Jim & Jamie’s Adventures In Napa

Get out of the car and onto the bike.  It is a lovely way to see the Napa Valley, and all within reach of The Inn On First.  Napa Valley Adventure Tours rents bicycles out of the Oxbow Market, a 15-20 minute walk from the inn.  While at the Oxbow Market you can pick up sandwiches from The Fatted Calf (love the pulled pork), or go next door to The Model Bakery for a loaf of bread (a huge selection) and head up to the Cheese Merchant in the main building for some olives, cheeses, or other snacks.  While there, visit the wine shop where you can pick up half-bottles of wine for lunch, or walk through the open market and purchase fresh fruit, vegetables, or go to Pica-Pica for some gluten-free items.  Then go to the bike shop, pick up your bike and head right back down First Street, past the inn, over Highway 29 until First Street becomes Browns Valley Road.  Stay on that street until you see the animal farm on the left (about 1/4 mile from Highway 29) and turn left on Thompson Road.  Follow Thompson Avenue to Congress Valley Road (right) and continue to Buhman Road (left) which takes you into the heart of the Carneros Region.  Best place to lunch and wine taste will be Folio Winemaker’s Studio, where you can sit at the picnic table out near the vineyards, or go onto the back porch and enjoy your lunch overlooking the vineyards.  This is the 6-mile marker from the inn.  If you are feeling hearty, head up the hill toward Artesa Winery for a great view (7-mile marker) and then make a decision: more cycling, more wine tasting, or return to the inn.  If you are ready to return, head for Old Sonoma Road, turn left, and follow the directions below for Getting Home.

If you are ready to keep going then head back down the hill away from Artesa Winery toward Domain Carneros Winery (9-mile marker), where you can spend some time enjoying a purchase of their cheese plate with a glass of sparkling wine on their terrace.  Want to go further?  Follow Duhig Road toward Acacia Winery (11.5 mile marker), and then to Cuttings Wharf Road/Carneros Ave to Saintsbury winery (16-mile marker) and then back toward Madonna Estate and Old Sonoma Road (17-mile marker).

Getting Home: Stay on Old Sonoma Road until it crosses back over Highway 29 and you come to Jefferson Avenue.  Turn left on Jefferson and ride down to First Street and turn left. At this point you will have completed a 22-mile loop.  You want a bigger ride than that?  I’ll have to save that info for another blog: think Lake Hennessey and Chiles Valley.

Don’t worry about directions: we’ll have maps for you as well as the bike shop.  There are only a few slight inclines, except for the climb up to Artesa; it is generally a really flat ride with great views of the wineries, vineyard, and the Carneros Region.  And except for a very short (maybe 50 yards) ride along the highway, you are on side streets that keep you away from the hustle and bustle of traffic.

For those who want to see my map, copy and paste the link to a new window:  http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=118210235070811742809.0004863229d0d1cb14f19&z=13&lci=bike

We enjoyed a perfect day in Napa.  Lovely blue skies, 75 degree weather, and a lovely hike for an hour to Lake Marie (Lake Marie Road).  It starts in a parking lot, veers around an RV park, and then climbs into the hillsides filled with oak trees, long grasses, and beautiful flowers all over the place.  There we found a bench at the lake, a place to eat lunch, drink some wine, and to enjoy the afternoon.  Then we made the trek back with some really spectacular views of Napa Valley; all the while proclaiming: “Oh my!  And we get to live here.”  It is a five minute drive from The Inn On First and it is called Skyline Wilderness Park.  For a $5.00 day-use fee you have access to picnic grounds and some really wonderful trails in the hills around the city of Napa.  Due to poison oak we stayed with the Lake Marie Road trail, which is pretty much a straight shot to Lake Marie.  There are picnic areas along the trail, as well as picnic tables or benches (okay, only 2) for you to enjoy the view of the lake, the egrets, the hawks, the ducks, the blue herons, etc.  For a Saturday afternoon, when the valley floor is crawling with people and cars and wine-tasting, this was a perfect day in the park and a picnic lunch where there were few people along the trail, and we only saw one other couple at the lake.  When they left we were alone for a good 30 minutes before anyone else showed up.  Wow!  What a perfect day, and right here within city limits.

We wanted the perfect lunch and we thought Oxbow Market, about a two minute drive from the inn, would be the perfect place to get everything we needed.  We started in a store called The Fatted Calf, where they offered only 2 sandwich selections (we bought the pork sandwich with slaw and dressing on a beautiful ciabatta roll), but also offered cold bbq’d ribs and other cooked meats to take with you.  Next door we entered into the Model Bakery for a lovely selection of cookies (and more sandwiches), desserts, and breads.  We followed this up with a walk through the wine store where we picked up a Rhone wine (half-bottle) for our lunch (yes, it’s important to drink non-Napa wine!), and then perused the cheese shop next door for something delicious to take with us on the hike.  We then took a walk through the main Oxbow Market and I was disappointed that I could not take ice cream with us as the ice cream shop was just screaming for attention on this hot day.  I wanted to dally in the spice shop, or at the meat market, or even at Pica-Pica that offers everything gluten-free (made with cornmeal) with lovely tortilla-like sandwiches, and to meander through the veggie-fruit market; but, alas, Jamie called me out of my “shopping haze” to get back outdoors and to enjoy the day.  Want to take a picnic lunch with you?  Start at the Oxbow Market and you can find pretty much whatever you want for the day.  And remember: tell them that Jim and Jamie sent you from The Inn On First!

I don’t often say that I like everything I tried, but this was an unusual place.  A world-class winemaker producing wines that are reasonably priced.  Now, that is the real surprise of this place.  I won’t drop his name- you’ll have to discover it for yourself; but he is consultant to many wineries here in the Napa Valley because he is one of the few who has produced a 100-point wine out of Napa.  We were encouraged to visit by a friend of ours and finally made our way to this small, unassuming winery with a very small and intimate tasting room.  The pourer, Jim, was just delightful and very informative, and let us also taste the winemaker’s son’s wine.  To be honest, the son has a ways to go, but is making some nice wine; just not as lovely as his father.  Anyway, if you are looking for an unassuming place to drink some really nice wine that is affordable and unpretentious, then this is the place for you.  If you are looking for splash, and pizzazz, and a major tour, please go elsewhere.  The winemaker’s son also produces wine out of Saddleback under a different label.  His wine was good but, in our opinion, not as good as his father’s wine- and, it was more expensive!  And in today’s times, less expensive is good especially when the flavor in your mouth is popping.  By the way, they have some tables and umbrellas outdoors for picnics, and I would highly recommend this as a place to enjoy your lunch.  As with any winery it is common courtesy to buy a bottle of wine when using the picnic grounds.

Anyone who has been to Napa knows that out of the 400+ wineries, many of them are listed as Private, which often means you cannot access them……unless, of course, you know someone…or someone who knows someone else.  We have some of those connections in the valley, connections that would allow guests to have access to very private and exclusive tastings not offered to anyone unless you are “in the know”.  We often don’t publicize the fact because the prices on some of these private wines can be $75 to $150 and up, and the expectation of the winemaker is that the individuals coming to the winery are on a “wine-buying” trip and are serious about buying a case or more of wine from them.  Most of these wineries only produce one thousand cases or less, which means there is very little to go around.  There are “cult wineries” that have started like this- Screaming Eagle, for one.  It was a small private winery and in 1992 it received 100 points from Robert Parker- high praise indeed.  With that rating came higher prices, and a waiting list for the wine.  It doesn’t matter that the original winemaker is gone; the cult-following is there.  Look for anything on a menu with Screaming Eagle and you can see upwards of $1500 or more for a single bottle of wine.  Today there is a waiting list to be put on the wine club members list, a wait of up to 3 years, we’re told.  Anyway, other private wineries are producing great wines and some of them are providing really unique experiences.  One place we visited (and you can too, for the right price of course) was up on Diamond Mountain.  We took a dirt road, parked, and then walked through some sagebrush to a 3-tier platform that had the most magnificent view of Napa Valley.  One section was covered with a trellis, with a table and chairs set up for formal wine tasting.  This winemaker only produces one wine, but he had 3 different years for us to taste and purchase.  It was a fascinating exercise in how wine changes over the years, and to speak to him about why he made it different each year and what he was trying to achieve; this was the real bonus.  Not to mention the VIEWS!  Then he told us that he is willing to do private lunches and dinners at the vineyard with the following stipulations: you have to hire a driver to take you there and back home (dinner drivers run about $100 for the evening).  I can understand why, as you are able to drink as much wine as you like, meander through the 13 acres of vines, or to just stare and gawk at the VIEWS.  Did I tell you about the VIEWS?  Okay, so that is really what you are paying for.  The other stipulation is that you wear comfortable walking or hiking shoes as you have to walk on this trail approximately 50 yards to get to the platform.  This is not a place dressing up; this is meant for casual dress for dinner.   Also, your bathroom (which is extra if you want it) is an outhouse that he will put on the property.  He also has plenty of lanterns and lighting for night events so you won’t get lost getting back to your driver.  For $125 per person for lunch, or $150 per person for dinner, you get wonderful VIEWS, as much wine as you want to drink (the wine is about $70/bottle), and a gourmet meal (beef wellington was the last meal he served).  He is willing to do it for 2 people up to 12 people, exclusively for The Inn On First.  If you want to go, all you have to do is ask.  We’ll be glad to set you up.

We had friends visiting and decided to take a ride up the Valley and to try one of the recommended places for a picnic. Stopping off at the Oakville Grocery we picked up sandwiches, chips, and something to drink. Despite its busyness, it amazed me how quickly they got food to the consumer. Jamie had the curried chicken salad sandwich (his favorite) and I went with the smoked turkey on foccacia with pesto (I love that sandwich). As you pull out of the parking lot of the Grocery you make a quick left, then right up the Oakville Grade Road. Drive for about 1/2 mile and you will see the Diamond Oaks winery entrance on the left. The picnic grounds are visible as you pull into the parking lot, and sit under a stand of oak trees. Imagine a hot summer day, a chilled bottle of Chardonnay or a lovely Pinot Noir as you nibble on your sandwich from the Oakville Grocery. It really is a lovely place to picnic. They require that you register in the tasting room, which really means that you should buy a bottle of wine and tell them you are going to use a picnic table. It’s just common courtesy at any winery to do so. The views from the picnic ground are beautiful. The vineyards, the mountains, and at this time of year, the light pall of smoke coming from the wineries that are burning the pruned branches off the vines. This is really a great time in Napa. Spring is here and that sweet smell of smoke is like incense, singing the praises of the wine yet to come.   All the fruit trees are in full bloom and when a breeze picks up the white blossoms fly off into the air creating a symphony of snowfall without all the cold and wetness of winter.  I love it!