United States
Napa

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    • Day 20

      Rodando en Napa Valley

      July 12, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      Hoy desde el corazón ❤️ de Napa recorriendo los viñedos, "las wineries" y la zona llena de árboles frutales y naturaleza. Estuvimos alrededor de 2 horas pedaleando bajo un cielo azul y un día soleado!

    • Day 12

      The Wine Train

      September 10, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      The Wine Train is a relaxed, elegant day out. It is all very civilised and well organised. Several routes are run every day and passengers gather
      In large meeting room reminiscent of a sofa clad departure lounge. You are shown to your carriage according to your destination. The carriages are Pullman types mostly built around 1915. They have been lovingly and lavishly restored using mahogany panelling, brass accents, velveteen armchairs and the tables are beautifully laid ready for lunch. The train gently travels north through the Napa Valley, which in common with all the wine growing valleys we have seen all over the world, is hemmed in with mountain ranges, which together with the soil and climate help create the perfect conditions for growing grapes and making wine. Wineries line the train track and vines stretch as far as the eye can see. Probably the two most well known names here are Robert Mondavi and Grgich Hills and it was to the latter that the Wine Train delivered us. The first two courses were served before we arrived and the food was delicious. How the chefs produce food of that calibre on the move and in such cramped conditions is beyond me. A lively knowledgeable lady called Toni showed us around the winery, combining process with tasting in an action packed hour. We were lucky enough to have a fun and friendly group which added to the experience and the tasting continued on the return, together with the final two courses of our lunch. It was a fun day.
      Miljenko (Mike)Grgich is 96 years old and still checks on his operations daily. He came from Croatia as a young man, with a wine background and bringing with him the Zinfandel grape. Robert Mondavi employed Mike as a young winemaker and then he moved to the Montelena winery. It was whilst he was with Montelena that he created the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that beat the French at their own game, in the Paris Blind tasting competition in 1976 and put Napa Valley on the serious wine producing map. He later set up his own winery with his friend Austin Hills (of the Hills coffee family) and has been there ever since with continuing success. We tasted five wines. The Fume’ Blanc was great, Chardonnay iffy to me, but I’m no Chardonnay lover, Zinfandel yuk (horrible aftertaste on the tongue), good Merlot and a reserve Chardonnay, that has similarly won multiple awards and even I admit was really good.
      We plan to visit one or two other wineries tomorrow. Interestingly, there is quite a high charge at all the wineries for a tasting. There was talk today about the decrease in visitors to the wineries and all sorts of theories put forward as to why. In all the countries where we have visited wineries only once was a small charge made ( Cloudy Bay in New Zealand) and yet this was not mentioned as a possible cause. The minimum charge is $25 and can rise to $45. I would think this must be having an effect.
      This morning, after some housekeeping (haircut & the laundromat!), we set off for the Hess winery in the hills above Napa. This was recommended as an excellent winery, with lunch, a wine tasting and an interesting modern art collection to view. It was a glorious day and a beautiful drive up into the hills. On arrival, the winery was superbly set in gardens with modern sculpture dotted around; very much to our taste. However, on enquiry no lunch, despite the recommendation and information on the website, consequently no tasting, as we needed the food first. I do feel these wineries are missing a trick. The food doesn’t have to be in the Heston Blumenthal bracket, something a lot simpler would suffice and I feel it would attract and hold people. As a consequence, we ducked the wine tasting and went to view the modern art collection. Some was interesting and fabulous, some Peter felt he could have knocked off between main course and desert!
      To my total surprise in one gallery was an exhibition by the British Landscape artist Andy Goldsworth. Andy is much admired by me and others within the floral art world, due to his inspirational use of natural objects in his work. Born in Cheshire and now residing in Dumfries and Galloway, he was the last artist I would have expected to view in California. His pieces had clearly been executed in residence and were for me the stars of the show, although there were some fine pieces by Francis Bacon not to be ignored.
      We rather gave up on the wine tasting after that, as having rediscovered Wholefoods ( superb grocery store) and having devoured lunch we decided to peruse the very good outlet mall and stock up on some essentials. There was no jumping in and out of itinerant cars, but a certain waving about of the ubiquitous credit card.
      I must include a poster that I took a photograph of before leaving Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite. California has a reputation of being a bit ‘out there and alternative’ in the rest of the US and this may partly explain why!
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    • Day 111

      Sacramento & Napa Valley

      November 12, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      Did a tourist drive via Sacramento to Napa for lunch. Then had to fight the crazy traffic into San Francisco.

      We have a very nice hotel for the 3 nights in SF. Specifically looked for a unit with a kitchen to prepare the Pheasant from Sutton bay.

      The breasts were vacuum packed in a little cooler and we had to freeze them every night.

      What a nice bird to eat🥰
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    • Day 11

      The Napa Valley

      September 9, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      Yesterday, we travelled up from Yosemite to the Napa Valley; a long but uneventful drive. You could say we have moved from the spiritual to the spirit! Today we have explored the town of Napa itself, which is classic middle America, well presented, leafy and clean. It is only about an hour from San Francisco and consequently is a favourite for weekends. Two valleys lay side by side, Napa and Sonoma, both famous for their wines and there are certainly plenty of wineries to chose from. One interesting thing we have noticed since arriving here, is the proliferation of microbreweries and the production of local good quality beers, or so Peter tells me. This would have been unheard of thirty years ago when we first came to America. A gassy lager was the best you could hope for and now there are beer flights to accompany the wine version. We had supper tonight at the Stone Brewery, a large converted warehouse on the river, very atmospheric and with more draught beers on offer than you could shake a stick at.
      Our day tomorrow consists of a trip on the Napa Wine Train. A vintage well appointed train which serves a gourmet lunch whilst cruising the valley. We are to stop at one of the oldest wineries for a tour and a tasting. I’ll let you know how it goes.
      There was one incident of mirth worth mentioning this morning. We parked our car in a designated car park to go and investigate a couple of restaurants. On returning to the car Peter was ahead of me and I hopped into the car as usual and went to put my seat belt on. It took me a second or two to twig that my maps were not in the side pocket and the water bottles in the central console weren’t familiar. I looked up to find no Peter in the driver’s seat and realised that I had jumped into the wrong car! They were both dark grey identical SUVs - an easy mistake I keep telling myself. I’m simply relieved the car’s owner wasn’t in situ and embarrassing explanations could be avoided. My bad luck was that the identikit model had been left unlocked. I was out of there in no time and dashed to our own to find PL in fits of laughter as you can imagine. I will endeavour to behave tomorrow!
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    • Day 7

      Going out in Napa town

      April 8, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

      Our airbnb was in the suburb of Napa, about 2 miles from the town center. We decided to ignore our host's advice about taking an uber (thinking that she's just being American about it and thinks walking is unthinkable). In the end it took us about 40-50 minutes to get to the centre, as the town was really not designed to walk, so we had some quite difficult times trying to go around motorways (and not walking on them like Google suggested). Apart from the motorway problems it was a nice walk in typical American suburbia, which was interesting to see (once). In town we first had some frozen yogurt (trying out basically all of the possible flavours before buying some, basically doubling our consumption). Then we went to a bbq and wine bar, so finally Seamus could consume his own glass of wine. We didn't plan on eating anything originally, but everything smelled so amazingly smoky, that in the e d we ordered a smoked beef brisket sandwich and shared it, it was really delicious, and basically a perfect amount for the two of us.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Napa, نابا, Напа, ناپا، کالیفرنیا, APC, ナパ, 나파, नापा, ناپا, 94558, แนปา, ناپا، کیلی فورنیا, 纳帕

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