Wineries, Photography and A Surprise Meeting

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So we started the day at the Calistoga Roastery - a great community coffee shop/gathering spot in Downtown Calistoga. We both had breakfast sandwiches - avocado, egg, cheese and tomato taste really, really good on an English Muffin. Also, one of the best skinny Hazelnut Lattes ever! Hung out, read the paper and thought about how cool it would be to live in Calistoga...

Had to head back to the hotel and change rooms since Sweetie wanted an extra night. The room is fine but we don't recommend the 260s area. No view and extra steps - not an issue if you're not toting a months' worth of luggage. Highly recommend the 203 area next to the sundeck! So, enough, logistical nonsense, let's hit the wineries.

As usual, where do you start? We made a choice to drive out about 30 minutes and work our way back. We started with Silver Oak - I know, doesn't everyone? When we were here six (6) years ago, they'd had a fire so AHole (really being a Sweetie so confusing) didn't have a chance to visit. The new facility is a large stone building with a retail section, a wine cellar area and barrels. We opted for a tasting for two (2) with Walter, a young guy from Southern California who is attending the local college - I envy smart kids - college in wine country... seriously, why did I miss that option??? We started with a 2008 Cabernet from Alexander Valley that had just been released in August. Very nice start. We then had a Napa Valley Cabernet but the real winner was the 2004 Alexander Valley Cabernet - the comparison between the 2008 and 2004 was incredible. The 2004 had a rich, fruitiness - just so much depth - it was really interesting to experience the difference time makes. We are the proud owners of this vintage - let's hope we have the patience to savor it with an amazing meal!

While at Silver Oak, we were fortunate enough to run into Jeff Francouer and his lovely wife, Katie. Those of you in Atlanta know that Jeff is a hometown guy who played with the Braves but is now with the Kansas City Royals. It was just a short meeting but Wow! What a terrific couple and such fun to spend a wine tasting with - I hope their trip to wine country is every bit as wonderful as ours has been so far. They had just come from Caymus and they gave us the name of the guy they did their tasting with as a connection. Before we got to Caymus, we stopped off at PlumpJack Winery. Neither of us had heard of it and that was the point!

PlumpJack is part of three (3) wineries, that also includes Cade and Odette Estate. All are owned by Gordon Getty of Getty Oil. We each did a different tasting - one PlumpJack and one Cade. As many of you know, Sweetie doesn't like Chardonnay (unless it's the last bottle standing...) but we were converted with the 2011 PlumpJack Chardonnay Reserve. The Cabernet was also amazing!

From PlumpJack, we made our way over to Caymus. Caymus is the Wagner Family and the father, his two (2) sons and his daughter, each have their own vintages. Again, we were wowed by the MerSoleil 2011 Silver Chardonnay - no oak barrels here - cement tank fermentation and cermanic/stainless steel bottling. We will see this wine during pool season at the Browns! We also tried the 2011 Belle Glos Las Alturas Pinot Noir and the 2010 Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet. The Pinot Noir went home with us as did a Rose from the same grape.

We decided it might be time to have a bite to eat so drove into St. Helena to Gott's Roadside (fka Taylor's Refresher). This roadside hamburger stand has been around since 1949 (we ate at the original - there are two (2) more now). Cheeseburgers, garlic/parsley fries, onion rings and La Follette Pinot Noir (I love California!) comprised our lunch. The burgers and rings were really good and the fries were okay - I love garlic and these got to me. The people watching was also worth the trip!

From Gott's we made it to our final stop of the day (it's called "pacing" for those of you calling us weinies right now!). Markham Vineyards is a wine we're familiar with but we stopped because of a photography show. Baron Wollum was the main photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine and actually a part owner back in the day. His photographs and covers from the early days of the mag were on display throughout the upper and lower floors of the winery with candid shots of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, The Faces, Janis Joplin and others. Apparently, Woolum didn't want to be paid for the photographs - just wanted to retain the rights to the images and have an ownership stake in the magazine. Smart guy!

We had a really nice, shared tasting and purchased the 2008 Philanthropist Cabernet - interesting Markham fact - a percentage of the sales from their Philanthropist and Altruist vintages are donated to various charities throughout the United States.

From there, we drove back to Calistoga stopping by the Wine Garage - still in Calistoga but only open Wednesday through Saturday. That will be stop #1 tomorrow as we head to Healdsburg before heading to San Francisco for a few days. More to come...

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Photos

PlumpJack
Much prettier than this weird picture Sweetie took

Comments

[Madeline Brown]

Oh hey!
What a great picture!!! Im glad you are having fun at the wineries. All the pics are beautiful. xoxo

[Sweetie and Assholes Big Adventure]

miss you
Hey honey, this trip is a blast...wish you guys could join us for grand canyon, but maybe we can do it later. I miss you and gailwinds terribly bad! Love you, Daddy.