Touring Napa Valley on Bikes (circa 2002)
Back in September, my lady and I decided that we wanted to take a bicycle tour of the Napa Valley. We are relatively novice bicyclists, going about 5-10 miles when we ride here at home. That day, we rode about 30 miles:
We started at the corner of Trower and Solano Road. We rode north on Solano until we got to Yountville. We were going to eat lunch there, but it was kind of early for lunch, so we went east on Yountville Cross road to S. Anderson winery. We did the morning tour there, and it was pretty interesting. We went in the caves and did some tastings inside. There, they showed us where they aged their sparkling wine. They still do it in the Champaign tradition:
Step 1: Ferment
Step 2: Rack/Age
Step 3: Bottle with an old-school bottlecap.
Step 4: Add some sugar
Step 5: Yeast eats sugar, splits (basically) in half producing alcohol and carbon dioxide (bubbles)
Step 6: As the yeast finishes, it settles to the bottom of the neck (the bottle is almost upside down). The bottle is rotated ¼ turn several times over 10 years.
Step 7: Dip top of bottle in liquid nitrogen (or the like) and the sediment (and some champagne) will freeze.
Step 8: Open bottle (pressure will shoot the frozen cap out)
Step 9: Add sugar for residual flavor.
Step 8: cork it.
Our tour guide there recommended we stop at Oakville grocery for lunch. It was a bit out of the way, but we rode to it, and indeed, it was a good lunch.
After lunch, we rode back to the Silverado trail, and throughout the afternoon, stopped at various wineries along the way south back to the bike shop. We managed to stay relatively sober, due to all of the biking and extra water intake required because of it. Also, the actual drinking was pretty well spaced out because it isn’t like driving, where it takes you 2 minutes to get to the next winery.
We ended up back at the shop and drove to our B & B, McClelland Priest. Lodgings there were part of our “tour” through NVBT. This place is the quintessential B&B with the personal touch. The owner/operator, Celeste, very much made you feel like a friend, rather than a hotel guest. Our room was out of sight, with a hot-tub that felt really good after a long day’s ride.
Celeste was on top of things, with wine and cheese set out for the guests as they arrive in the evening.
As part of the package, John gave us a gift certificate to Zuzu’s, a “tapas” restaurant that basically specializes in serving appetizers. It was pretty interesting. We drank some pretty good Cider. We haven’t had that stuff since we were in London.
The next morning, John had hired someone (named Dave) to give us a personal tour. Dave’s tour was great. Dave knew many of the vintners whose wineries at which we stopped. We didn’t have to pay for any tastings because Dave knew the owners (and for the guys he didn’t know, he nicely bullshitted our way in). There were two very notable stops. The first was at Del Grotto. We tasted the same Cabernet out of two different barrels—Minnesota Oak and French Oak. We personally liked that from the Minnesota Oak better. However, the trend in the Napa Valley is definitely toward the French oak. My guess is probably because it is more expensive. Granted, the wine is smoother from the French Oak, but I think that status has a lot more to do with it than one might guess. I wouldn’t be surprised if they preferred American oak in France.
The second memorable stop was at John Caldwell’s. This is a very small winery that makes some really great wine. Dave was knocking on doors and making himself at home, when we finally found John Caldwell in the back room titrating some wine blend. He gave us a taste of it. Fantastic!
The wine train was kind of a misnomer. Wine isn’t included in the tour! Then, they charge you the usual restaurant-inflated prices for relatively mediocre table wine. Oh well. Supposedly, this is one of THE things to do in Napa Valley, so we had to try it. Nice ride, at least.
The next morning, we took the bikes ourselves again. This time, we went for a ride through the hilly south Napa Valley. We actually only did a half day tour on this day. Our legs were tired, and we were going to head south to Santa Cruz to catch Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet that evening.
We started at the corner of Trower and Solano Road. We rode north on Solano until we got to Yountville. We were going to eat lunch there, but it was kind of early for lunch, so we went east on Yountville Cross road to S. Anderson winery. We did the morning tour there, and it was pretty interesting. We went in the caves and did some tastings inside. There, they showed us where they aged their sparkling wine. They still do it in the Champaign tradition:
Step 1: Ferment
Step 2: Rack/Age
Step 3: Bottle with an old-school bottlecap.
Step 4: Add some sugar
Step 5: Yeast eats sugar, splits (basically) in half producing alcohol and carbon dioxide (bubbles)
Step 6: As the yeast finishes, it settles to the bottom of the neck (the bottle is almost upside down). The bottle is rotated ¼ turn several times over 10 years.
Step 7: Dip top of bottle in liquid nitrogen (or the like) and the sediment (and some champagne) will freeze.
Step 8: Open bottle (pressure will shoot the frozen cap out)
Step 9: Add sugar for residual flavor.
Step 8: cork it.
Our tour guide there recommended we stop at Oakville grocery for lunch. It was a bit out of the way, but we rode to it, and indeed, it was a good lunch.
After lunch, we rode back to the Silverado trail, and throughout the afternoon, stopped at various wineries along the way south back to the bike shop. We managed to stay relatively sober, due to all of the biking and extra water intake required because of it. Also, the actual drinking was pretty well spaced out because it isn’t like driving, where it takes you 2 minutes to get to the next winery.
We ended up back at the shop and drove to our B & B, McClelland Priest. Lodgings there were part of our “tour” through NVBT. This place is the quintessential B&B with the personal touch. The owner/operator, Celeste, very much made you feel like a friend, rather than a hotel guest. Our room was out of sight, with a hot-tub that felt really good after a long day’s ride.
Celeste was on top of things, with wine and cheese set out for the guests as they arrive in the evening.
As part of the package, John gave us a gift certificate to Zuzu’s, a “tapas” restaurant that basically specializes in serving appetizers. It was pretty interesting. We drank some pretty good Cider. We haven’t had that stuff since we were in London.
The next morning, John had hired someone (named Dave) to give us a personal tour. Dave’s tour was great. Dave knew many of the vintners whose wineries at which we stopped. We didn’t have to pay for any tastings because Dave knew the owners (and for the guys he didn’t know, he nicely bullshitted our way in). There were two very notable stops. The first was at Del Grotto. We tasted the same Cabernet out of two different barrels—Minnesota Oak and French Oak. We personally liked that from the Minnesota Oak better. However, the trend in the Napa Valley is definitely toward the French oak. My guess is probably because it is more expensive. Granted, the wine is smoother from the French Oak, but I think that status has a lot more to do with it than one might guess. I wouldn’t be surprised if they preferred American oak in France.
The second memorable stop was at John Caldwell’s. This is a very small winery that makes some really great wine. Dave was knocking on doors and making himself at home, when we finally found John Caldwell in the back room titrating some wine blend. He gave us a taste of it. Fantastic!
The wine train was kind of a misnomer. Wine isn’t included in the tour! Then, they charge you the usual restaurant-inflated prices for relatively mediocre table wine. Oh well. Supposedly, this is one of THE things to do in Napa Valley, so we had to try it. Nice ride, at least.
The next morning, we took the bikes ourselves again. This time, we went for a ride through the hilly south Napa Valley. We actually only did a half day tour on this day. Our legs were tired, and we were going to head south to Santa Cruz to catch Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet that evening.
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