Patty's Birthday Trip Part I

When my older sister Patty turned 50, my younger sister Laurie and I offered her a free trip anywhere she chose. And Patty chose…Napa! Hooray! She wanted to do a wine tasting tour primarily, and I have to say I’ve never had as much fun putting a trip together. Because we did three days of wine tastings, I am breaking up the blog postings into three parts so it isn’t wine information overload. We tasted A LOT of wines, and fortunately I’d booked a limo for all three days, so no one was driving.

Patty drinks primarily white wines, which is a bit tougher in Napa, as most of the vineyards and the wineries focus on red wine varietals. However, there are some stellar whites to be had in Napa, and we found several, along with notable reds that I tasted.

Day One:

V. Sattui

This used to be my favorite place to take visitors, first because V. Sattui only sells their wines at the winery and not in any stores. Second, the place is beautiful. The grounds and buildings are reminiscent of Tuscany, and there is a nice picnic area where one can have a lovely lunch with food purchased from V. Sattui’s onsite deli. The pouring staff used to be really wonderful too, even when the place was crowded. On this visit, it was just another crank-‘em-out commercial enterprise, and the wines were not even worth writing about. It was a disappointment all around, other than the enjoyable lunch we had there.

Beaulieu Vineyards

This was a first-time visit for me, and I was very disappointed. We all were. The pourer was as disinterested as a McDonald’s server on a bad day, and spent more time taking our money than he did pouring, and certainly spent zero time telling us anything about the wines. Here is what we tasted:

Pinot Noir 2006

A soft nose with just a hint of fruit, this wine was better in taste, with good notes of tart cherry and rose, and just a hint of nutmeg. The finish had a nice peppery kick, and was decently smooth. I gave it 6 out of 10 points.

Red Blend 2006

I did not like this wine, I thought it was very sour, and all I wrote was “sour”, meaning I dumped it after one sip.

Syrah 2006

The nose was unimpressive, with a hint of slate and not much else. The wine was slightly dry and sour, with  rather muted flavors of plum and briar. I thought the wine seemed tight and somewhat tannic, and would be better aged another year or so. I gave this 5 out of 10 points.

Beaulieu Zinfandel 2006

This had a big nose, full of raisin and tart cherry. The wine was full-bodied and hot, with raisin, tart cherry, black pepper, and cinnamon. It had a bit of a rough finish, with a lingering peppery flavor. I gave it 7 out of 10 points.

We ended the day with dinner at Ristorante Allegria in downtown Napa, a delightful restaurant with pretty outdoor seating. They serve real, actual, blissful Italian food with lovely flavors. We did not have any wine, as we were fairly tipsy from our Happy Hour on the outdoor patio of our hotel, the spectacular and luxurious Avia, also in downtown Napa. Even though the winery visits were a disappointment, a so-so day in Napa still is a great day!

In the Beginning, There Was V. Sattui

In 2003, my husband Bill was contacted by a recruiter who had a Managing Consultant position available at a small construction consulting firm. When Bill came out to Sacramento to interview for the position, I came with him. I had friends whom I met while working for GE in Overland Park, KS, and these friends had moved to Napa in 2003 (or thereabouts, it's a bit hazy now!) After the interviews, we caught up with Heather and Paul and their children, and went for a drive through Napa.

One of the first places we stopped was the Oakville Market, a charming, tiny, market on Highway 29, the main road through Napa wine country. The place is a gormand's delight, nothing sold there would be found in a supermarket. The market sells everything from cheeses to bread to meats and fish, and all the condiments necessary to turn those ingredients into a heavenly meal that should be accompanied by an equally special wine. I'm not sure what we bought; my overriding memory is that Heather and Paul's oldest lost his stuffed owl in the market and we spent a good 30 minutes looking for it without success. For the boy, the day was ruined...he wasn't going to drink any wine, he didn't like the looks of the food we were buying, and his best friend was gone. It was a tragedy...for him, anyway.

Heather and Paul had a destination in mind, a destination with wines as special as all the wonderful food: V. Sattui Winery. Never heard of it? Unless you've been to Napa, you have no reason to have heard of it. The winery does not sell its wines to any distributor, you can only buy them at the winery or at their website (listed in my main page links.) The winery has charming old stone buildings and enormous, aged live oak trees, and a wonderful if small picnic area from which you can view the picturesque grounds. Unfortunately, it suffers from its exclusivity - everyone wants to stop there for a picnic, so competition for parking and picnic tables is always high. Heather and I managed to secure a table, though, by sending the kids running to the first one that opened up; the guys went into the winery to purchase wine and drinks for the kids.

Our experience was nearly ruined, though, when a winery employee approached us as we began unpacking our food. Turns out the winery has its own deli and does not allow food to be brought onto the grounds. Fortunately for me, Heather is a tall, gorgeous blonde with a sweet, innocent face, and she managed to convince the employee to let our food stay. He did ask us to hide the bags and of course we obliged. Next life, I'm coming back as a tall, gorgeous blonde instead of a nerdy, average brunette. Sigh.

Paul and Bill brought out several bottles of wine and something for the kids - couldn't say, didn't care what the kids got. We opened two bottles of wine, a Suzanne's Vineyard Cabernet is what I recall drinking that day. Full-bodied, with a wonderful smooth finish, the wine was rich with plum, dried cherry, leather and oak, and was perfectly aged. We've bought several different vintages of this wine since that day and never been disappointed.

V. Sattui was the perfect destination and a wonderful introduction to the charms of Napa, crowds and winery restrictions not withstanding. We have returned many times since then, sometimes with out-of-town guests, sometimes on our own, and it remains to this day one of our favorite wineries. Although we did not taste wines on that day, on subsequent visits we did - and were all the happier and richer for those visits.