The one time we ate, drank, stomped on grapes in Napa (Part 2)
- Oct 10, 2017
- 6 min read
WE ARE THE GRAPE.
I swear we'll get better at posting on a timely manner... Or when we decide to upgrade our camera game and do footage instead ;) (cough cough Tim...)
Welcome back! Napa day 2 a little overdue. Last we left off, the Napa crew were four shots into Palinka and decided to investigate a "haunted" house down the street. It looked like a house from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Anita and I took about 20 steps towards the house before we decided it wasn't haunted. Or, our liquid courage wore off and we decided to spare our own lives...
DAY 2:
First stop: Grgich (NO, i'm not missing a vowel) Hills Estate. We found this lovely winery by hope of being able to stomp on grapes. But this winery had an awesome back story of how Miljenko 'Mike' Grgich was a badass from Croatia and kicked French butt at the "Paris Tasting" of 1976 where judges deemed his 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay as the finest white wine in the world! Yeahhh... He's a pretty cool dude. He even has the cutest cardboard cut out of himself in his tasting room. I just can't even... ANYWAY- read more about his amazing story by clicking HERE!
At Grgich we had the opportunity to jump into some barrels and step on some gooey grapes and stain t-shirts with our wine soaked foot steps. I can't remember the price off the top of my head, I believe it was anywhere between $30-$40 for a glass of wine and then the stomping fun. We FORTUNATELY did not produce any wine from the stomped on grapes. Can you imagine how many toes were in those barrels before ours? YUCK! I guess we just wanted grapes between our toes!
We made our way into the small tasting room and we had the most knowledgable taste master teach us the differences in aged wines. His name was Daniel, but I kept calling him 'Daniel Raymond'. Why? It seemed to be the theme of our Napa trip. Our waiter from the night before was named Raymond, and the next winery on the list was to be 'Raymond', which is where sweet little Timmy was raised; Raymond, New Hampshire. So, everyone and everything was tagged with 'Raymond' whether they liked it or not. Boy was Daniel attentive and on point! At the end of the tasting, none of the wines won my heart, but their olive oil sure did. We loved it so much we brought back two large bottles of it. Yeah.. highllyyyy recommend it!
SERVICE: A+
VIEWS: C-
WINE: B
OLIVE OIL: A+
Second stop: Raymond Vinyards. FINALLY we made it to Raymond! This one is quite the doozy.. As we first got out of the car we were greeted with a man made backdrop of open frames and over sized chairs in the lawn. Already, I had a feeling I was in Alice in Wonderland. As we made our way through their courtyard we were met with two giant candelabra's the size of a full grown elephant that resembled Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast... Things were getting weird...
We walk into the tasting house where the receptionist gave us our options of two places to taste: their regular tasting room or the Crystal room. She then told us to take a walk down the 'Hall of Senses" after a few drinks. Again, still unsure about what was happening.. a 'HALL OF SENSES?!'.
We decide to take our chances at the regular tasting room. When we entered that room, there was an array of French Bulldog memorabilia for purchase, and the backdrop of the bartender was a wall of golden hands holding wine bottles. Our taste master finally gave us the insight to the madness around us. The owner Jean-Charles Boisset was highly intrigued with surreal art, such as those from artist Salvador Dali. NOW it all started to make sense! This guy was quite the character! There was a video playing behind the bartender that portrayed him much like James Bond. He seemed to be quite eccentric to say the least. His vision shined even more as we entered the 'Crystal Cellar'. Lit up in red and purple lights, looking much like the 'Red light district', with risque' dressed mannequins hanging from swings like circus performers, and crystal chandeliers reflecting like disco balls.. this place was one you need to experience yourself to understand. It was a tasting room like no other. After the shock of the Crystal Cellar, we mosied on to the 'Hall of Senses'. We were asked to close our eyes as we touched and smelled certain things to guess what they were. It was an interesting experience, but still very odd. Raymond also had a 2 acre biodynamic farm they called "Theatre of Nature" where we roamed 5 parts of the farm. Much like a play, they purposely divided the farm into 5 areas like acts in a play; each one dedicated to a particular part of nature. Tim and I spent most of our time chasing the chickens that got lost back into their pen.
Raymond Vineyards was an experience that I was glad to have had, but would never recommend for their wines. I know, I know, harsh. But it seemed to us that they spent a lot of time on their exterior presence that they neglected their wines. There was so much to look at, so we see how someone could forget about their wine tasting experience and focus more on their visual one. I mean, as you can see, I spent most of my time describing their Vineyard and not their 'vines'.
SERVICE: A
VIEWS: A
WINE: D
LAST STOP OF THE DAY: Castello Di Amorosa! YESSSSSS We made it! This is where my wine passion stemmed from. I was so worried that we wouldn't get the chance to make it! I had been ranting and begging Tim to come back to this place for 3 years and share the magic of this winery with him, and we did it!
Castello Di Amorosa translates to "Castle of Love". It literally is a Castle. Owner Dario Sattui spent over 14 years building this beauty. Short story is; has a lot of money, wants to build a castle, does it. The details are insane! The rocks that the castle is made of are not just any stones, they were imported from Italy. USA rocks don't cut it at Castello Di Amorosa. There is a chapel, a formal dining room, a moat! Anything you can think of in a castle, it has. Now, when I was there 6 or so years ago, this place wasn't nearly as packed. 6 years ago we were able to walk around the entire place without hassle, but today several areas are roped off much like a museum exhibit. Aside from the crowd, it was still just as beautiful as I remembered it. I even got to re-create a photo I took in front of the castle from years ago!
To the wines! As if this place wasn't already too good to be true; The beauty of the winery matched its wines. Which is probably why we were so disappointed at Raymond Vineyards... Castello Di Amorosa made sure to impress visually and tastefully.
Our wine master was an amazing energy named 'Peter'. I won't even go into trying to spell his non-americanized name. I can't even begin to tell you how amazed we were. What I CAN tell you is, we left with 18 bottles being shipped to our house, a delicious garlic flavored grape seed oil, and 2 wine pourers-one in the shape of a chicken and the other an octopus... Yeah weird I know.
Simply unreal and a must see AND taste on your Napa adventure. So can you guess my ratings on this?
SERVICE: A+
VIEWS: A+
WINE: A+
OIL: A+ (I love oils......*drool)
ALSO! Here is that before and after :
So, there you have it folks! Our Napa adventure was nothing short of awesome. We had our taste buds and thirsts quenched, eyes awed by the beauty of the green vines, and livers a little more..TESTED. ;)
Please send prayers, thoughts, and if you can, funds to those in the wine country affected by the forest fires.. along with those affected by the Vegas shooting, and hurricanes and earthquakes across the globe. Be grateful, be kind, and give love.
SIgning off,
Grateful grape- nana
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