E Clampus Vitus.

Today, I wanted to write a post in celebration of a niece whose birthday it is.  (She's actually a leap-year baby, but y'know.)  Vino-niece, La Serenissima's oldest daughter, is a historian so I thought I'd do a quick Napa-history bit in her honour.  How do I possibly connect my niece, history, England, Utah and Napa together?  It could be tricky, but - with the help of an inconspicuous little plaque on the Silverado Trail, north of Yountville, against the fence of a Napa County corporation yard - I think I can pull it off.
I first spotted this modest plaque last year whilst I was stuck in traffic, but I wasn't able to photograph it until yesterday as I drove home from work on a deserted Silverado Trail.  Erected by E Clampus Vitus (ECV), Sam Brannan Chapter 1004, an organisation dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of the American West, the plaque marks the location in the Napa Valley of a World War II prisoner-of-war (POW) camp.  Apparently, the United States aided Great Britain with the detention of a surplus of POWs: Germans some of who, upon release, returned to Germany and then made their way back to eventually settle in the United States.
An interesting little history-factoid, or not?  ECV's motto is, improbably, Credo Quia Absurdum which, roughly translated from Latin, means "I believe it because it is absurd."  Titter, titter.
Happy birthday Vino-niece!

Dazzling.

There was just a single directive on the invitation to TWWIAGE's 2015 Christmas party - Attire: Dazzling.  And a dazzling night it turned out to be.  This evening, all my coworkers, along with their guests, dazzled in their finest gladrags at our annual Christmas shindig which was once again held in the historic Barrel Room at Vintage Estates in Yountville. The dazzling, diamond strewn table tops were a particularly nice touch.
A good time was had by all.

An urban winery.

Today is Vinomaker's birthday.  Whoo hoo!
I actually managed to get Vinomaker to take some time off work to go and do a quick wine tasting with me, something we haven't done for a couple years.  And we didn't even have to go very far, just a quick drive into downtown Napa.
St. Clair Brown Winery is located in a light-industrial area of the city of Napa.  Surrounded by sheet metal fabrication shops and auto repair businesses, St. Clair Brown is truly an urban winery.  Currently, the winery produces about 200 cases each of nine different wines of which Vinomaker and I tasted four (their 4 Wine Sampler).  The winery has a permit to serve food and I originally had intended to have lunch there, but with a fairly tight schedule we decided to just do a tasting.  The wines were all very pleasant; a 2011 Coombsville Chardonnay (a tad too oaky), a 2008 Coombsville Syrah, a 2010 Oak Knoll/Atlas Peak Merlot and a 2010 Oak Knoll/Atlas Peak/St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon.  Our host, the son of one of the owners, was delightful, the wines exhibited a distinct winemaking style, the urban environment was fun and a chat with owner Laina Brown was interesting - an enjoyable experience.  The winery does not, however, offer complimentary tastings to the other wine industry folks.  Now, I'm not cheap, and I was only too happy to pay the $20.00 tasting fee, but I do believe it is a little short-sighted of St. Clair Brown. What better marketing/advertising is there than to make other winery personnel ambassadors of your brand?  It is my belief that a 2 fluid ounce pour can go an awfully long way in promoting a winery.  On to dinner.
Vinomaker had not been to R&D Kitchen in Yountville, so that is where I decided to take him for his birthday dinner.  R&D does have a rather limited menu, but I sort of like that about this restaurant.  More important to Vinomaker, perhaps, was R&D's 'wine by the glass' wine list. I just had one glass of Schramsberg Brut Rosé because I was driving, but Vinomaker had a glass of white wine and a glass of red wine.  The white was a 2013 Cowhorn Spiral 36 (Applegate Valley AVA, Oregon), a blend of Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne, (the Marsanne really popped in this wine). The red was a 2012 Page Wine Cellars/Revolver Wine Company 'The Fury' Cabernet Franc (Napa Valley AVA), really nice, lots of dark berries, dried flowers and dried herbs on the nose.  And that's it: yet another anniversary of Vinomaker's birth done and dusted.  Oh, and Gung hei fat choi!
Happy birthday Vinomaker!

The Yountville AVA.

Guide books often refer to the town of Yountville as being the "culinary capital" of the Napa Valley.  Indeed, famed chef Thomas Keller has three acclaimed restaurants, and a stellar bakery (yum), in this small town.  However, Yountville, to me at least, is more significant as the place where grapevines were first cultivated in the Napa Valley.  Oh, and Yountville also has great Christmas lights.
George Calvert Yount was the first United States citizen to be awarded a fairly sizeable Spanish land grant from the Mexican government back in 1836.  Yount called his land Rancho Caymus and on it he built a cabin and a grist mill making him the first Euro-American settler in the valley.  In 1855 Yount paid for a surveyor to lay out the boundaries for a village he called Sebastopol, despite the fact that there was a nearby town, one valley over, already named that.  Eventually, in 1876, two years after Yount's death, the town was renamed Yountville in honour of it's founder.
Yountville did not become an American Viticultural Area (AVA) until 1999.  With 2,700 acres of planted vineyards, this AVA has a rather unique climate.  Moderated by the Yountville Mounts (which is actually just one rather large hill that waylays the marine fog as it advances up, through the valley), the relatively cool climatic conditions here lend themselves to great grape growing.  Interestingly, there are more grape-growers than actual wineries in Yountville.  For example, Gamble Family Vineyards is considered an Oakville winery, but they produce a Yountville AVA Sauvignon blanc, that I have enjoyed in the past, which hails from a vineyard in the AVA that they own and farm.  I have, however, also enjoyed wines from wineries that are in the Yountville AVA proper, e.g. Goosecross Cellars, Dominus Estate and Noah Vineyards, to name but a few.  Yountville is a compelling AVA.
Four down, twelve to go.

Taking a Gamble.

I am often guilty of buying wine just because I like the label.  It can be a bit of a gamble (sorry, couldn't resist) selecting wine in this manner, but that's just the daredevil-type person I am (yea, right).  Sometimes the gamble pays off, but more often than not the wine turns out to be not so good.  When the wine turns out to be a winner I generally feel very pleased with myself.  The Gamble Family Vineyards, 2012 Sauvignon blanc (Yountville) is one such wine.  However, I chose this particular bottle of wine because of it's back label. 
Now, I don't normally like labels to have too much information on them.  I am more interested in the wine than somebody waffling on about their family history etc., but this label happens to be informative and fun.  I was interested to learn that this Savignon blanc (SB) is made from two different clones of SB; Sauvignon Musque (from the Loire) and the Preston clone (from Graves).  Am I familiar with these two clones?  Can I taste each of these clone's unique characteristics?  No, on both counts.  But it does get me thinking about viticulture and all the other stuff I love about wine other than simply how the wine tastes.  As it happens, this SB tasted great; nicely balanced acidity, a mouth-filling mid-palate, nice tropical fruit expression (with lashings of sweet candied-pineapple) and a satisfyingly long finish.
The fun stuff?  I like the inclusion of the case production figure - I just find it an interesting little factoid.  And I love the line, "...slowly made into wine by Gamble Family Vineyards" - because I agree with the old adage that says that 'wine is a journey, not a destination'.  Though I'm not sure about the Gamble Family's being desirous of me to, "...enjoy this wine over several hours" - I think I'd need more than just one bottle to make this delightful tipple last that long.

Hot Havana Nights!

Tonight was the annual TTWIAGE Christmas shindig.  My co-workers and I enjoyed an evening of food and festivity in the historic barrel room (the site of the Groezinger Winery in Yountville, built in 1870).
The theme this year was Hot Havana Nights, so each table was fittingly decorated with Carmen Miranda-like headgear (replete with grapes of course), fresh gardenias for the ladies, chocolate-cigars for the men, and feather boas (I have secretly always wanted a feather boa).  Mrs TTWIAGE's intention was that the polystyrene foam heads would be relieved of their sparkly-fruit salad at some point during the evening.  And that's just what happened: as the evening wore on much silliness ensued. 
Good fun was had by all.  And I got to take a feather boa home.

Party early for Christmas.

Last night Vinomaker and I joined my TWWIAGE co-workers to celebrate Christmas...Rat Pack-style.  To my mind it was a little early in the month for such festive goings-on, but suitable venues get booked up quickly in the valley and so December 7th it was. However, after a couple of glasses of bubbly, and several soaring renditions of Frank Sinatra classics, I had forgotten what the date was.  A good time was had by all.  So an early, Happy Christmas to everyone.

2B, or not to be, in Napa.

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting  Dr. Jeremey Parzen who is the author of one of my very favourite blogs, Do Bianchi. Accompanied by his Italian buddy, winemaker Giovanni Arcari (pictured at left), Jeremy took time, out of his busy meeting filled day, to drive up to Yountville (where I was representing TWWIAGE at a private event hosted at Brix Restaurant), to say a quick hello.  It was short and sweet, but really nice to meet a fellow blogger.  Thanks 2B.

Did you know that there is no Italian word for bromance?  Me neither.

Winery Christmas Lights 8.

Not all wineries have a tasting room in situ so to speak.  Hill Family Estate is one such winery. Located on Yountville's restaurant row, just a stone's throw away from Bouchon, Bistro Jeanty, and the famed French Laundry, Hill Family's tasting room looked very inviting on a recent, rainy December night.  It's a pity I was too busy to stop, it looked so cosy. The date palm, in the background, looks like it was added for an extra Californian effect!

Winery Christmas Lights 7.

This 30' plus tall pine tree stands tall, and proud, all year long at Cliff Lede Vineyards located on the Yountville Crossroad, but here it is resplendent in it's Christmas finery.  Okay, so the lights are placed in a rather slapdash fashion but readers, really, have any one of you ever decorated so tall a tree?  As I head south towards home on the Silverado Trail this cheery, welcome sight reminds me every year that someone owns an awfully tall cherry picker.

Winery Christmas Lights 6.

The house that Robert Mondavi built: no, not his namesake winery but his actual home.  Previous posts have highlighted Christmas lights on commercial winery buildings, but this post is dedicated to a particular Napan's abode.  On a large knoll, overlooking the Stag's Leap District AVA, is the site where the late Robert Mondavi built his home, high above the valley and vineyards he made famous world wide.  A genius in marketing and promotion, Mondavi arguably made the Napa Valley the success it is today.
A cheery site on my drive home from work, the roof top Christmas tree can actually be seen as a red dot from the steps of the winery where I am gainfully employed some five miles north.  Thank you, to whomever, for continuing such a welcome, joyous tradition.