Napa Walk

Napa, California---One thing I have loved about EVERYONE I have visited in California is that they love where they live. It’s not like that in Florida…people complain about it. But here, everyone is proud of where they live.

Nothing is truer than Napa Valley.

A client friend of mine had relocated to Napa Valley with her husband three years ago and a nephew who relocated recently. Although I have told everyone to go on with their lives and not feel like they have to entertain me, these friends were anxious to show me around and I was not going to stop them!

So for two days the routine was similar. Go to a vineyard. Taste wine. Go to another vineyard. Taste wine. Have lunch. Go to a vineyard. Taste wine.

 

TAKE NAP.

How is it that just a little bit of each wine can put me in under the table? The friend laughed and said that all their visitors have done the same thing; taken a long nap after a day of tastings.

The first day they laughed at me walking up to their condo. “Look, she’s doing the Napa Walk.” I pointed out that I was walking straight and not drunk. They agreed but still said they’d seen it before…

The second day was my favorite as we visited MUMM a “sparkling winery”---that’s champagne that can’t be called Champagne because the grapes were not grown in a specific area of the world. Regardless, I call it Champagne and I love it.

This was followed by the most beautiful winery I’ve seen to date: Darioush.  A Persian themed Palace with fabulous wine, good looking men who work there, and an interesting tour to the basement for tastings directly from several kegs and a look at the private tasting room of the owner.

And her having friends at both places didn’t hurt either.

Seeing a broad spectrum of Napa Valley with the beautiful vineyards everywhere you turned with perfect weather was just about as good as it got. But it got better.

Turns out I got to know a whole different person that had once been a business client in Florida. She is an award winning contest chef in the amateur category who not only knows endless information about cooking, she has one of the best tasting palettes I’ve ever known and could rattle off the elements in the wine we were tasting.  Everywhere we went I loved asking her and getting an education about not only the flavors in the wine but the whole spectrum of food and wine and how it can inter-relate.  It was like having a personal trainer for wine.

Everyone has a story and theirs has had struggles and pain within it. But sometimes that can give way to a new beginning. Like I said, it is so great to be submerged in the attitude of loving life. And they certainly do.

What’s not to love? It’s Napa.