The Life of a Silicon Valley Rockstar

I woke up on Monday and wondered what to do. I had the day off and wanted to escape somewhere. Oh yeah, it’s before 10am and I’m craving wine… time to head to Napa!

For a day spent in Napa this might be the fewest number of wineries I visited; 3. Got to the first one around noon and finished dinner around 7.

The first stop was Pride. I hadn’t been here since they well before the put in the new tasting room. All my memories were of the small wooden bar in the small building on the side. Russell hosted and he was great. Another car nut like myself he whipped out the latest Robb Report to show Pride in the background (and a few cars I can’t dream of affording in the foreground). We started with the 07 Chardonnay. It was good but unremarkable. Not much distinctive about it but it had pretty good balance. Could have used a little more acidity IMO. From there we walked into the caves to taste the 06 Merlot and Cab with a special treat of barrel tasting the ‘07 Merlot and the Vintner’s Select Cab. We ended with the Mistelle Di Viognier. Pure honey, almost overpoweringly so. It reminded me I still have some I picked up in 98 and 99 their first two years making it. With the high alcohol content it should have aged well. May find out tonight. Finally I walked up the hill at Pride to the picnic area to check out the views. It was an amazingly clear day and gorgeous. I could have stayed there all day with a few bottles to enjoy.

The next stop was down the hill a bit at Charbay. Although they weren’t technically open Susan was nice enough to pour the full gamut of Charbay wines anyway. I love the creativity in all their products. I wish they would allow tastings of their spirits (permit limitation) but still the wines were great! I don’t remember all the wines but I left with 7 bottles including one of their wine-based pomegranate apertif. They had a “masculine rose” that was pretty good. Definitely unique and interesting. If the sun comes out today that’s what I’m opening. I know I picked up 2 ports as well. I thought they reminded me a bit of the Schweiger ports… Susan mentioned Andy uses their brandy so it makes sense. This was the biggest surprise and probably the nicest experience of the day. One to remember for future visits to Napa.

Stopped at Sunshine Foods for a quick sandwich break. Mmmm, prosciutto on soft sourdough. Out of this world good!

Finally did a cannonball run across the valley floor into Angwin to “Outpost” as per Andrew McNees’ recommendation. Wow, this place is out in the boonies but it’s worth the drive. HUGE, powerful Howell Mtn wines. The Petite Sirah is a monster and the Cab is exactly what you’d expect from Howell Mtn. Huge, extracted, inky. The view rivals Pride’s as well.

Dinner at Ad hoc was good. Not extraordinary like my first time there but good all the same. It started with a great spring salad. Although not a salad person somehow I always love the ones at ad hoc. The duck “ham” was tasty. The smoke was a little over the top and a little less would have made it perfect. The buttermilk fried chicken was perfect! exactly what ad hoc is all about, simple food done perfectly. I was a bit too full to enjoy the black butte cheese and blood orange jam but the little bite I had was good. The hazelnut roulade dessert was forgettable. Just kinda boring for what I expect from ad hoc.

All in all a great trip, especially for waking up on a Monday and thinking “What should I do today? oh yeah… go to Napa.”