Napa, Day 2

Day Two
We started the day with a tour of the Seguin Moreau Cooperage at 8 am. After being in our hotel rooms for less than ten hours, I was expecting to be really tired, but this was a great way to wake up. For those of you who made it to the Seattle wine club party in 2008, these are the same guys who did barrel toasting demonstrations for us that night. The whole room smelled like baking bread (actually toasting oak) and I really wanted a marshmallow to roast over a smoldering barrel.


Above is the room where the barrel construction takes place. Through a process of applied heat and moisture, the barrels are shaped into form. Below, Charlie talks toast.
After the barrels are put together and toasted to perfection, they go on to be tested, tested again, fitted with new bands, sanded and hit with a laser. With less than 20 guys working, they average 50 barrels per day. Chris (our tour guide of sorts) said that if they have a big order, they can make it up to 100 barrels, and during really busy times, they'll be around 150. That's a lot of handmade barrels!

VISIT TWO, DAY TWO: Grgich Hills. I wanted the group to come here to learn a bit about the history of the valley, but I think we all gained so much more than that. Sure, we learned about Mike Grgich, the judgement of 1976 where Chateau Montelena Chardonnay beat out all the Burgundy whites, and the progression to 70,000 cases from there. However, we also learned about biodynamic farming (to which Pam said, "you're doing what with the cows what?") and how a big time winery can still seem small and humble.
The barrel room wasn't quite as shiny as some of the others we saw on our trip, but they sure did have an impressive racking system. That's me below, checking out the balance of all these full barrels.

John led us on a great tour, tasted us on some fun wines (we all like the Chardonnay for some reason...), and after this, we started to worry about where all of our purchases were going to fit in the van.

After Grgich, we took John's recommendation and stopped at Taylor's Refresher for lunch. Getting there just before the high school kids, we snagged a picnic table in the sun (yea!) and all enjoyed burgers and sweet potato fries.

VISIT THREE: HALL, Rutherford. We finally left the St. Helena Highway and crossed over to the Silverado Trail. By this point in time, the sun was out, and we were loving it. We carefully followed HALL's directions up one of the steepest, windiest roads our rental van had ever seen and found ourselves at the beautiful estate overlooking the valley.

We were greeted with Sauvignon Blanc and left to soak in the views before getting a tour of the surrounding vineyards and the amazing production and storage facility.
The caves dug into the hillside are completely constructed with bricks from former Austrian palaces, laid by a team from Austria who specialize in cave design. All the way through the property and into the back of the caves were beautiful pieces of art, highlighted by the sculpture below. Made to look like the root system of a grape vine, this huge piece hung over a table for 32 (I counted after feeling so small at our one end of the table). What are all those sparkles? Oh, just 1500 Swarovski crystals. We tasted three cabs, and were all impressed by the warmth and hospitality that we felt during our visit.

VISIT THREE: Paraduxx

By this point in time, the sun had overtaken our moods and we were all overjoyed to be able to sit and do our tasting on the porch of Paraduxx's small, clean, tasting room. I swear, I am going to make this my house someday...

We tasted just a bit of wine while visiting Paraduxx. Three different vintages of their zinfandel based blends, a syrah-grenache blend and their sister winery's pinot noir, all with cheeses along side. We were a happy group.

What did I learn here? You can be a huge winery (or group of wineries) and still have a small, intimate tasting experience.For a lasting image of the trip...one of the most beautiful trees I've ever seen.