Bay Area Trip Day 17 (Still more wine tasting)

We are at a point in our wine tasting extravaganza that we have pretty well settled into our tastes of specifically what we like and don't like, which makes it very hard to find exactly what we're looking for, while at the same time we have to find three more wines to fill the case that we will be travelling home with.

The first stop was at Black Stallion Winery, which had a really lovely property. I also appreciated that the staff was not into high pressure sales, most places try to keep you at their tasting bar and keep you talking, but Black Stallion encouraged you to take your wine, go sit outside or look around the property then come back to get your next taste. While I liked the atmosphere, and the property, I wasn't such a fan of the wines, maybe because I'm at a point in the trip where I've gotten very picky, or maybe because their wines were very tannen heavy which I'm not so keen on, but either way I was a little underwhelmed by their wines, which was too bad, because I really wanted to like their stuff.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

After Black Stallion, we went over to one of the oldest wineries in the area, Regusci Winery. Many of the wineries in this area are home to large, ornate visitor centers and tasting rooms, and this one had one as well but the feel of it was more inviting, more social, less presumptuous. This had the feel of a working farm, albeit an extraordinarily nice, new, and manicured farm, but a farm nonetheless. And their wines were quite good as well.
Our last stop of the day was probably the best, James Cole. It had a young, hip staff and great pours. The prices there were a little higher than we would have liked to been paying but we splurged on two bottles there anyway, their 2011 old vine red blend called Il Mostro. The second was a spectacular 2011 Merlot Icewine. One usually doesn't see merlot grapes used in a dessert wine but James Cole managed to do it to great effect. It brought the flavor back from the overly rich sweetness that many dessert wines are, to a milder flavor that was stellar.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Bay Area Trip Day 16 (Wine, Wine & more Wine)

(photo by Ursa Davis)

The number of wineries in the Napa Valley region is really staggering. It's tough to even scratch the surface on visiting them all. But the good news is that it is hard to find bad wines around here.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

The best way that I have heard it described is that a winemaker is like a chef, he decides what he wants to make and the process and tools to make it with, but ultimately it is the ingredients that determine if the end product is good or bad. If you have the best ingredients, the odds are you'll cook a great meal. Simply put, Napa Valley grows great grapes and the wines of the region reflect that in their quality.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Speaking of the quality of how the grapes are grown, Jarvis Winery takes particular care to manage their grapes in the field, spacing their rows farther apart than any other winery in order to keep the shadows of the other plants off of the grapes, keeping them dryer, and less prone to mildew. By doing this they sacrifice the quantity of wine that they produce for a higher quality.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Of the many wine tours and tastings that we've been on since being here, the best tour, hands down, has been at Jarvis Winery. The entire winery was built underground in tunnels dug by a boring machine used to build the Chunnel. Their facility is really beautiful and their wines are amazing. I couldn't get past their Cabernet Franc which usually is a varietal that I don't like. I'm not a huge fan of really tannen heavy wines, and Cab Francs are some of the most tanneny, but Jarvis' was really drinkable. I won't go so far as to say that it was light, because it's not supposed to be, but it was mellow for such a bold varietal. All of their wines were stellar, they were crafted for quality and it showed in their flavor... and their price.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Another tour that we took was to Silver Oak Winery. This is one of my father's favorite wines and we would be remiss if we didn't take his recommend. But that is the thing about wine, it is all so subjective. What is great to one person is not as good to the next. None of it is bad of course, but I found Silver Oak's cabernets to be rather average compared to the others that we have tried in the area. It was however a lovely facility and a tour well worth taking.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

For my money, the best wines we have tasted in Napa have been at Cliff Lede Vineyards. One after another were really dynamite. We bought two bottles there, the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc which may be the best sauv blanc I have ever had, and the FEL Chardonnay 2012 which was a fruit forward, non malic chardonnay that was outstanding. Our host, Art, was also extraordinarily helpful, and full of good recommends, and knowledge of all things wine.
Just down the road from Cliff Lede was Goosecross Winery. Goosecross is our favorite kind of farmhouse style wine maker that has a fun, friendly atmosphere. We laughed and joked and had generous pourings of some very good wines. They had only the problem of geography, because to try the wines at Goosecross so shortly after the amazing wines at Cliff Lede did them a disservice.
Last but not least was Girard Winery which had the funnest patrons of all the wineries we were at. Girard was a tasting room actually in town, so the place was a little more full with foot traffic than the other places strung out a little further afield. I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, because, while we had more fun and fonder memories of the place, we paid much less attention to the wines and the host than to our fellow patrons.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Bay Area Trip Day 14 (wine tasting begins)

And now we finally get to the serious business of drinking some wine. We started our wine tasting journey in the town of St Helena which was a cool little town with a great downtown area.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Our first winery was Beringer Winery which was absolutely gorgeous. The winery oldest winery in continuous use in Napa Valley. It's original winery building was built in 1876 and open for the harvest of 1877, and it's hand dug tunnels into the hillside were completed by 1880. The rock that the tunnels are made of keeps a perfect temperature year round. The main house, which is the stunning centerpiece of the estate, was completed in 1884, and is a gorgeous 17 room mansion. Our tour was very nice, and we got to taste wine which was still aging, straight from the cask. Our favorite was their dessert wine, 2007 Nightingale which was able to avoid the trap that most dessert wines fall into of being hyper-sweet and heavy, this had a much more refined flavor.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

After leaving Beringer, our next stop was Casa Nuestra Winery. Both Ursa and I have always preferred these smaller vineyards to the large estates. They always have an atmosphere that is more fun, and friendly and just an all around better experience. When you find something that you really like there is more of that feeling of having discovered a diamond in the rough, which appeals to the hipster in me. To compare how good the wine at Casa Nuestra was to the other wineries that we visited, this was the only place that we bought multiple bottles from, and that should say enough. Their 2012 Verdelho was especially good.
From Casa Nuestra it was off to Charles Krug winery, which is part of the Peter Mondavi family wineries. We had a delightful conversation with our hostess during the tasting, who poured us very generous portions. Of all the wines we sampled today, Charles Krug's 2012 Sauvignon Blanc was the single best, and not by a small margin either. That was a really spectacular wine.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

After that it was time for dinner and we headed over to Tra Vigne on a recommendation from a friend. And what a stellar recommendation it was! The food was wonderful, I had the duck leg risotto, and Ursa had the butternut squash ravioli. But the real gold star of the meal was the appetizer. The simplest of dishes, featuring home made mozzarella on bread, drizzled with olive oil and a little salt and viola! you have maybe the most memorable dish that I'v had in California. When you have great, fresh ingredients, you don't have to do anything flashy.

Bay Area Trip Day 13 (On the Farm)

The thinking that we had when we booked our trip was to have a week of lots of planned activities and events in San Francisco, followed by a week of relaxing in Napa Valley. To that end, we took a day to recharge our batteries yesterday. But boy did we have the place to do it at. We rented this little 2 room cottage on the property of a working farm just south of Sonoma. Right outside our door there are sheep, and goats in pens. Yes you heard me sheep and goats... baby sheep... with a cuteness factor of 11. And there is a little feed dispenser to give the animals treats. So of course Ursa and I spent the whole morning feeding and petting the goats.
Aside from the animals, is just the piece and quiet of being on a farm. It was an ideal setting while still having a convenient, centralized location to get around the area. Now if you'll excuse me there are some goats in need of petting.

Bay Area Trip Day 12 (Driving to Napa Valley)

(photo by Ursa Davis)

We got checked out of our place this morning and picked up our rental car and took it up to Napa Valley. But before we left San Francisco we had one last landmark that we needed to hit. In fact it was THE landmark. The iconic Golden Gate Bridge has stood as a symbol of San Francisco since it it's opening in 1937. It's art deco support towers make it one of the most beautiful, and certainly the most photographed, bridges in the world. This got me to reminiscing about what bridges I remember the most fondly. I remember how excited I was driving into Boston for the first time and crossing the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, and the 59 tiny bridges that dot the curves of the road to Hana on Maui are gorgeous, certainly the I. B. Perinne Bridge that spans the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho, where I grew up, and the most memorable bridge in the most beautiful city I've ever been was Pont Neuf in Paris.
Back in California... After getting some photos of the bridge and some great views of the city, we stopped off for lunch in Sausalito, at a little diner called Fred's Place. One of the things that I really like that we've seen at several different restaurants since we've been here is social seating. I kind of like it when you get sat down at a table with strangers, it gives you a chance to meet new people while enjoying your lunch. I was actually feeling breakfasty and got pancakes even though it was past noon.
We drove on from Sausalito to the place we are renting for the week, just south of Sonoma. I won't go into our drive through wine country because wine country is the purpose of this leg of our trip and I'm sure that I'll get into that ad nausium in the coming days.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Bay Area Trip Day 11 (Chinatown)

(photo by Ursa Davis)

We would be remiss if we failed to explore San Francisco's most iconic neighborhood, Chinatown. This is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia. Ursa and I have visited many Chinatowns throughout the US and Canada which had given us some assumptions about what size to expect, but the SF Chinatown was way bigger. It just kept going on for blocks and blocks.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

We did some great shopping for chatchkies to give to friends as gifts. Consequently, I suppose that I'd best not tell the world what we picked up, but suffice to say that I was surprised by the variety and quality of shopping to be done. Normally I am not one for knick knack shops but all of the ones we went to in Chinatown had tons of great stuff. For myself I got a scroll with coy painted on it to hang on my wall at work (coy are a symbol of prosperity, so a workplace decoration seemed appropriate) and for our house, Ursa and I got a lovely Saki set. In the end, we had to quit shopping because we were running out of space in our luggage to carry any more home with us.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

After shopping for gifts, we went shopping for tea. Ursa has a much better taste for tea than I do. Not that I don't enjoy tea, but I have never grown an appreciation for it on the level that she has. But that is why it was so interesting for me to sit down for a tea tasting at Vital Tea Leaf. Trying several types of teas, one after the other, brings out flavors that you would never pick up by drinking them on their own. To make the experience even better was a super fun couple that sat down with us and of course the charming owner Ming Dong who chatted with us while he poured tea after tea. Vital Tea Leaf turned out to be one of our favorite experiences in San Francisco.
Once we were done with tea tasting, and made a few quality purchases, Ming recommended a restaurant for us to have dinner at. Y and Z Restaurant was authentic szechuan hot pepper goodness, and a perfect way to end our trip to Chinatown, and our last day in San Francisco.

(photo by Ursa Davis)

Bay Area Trip Day 10 (Jazz)

Last night was very much the kind of swanky, big city, night on the town that one hopes for. An elegant dinner, followed by a great jazz show, and a decadent dessert to end the night.
For dinner we went to Bisou Bistro, an amazing restaurant in the Castro featuring French cuisine. It was a culinary delight. First of all, I like food porn. I like it when my plate looks pretty, it adds to the experience. And Bisou did a great job of plating their food. We had an appetizer of escargot which was given a rich flavor from a marrow sauce. For the entree, Ursa had oysters, and I had the lamb which was succulent. Together with a couple glasses of wine, it was a meal to remember.

After dinner we hopped on the metro and rode downtown to the new performance venue, SFJAZZ. Playing tonight was the Amina Figarova Sextet. The venue itself is worth note: The Joe Henderson Lab is one of the rooms on the lower level of SFJAZZ and is a perfect size for an intimate performance. It is surrounded by large glass windows which allow you to see the cityscape move by to the rhythm of the artists and really added to the show.
Originally from Azerbaijan, now relocated to New York City, Ms Figarova is an acclaimed pianist, who put on a great performance. Her band was also fantastic including her husband on the flute. Yes, you heard me right, the jazz flute. Straight up Ron Burgundy style with the mustache and all. I couldn't get the thought of Well Ferrell out of my head all night.

After the show we walked around the corner to Schulzies Bread Pudding. This establishment was featured on the hit TV show Shark Tank, and offers a variety of brilliantly flavored bread puddings served ice cream parlor style. What a great idea for a dessert place!

Bay Area Trip Day 9 (Michio Kaku)

I'm not going to lie, today we took a much needed slow day around the house today, and didn't accomplish much with our afternoon. Both of us are nursing sore feet from all of the walking that we've been doing. Man, it's hell getting old I tell 'ya. We did not flit the whole day away however. In the evening we had planned to head out to the UC Berkeley campus to see a lecture by the world renowned theoretical physicist, Dr. Michio Kaku.
Of all the really great events that we had booked for this trip, I was looking forward to this one the most. I can't believe what a great find this was by Ursa.

Dr. Kaku is, first and foremost, a really funny guy. That is a big part of what makes him a great lecturer and educator, he makes you laugh. He also loops his points back to popular culture, explaining physics by referencing movies that have used a similar concept, which allows the audience to not get overwhelmed by the subject matter. This is how he has managed to have two books so far on the New York Times Bestseller list with the word "physics" in the title.
In his previous books such as Physics of the Impossible, and Physics of the Future, Dr. Kaku discusses the advancement of technology and how it will conceivably work, but in his new book, The Future of the Mind, he looks inward at what makes us who we are and how we will soon be able to effect it.
Already, scientists are developing brain implants that can help the disabled to type, move robotic arms, even whole exoskeletons all with the power of their mind. Will we also have surrogate robots that we can control with our minds to do dangerous tasks like going into space, or fighting fires? Will such chips eventually allow us to connect to the internet, and communicate with each other using only our mind? The answer to these questions is, remarkably, yes.
President Obama also recently announced the BRAIN initiative to map all of the neuro pathways in the human brain. When completed, this project, like the human genome project before it, will open up an amazing world of understanding and possibilities. We will unlock the mysteries of mental illness and potentially help hundreds of millions of people. We will also be able to digitize and store a complete rendering of a person's mind, Dr. Kaku claims this means that when a person dies, their mind can live on inside a computer. So at some point in the future you will be given two disks, one containing your genome (which maps who you are physically) and one containing your connectome (which maps who you are intellectually).
All this and more will be on the horizon for mankind. Dr. Kaku is a fascinating lecturer and a great writer and I still can't believe how lucky we were to have been able to attend this event.