dessert wine from Bordeaux called Sauternes. It’s like sips of honey from the gods.
Perhaps I’ll bring a Muscat to BSG night….
“Cabs” … who do you think you are?!
You’ll be a full-fledged oenophile by the end of the month! Or at least add terms like “notes” and “cat pee” to your vocabulary.
You really, really need to try a kind of dessert wine from Bordeaux called Sauternes. I think it would be right up your alley. (And it tastes like honey from the gods.)
Perhaps I’ll bring a muscat to BSG night on Friday….
Wait, you drink?