Jim & Jamie’s Adventures In Napa

Sitting on Washington Street in Yountville, Bistro Jeanty welcomes you to a taste of France.  We entered a small dining room decorated much like you would see in Paris at a cafe, and then walked out onto the side patio, a large area for dining outdoors.  The menu is very “french” with menu items that still make my mouth water: foie gras pate, beef tartare, tomato soup with pastry crust, and cassoulet.  We weren’t going to order dessert but the chocolate galette and the creme brulee were just too tempting to miss.   The portions here are very large on everything.  You may find that you want to share and not order individually.  We wanted to sample a little bit of everything, stating that we would take the left-overs home for lunch the next day.  The flavors were too good to set aside and, sadly, it meant we finished everything on our plates.  Which means, I suppose, that we’ll have to go back and try some other things.  For food in solid French fashion, Bistro Jeanty is the place to eat.

It is a small winery in the Stag’s Leap district that we had heard about from many guests and finally found an afternoon to sneak in for a tour and tasting.   The tour was just perfect, through the wine-making process where they process the grapes (we’re only weeks away from seeing it all in action), and out to the vineyard to view and talk about the grapes, and then into the cave where they store the wine.  Just that portion alone was wonderful, but then she led us into the tasting room (nothing elaborate) where everything we tasted was just yummy.  I hate wineries that produce good wines in every flavor.  It just forces me to buy more and that is always hard on my pocket book.  I have to admit, though, that later, when I open and drink that wine, that I am grateful that I bought what I did.  This place may be a small hillside winery and may not look like much from the outside, but their wines are just really tasty.  I do recommend that you pay them a visit.  When you do, make sure to bring along some lunch as they have a lovely little picnic area around the pond and stream that is very private and away from the crowds.  As they limit the number of people coming to the winery each day you can be sure to have a more personalized experience with them from start to finish.

Our friend, Gordon Larum, took us to a vineyard last week that is very private.  Set up on a hillside, you park the car and walk along a hillside path that is rocky and barren, through some scrub brush, and come out onto a two-tiered platform with tables and chairs under a wooden canopy, and look out onto the most spectacular view of Napa Valley.  There is no tasting room, no bathrooms (except the bushes and trees), no running water.  We could have stayed there all day.  When the winemaker, Peter, pulled out his wine he started with his ’02 release, then worked us up through his ’03, and then ’04, describing his blend, the differences from year to year, and why he chose to change the blend proportions from year to year.  The wine is not inexpensive ($75/bottle on up), but it is really good.  When it was over he told us that he offers private dinners up there for $150 per person, or lunches, for $100 per person, with all the wine you can drink.  You can rent a port-o-potty for $75 that he will bring onto the property for the event if you want it.  It is a casual affair: jeans and tennis shoes, and yet it is a special place.  It is pretty amazing.  My one suggestion: hire a driver for the night.  You don’t want to be coming down the mountain after a dining/wine experience like that.  He is willing to allow us to book these events and we are glad to give you his name when you schedule and pay for the event.  That was our commitment to the winemaker who wants to keep this small and intimate and private.

It is a small winery in the Stag’s Leap district and one of their Cabernet Sauvignon’s just received 95 points from the Wine Enthusiast.  Not that “points” should matter, but for some it does.  They are a small estate and they have a nice selection of Pinot, Cabernet’s, and a new wine called Rupert which we fell in love with at first sip.  Debi Cali is their General Manager, and she was our first contact at Baldacci (we met her at another winery years ago where she was GM, and followed her here when she moved).  Then we met Mike Knox, and then Jessica, and then Annie, and with each person we met our love affair with the winery grew.  Rolando, their winemaker, has produced some first-class wines; and he was doing for them what he had done for Stag’s Leap for many years.  They have a small cave where they make and store the wine, and that is always a great visit for our guests.  You do need an appointment to get in, and we are glad to make one for you.  They are not producing just first-class wine, but the personnel are first-class, too, and the small tasting room and outdoor patio make the experience just perfect for tasting here in the Napa Valley.