Napa

We arrived at our very commercial rv park 'napa expo' at sunset, and soon set off to explore. We then realised we were in the heart of napa, and stumbled across, Oxbow public market, an amazing foodie haven, with vegetable stalls, restaurants, cookery shops and cheesemongers, intertwined with a great vibe as it was locals night. After picking some local cheese ready for our night in the following eve, we decided to eat at Gotts roadside, what some may call an American diner, not expecting much as the grand total of dinner was $15, we were pleasantly surprised when the buttermilk chicken was super tender, and the sweet potato fries were super tasty. Very happy with our find, we passed out early, as our first winery visit was at 10am the next day; Frogs Leap. We drove down the Silverado trail, (after getting lost for about an hour) which is the main route alongside Napa (as well as the horrible highway 29), and discovered the beautiful frogs leap in the AVA Rutherford, an ava blessed with gravelly soils and the 'rutherford' dust and cabernet. We wondered around the historic red barn with a glass of their sauvignon blanc in hand, the first wine they ever made, and learnt about their 'green' ways, organic vineyards, no irrigation and self sufficiency through their many vegetable patchs; the owner, grew up on a farm and wanted his Rutherford property to have this feel too, this was defiantly achieved! Anyho I am probably am getting carried away but all their wines were suited to the terroir, and locality, and thus had such elegance, charm, balance, and most importantly all had a sense of place - we loved the chardonnay. So next stop was Miner family vineyards in Oakville, next door, these guys, also had Cabernet as their specialist grape, but planted a whole range of varietals, and released them all in tiny quantities, so none for the UK, so we tasted through from a viognier, to a sangiovese, a petit verdot and some outstanding single vineyard chardonnay and pinot, that was even served at the white house! Next we explored St Helena a gorgeous, very 'upmarket' town, with fine food shops golore, sprinkled with some michelen style restaurants - we settled for a Michelin star chefs pizza restaurant in a bid to not blow our whole budget! Then to recouperate even more we headed to the warmest and northernmost town of Calistoga, a mining esque town, with a 50's feel, and even a few geysers! It was here we decided to sample their famous mud baths at the golden haven - we must say a very surreal experience, throwing yourself into thick hot mud, 'naked' may I add… and throwing it all over your self, and sweating a little too! After hosing off, next is a mineral water bath, and then being wrapped like a burrito (you'll understand when you do it!) So fresh and rejuvenated, we were ready for the next day of tasting. First thing we headed to the beautiful Nickel and Nickel (makers of Far Niente), in Saint Helena, the setting was a gorgeous vintage white washed house, with vintage inspired décor, a handful of classic barns, and immaculate cellars, this was defiantly how we imagined Napa. Their philosophy here was single vineyard, bottling a whole range of single vineyard cabernets, showing different expressions depending on the locality, we tasted a range alongside each other, and were blown away by the power, and most importantly the diversity between the wines. We then quickly whizzed past Freemark Abbey to see why they were worthy of a place in the 1976 judgement of paris tasting, and tried some impressive old vintages of cabernet. And finally visited the Truchard family a beautiful winery nestled in the rolling hills of carneros, a southern ava. This large estate, grew grapes for some of the biggest names in Napa, including both frogs leap and Nickel and Nickel, but also bottled some great value wines of themselves; a quirky rousanne, a spicy petit verdot and a great value pinot. We wandered through the cellars and tasted many other hidden gems, in this lovely down to earth winery. So one would think after all those tastings, bed may be an option, but no we quickly threw our glad rags on and headed to Yountville home of the famous Michelin starred French Laundry, although tempted by their $270 tasting menu, we actually ate at Ad Hoc, another Thomas Kellar restaurant, but more family friendly, rustic and most importantly affordable! It was quite a unique concept a set 4 course menu, revealed on the night, and served from large dishes on to your plate. We enjoyed fresh pomegranate salad, a beautifully cooked sirloin, with fresh beets from the garden, and homebaked carrot cupcakes, all paired with a great selection of wines. It was defiantly worth the wait! And a good final end, to beautiful but very upmarket Napa! It was time to head to its western neighbour Sonoma.

Sonoma & Mendocino

Sonoma defiantly had a different feel to it then Napa, slightly more relaxed, more famer esque, surrounded by hilly vineyards, enveloped in fog. Some say the difference between Napa and Sonoma, is like Bordeaux and Burgundy, and I guess that's a good description. Anyway first stop was Seghesio vineyards, Italian owned, and Zinfandel specialists in Alexander Creek Valley. We enjoyed a great tasting in this slightly unexpected commercial tasting room, but got to understand it further as we headed to a private room, to pair these massive wines, with Italian food, just like they do in Italy. So after a paired menu of polenta, homemade pasta and baby back ribs, with some wonderfully rich Zin's, we were won over, and purchased a bottle or two. We then wandered around quaint Healdersburg, and passed out in the beautiful dutcher creek campsite at the top of a hill overlooking Sonoma. The next day we tasted at Ramey's wine cellars in town, and defiantly had the best chardonnays we have tasted in California, again we did a very interesting single vineyard comparative tasting of 4 single vineyard chardonnays, and cabernets. And found the chardonnays, to be very very special; and each vineyard wonderfully unique and charming. The next day we headed up further north into the cooler region of Mendocino, and went to a larger producer, that is super green and carbon neutral 'Parducci' and got a feel for larger scale production and actually tasted wines for under $10, a revelation here! We then drove through the striking redwood forests, to Roederer Estate, nestled in between only a handful of wineres, this really was a different world to Napa (and $5 a tasting as oppose to $35 in Napa!), the vineyards were shades of orange, yellow, and red, and caked in thick layer of fog, it was stunning! Due to the climate this is sparkling wine country, so we tasted the whole of roederer range, including the 1998 vintage, and saw how sparkling wine was made it the states. Sharon our host even very kindly donated a bottle of their brut rose, to enjoy with our thanksgiving dinner, in a few weeks. Then it was time to give Will a rest from all the wine tasting, and we headed further North to Fort Bragg, to the North Coast Brewing company, although the main brewery was closed, we warmed up with some fresh clams, and clam chowder, and tasting their amazing range of artisanal beers, the best we have had so far in the US. Afterwards we hit highway 1, the windy road that would lead us eventually all the way to Los Angeles, on route we stopped in gorgeous Mendocino, a seaside town, that resembles new England with white washed houses, and boutique shops, and then cruised literally on the ocean back down south, taking in cliffs, beaches and sunsets on route. We then parked up near the beach, and had one final bbq with Tom Harvey, before heading into San Fran the next day to say our goodbyes to Tom, and hellos to San Francisco.