The Napa Valley

“Going to California with an aching in my heart.
Someone told me there’s a girl some wine out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair. intensity on the finish, you can tell it was made . . . with care”

Napa Valley Awaits

With the last bite of The Louisianan at The Ruby Slipper down the hatch I’m pondering on a question I once heard: “Are you now, or have you ever, drunk a bottle of wine?”  Well, by the time you read this certainly this fine breakfast will be a memory and I just may have satisfied both of those questions.  Sunday morning I’m “(taking) my chances on a big jet plane” and going back to Cali, in particular the center of the new world wine universe: Napa.  The purpose of the trip, besides the obvious, is to see how the 2008 Cleverwines Stage Gulch Vineyards Syrah (its from Sonoma, who knew) is doing in barrel and to connect with some people that are doing things right in the land of gloss and honey.

I cut my wine teeth on the Napa Valley and its unfortunate that Napa gets a bad rap from some.  What with the Disney like wineries and monuments to excess, some parts Napa don’t do much to give you the same warm and fuzzy feeling that wine country and the good men and women therein are supposed to give you.  Watching kajillionaires play with their toys doesn’t do much to give you the connection to the passion of wine.  Well, what I have planned is quite a trip and a visit to places very much off the beaten path – a visit to the “true” Napa Valley if you will – and I hope to bring back with me a sense of that for you.  Not to be a snob about it (anyone who knows me knows I’m no wine snob) but as I’m on Hwy 29 pulling past the tour bus turning into McWinery with the synchronized water feature in the driveway and the faux missionary style architecture as I’m heading up to Doug Stanton’s house to taste wine around his kitchen table, well I’ll just smile, look at that tour bus and think “there but for the grace of God go I.”

The good thing is that I get to take these experiences back with me and what I experience out there will most certainly reflect on my retail shelves.  Getting a chance to see real people, making real wines responsibly – well that’s what the Napa Valley is all about.  I’m also going to try my hand at some real-time blogging while I’m out there, Wi-Fi permitting, so stay tuned.  Its going to be fun!

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