Touring Napa with Justin and Katie

Hi Blog! As part of our friends and family time in the San Francisco Bay Area, we did a Napa Valley wine tasting tour with Justin and Katie on Monday, October 14th.  We called our old friend, Tom Delaney of Vino Van Wine Tours.  Katie discovered Tom when she first came out to San Francisco back in 2006.  Vino Van Tours is just Tom and his minivan.  He is a true wine nut that gave up his day job to take folks around to all his favorite wineries.  This was our third tour with Tom and we wouldn't hesitate to tour with him again next time we're back in this area.  Since this was to be Justin's first time touring, we told Tom we needed to take Justin to some really cool, unique and beautiful places that also happen to make really great red wine.  Justin especially likes pinot noirs, and, coincidentally, so do we.  For Tom, requests like that are no problem.

Our first stop was Etude so we could try their award winning Pinot Noir.  They grow twenty Pinot Noir clones, including 10 low yielding heirloom varieties. As the grapes approach harvest, they are protected from hungry starlings by a falconer and a team of trained falcons. How cool is that.  As we arrived they were loading a grape press.

If you look closely, you can see the grape juice coming out of the bottom of the press.

As we walked over to the tasting room, we could see radiator fluid leaking out of the bottom of Tom's minivan.  Oh, no - was this to be the beginning and end of our tour?  Tom sent us on in for our tasting. While we contemplated the subtle differences of the various vintages, Tom was able to sort out a garage to repair the leak and a rental car place that had a minivan.  He asked if we wouldn't mind chilling out in the garden and waiting for him to come back with the rental.  So, we bought a bottle of 2009 Carneros Pino Noir and soaked up some sun.  Before we knew it, Tom was back with his new ride.

Since we ended up spending a little extra time at Etude, we opted to skip the next winery and go straight to lunch.  Tom booked us a table on the patio at Brix. Not only is the setting absolutely beautiful, they grow almost all of their own vegetables and fruit (not to mention grapes for their own wine) in the gardens out back.

After lunch, we stopped at our most favorite place in all of Napa - Inglenook Estate - now owned by Francis Ford Coppola.  In 1975, Francis and Eleanor Coppola purchased part of the historic Inglenook Estate, including over 1400 acres of land and founder Gustave Niebaum's Victorian home and carriage house.  Coppola renamed the estate Niebaum-Coppola and in 1978 produced the first vintage of Rubicon.  This is the view looking at the estate's beautiful fountain and, behind it, across Napa Valley.

In 1995, the Coppolas purchased the remaining part of the original property, which included the Inglenook Chateau and approximately 90 acres of vineyards, thus restoring the Estate to its historic dimensions. The Coppolas restored the Chateau and grounds to grandeur, making it one of the most beautiful visitor destinations in the Napa Valley.  This is Katie heading into the Chateau for our tasting.

Our last stop was Spring Mountain Vineyard.  While we love the history and grandeur that is Inglenook, Spring Mountain is just as historic, but in a quiet, beautiful country setting.  Here is Katie examining for spider mites on the grape vines.  Don't worry, Spring Mountain, she didn't find any of the bad variety of spider mite!

The boys, on the other hand, were more interested in the tasting menu.  The Spring Mountain wines are fantastic.  (Katie actually joined the wine club.)  We took two bottles of their 2010 Pinot Noir home with us - one to have with our "Million Dollar Chicken Sandwiches" and the other to save for a special occasion.  We got back in town just in time to return the rental car and pick up Tom's minivan.

After Tom dropped us off and we were relaxing in our living room, Justin noticed one of the campground cats decided it liked Great White.  The little one made himself right at home on top of the front tire and under the fender.  We decided we'd better be very careful before we start up Great White next time, so that we don't have any little hitchhikers - or worse.

After feasting on sandwiches, chugging down the last of the wine and solving all the problems of the world, it was off to bed.  The next morning, Justin and Katie got to wake up with Eddie and George.  Even Luckie, our scaredy cat joined in the photo.

Before breakfast, we walked over to Starbucks to get our day fired up.  Upon our return to the RV, Kathy whipped up some eggs benedict.  We sent Justin and Katie off on the next leg of their adventure: a drive north along the California coast to Bodega Bay.  We already can't wait to see them again at T.O. and Michelle's wedding in November.

Bon Voyage, you two!