Wine Country 2013: up and down the Silverado Trail

We arrived Thursday, late-afternoon, and fought the vicious San Francisco traffic out of the bay, through Oakland and Berkeley and countless other Bay area cities until we had passed the last of the tolls and were skating quietly towards the northern mountains. The cool air followed us in, even if the fog moved more deliberately. We arrived directly on time at the Farmstead Restaurant for our reservation at 7:15 p.m. We wouldn't have needed a reservation, although the restaurant was plenty busy. The Farmstead is what passes for a family restaurant in the affluent town of St. Helena. It is warm and inviting, unsupervised children run around in the garden, and everyone seems happily intoxicated. On wine, of course, from the Long Meadow Ranch winery, which runs the restaurant. The food is comfort food, which in St. Helena translates into superbly crafted meals, although the portion sizes are too big and they are served on oversized plates. And so passed our first night in Napa--sitting on a garden terrace surrounded by plum trees trained on trellises to resemble grape vines, a lush set of garden rows sporting melons and squash and tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers a stone's throw away. We finished off the evening by driving to Calistoga and dropping in at the Hydro Grill for a nightcap.

Day 2 was low key. Calistoga sits at the north end of Napa, tucked into the hills where it is a little cooler than the valley. It is also more relaxed than the affluent environs of St. Helena, or the over-the-top luxury appointments of Yountville. We took a walk around the town, ate a big breakfast at the local diner, hopped into our Toyota Camry and drove the Silverado Trail to Rutherford to visit the Elizabeth Spencer tasting room.

At the Elizabeth Spencer tasting room

We had chosen Elizabeth Spencer because it was one of the first good wines we had ever tasted. Our old friends at the Chicago Wine Merchants shop in Lincoln Square had, over ten years ago, first introduced the neighborhood to fine wine, hosting unpretentious tastings and offering expert advice when asked. We were serving lamb one night, and Gerard (may he rest in peace) suggested we go with an Elizabeth Spencer pinot noir. At the time, the winery was only six years old and the two wine makers who owned it--Elizabeth Pressler and Spencer Graham--were better known for their work at other wineries. We were immediately impressed, and we have never forgotten them.

Nor did they disappoint us in person. We began the tasting with a Russian River Valley Chardonnay that was so elegant, refined, and flavorful that we were instantly converted to the grape. I've always been contemptuous of chardonnay. If it wasn't slathered in oak, then it seemed austere and almost sour. I had no use for it. But this grape was different. Complex, buttery, mild fruit, toasted almonds. We swooned. In fact, the entire tasting was brilliant. Elizabeth Spencer makes elegant and beautiful wines. They are sometimes a bit too big for my taste, but somehow the winemakers can make big seem elegant. We joined their wine club, which amounts to an expensive commitment to drink at least a case of Elizabeth Spencer wines every year, and will more than likely result in more.

From the succulent Sinsky garden

We wandered back to the Silverado Trail and dropped by the Robert Sinsky winery. They have a spectacular tasting room flanked by organic gardens and vineyards. They serve small plates with the tastings. The winemaker is apparently also the photographer and he composes some pretty pictures (which one can find on the website). Our pourer chatted about changes in the valley over the past few years, and recommended we stop by Lava Vine on the way back to Calistoga. "If you ever need a reminder that at its heart Napa Valley is an agricultural community," he said, "Lava Vine is the place to go." He was right. The vintners are the pourers at Lava Vine. You can only get their wines through their tasting room, which is in a barn and is dog friendly. The vintners are California-relaxed, chatty, and the tasting fee is only ten dollars, waived if you buy a wine. (Of course, this latter policy is the industry standard.) Upon hearing that Jan was a musician, one of the vintners came out with an autoharp. We would learn later that they regularly book musicians and comedians in their small storage room. These people were really having a good time--that much was obvious. There was so much conversation, in fact, that we only made it through three wines before we had to run back to Calistoga for an appointment. The vintners told us to come back tomorrow rather than pay up front.

Getting down at Lava Vine.
That thing is an autoharp.

That night we went for dinner at Bouchon, Thomas Keller's place in Yountville. I was underwhelmed. It seemed a high energy food mart more than a restaurant. The steak on the steak frites was slathered in onions. Preparation was otherwise flawless. But boring. We were frankly more moved by the appetizers we had at Jolé in Calistoga, which consisted of Pádrones chilies perfectly prepared in olive oil and sea salt, and a few cheeses (all local). The bartenders are knowledgeable, affable and the crowd much more laid back. It is likely Calistoga's best restaurant, although the chef up at Solbar is louder and gets more attention. We'll take Jolé.