Napa Valley for Novices
To begin, my mother had never been to a winery in all of her life. My mother - whose grandson Benicio went to a winery before he was one year of age - had never entered the world of rolling hills of vines, swirling glasses of red and white wines, and the grand houses and caves of aging barrels. It was a world she wanted to taste, and taste, we did. Gabi came up for the special event, as it was her first time to Napa Valley, and our first trip getaway with Benicio.
At Francis Ford Coppola’s winery we began our trip into Napa with the intent to enjoy the site, understand the landscape, and chase Benicio around. Benicio was great - he entertained himself with the bees and the trees, and enjoyed watching Mike Wazowski drink Cabernet Sauvignon. We grabbed sandwiches in St. Helena, then alighted to Hall Winery, a more modern and refined place for our Cabernet Sauvignon discovery. As mom would only taste her tasting, it was up to Jamie and I to finish what she no longer wanted. Needless to say, things started to get goofy.
Before we went to our hotel, we did our third winery of the day: Beaulieu Vineyard (BV). This has more classic history of the Napa Valley, making Cabernets since the early 1900’s, and is a leader in clone wine research. We talked of vacations and dreams, and bought a bottle for the night festivities. After checking into the hotel, we went to a Brazilian Steakhouse and Gabi ordered us a passion fruit desert that was incredible. Full of meat and Pao de Queijo, we ended the night in the hot tub.
The next morning we got english muffins from Modern Bakery (mind you, they are english muffins - no matter how much I try to convince you they are biscuits) for breakfast, and watched Benicio run around the market in Yountville. Our first winery on our second day in Napa was Peju Winery - a fairytale-esque place of fountains, moats, gardens, and sculptures. Though small, its surrounding grounds was a fun and quaint way to start the day. We then took them to Castello di Amorosa, and there we drank our last Napa tasting within the walls of a castle. We had cheese and bread, and even Benicio got grape juice from grapes of that vineyard. It was the grand finale!
In just two days, we visited 5 wineries of different scales and attitudes: acclaimed, modern, classic and historic, fairytale, and medieval. Mother got her first dose of vineyard living from a wine country that is in itself a must see for many world wide; Gabi got to salute to sisterhood as we helped her tame the monkey that is Benicio; and Benicio made his Napa debut at age two. Jamie and I were so happy to share this with them, and are so thankful for the time we spent together.
