Early spring day in St. Helena.
It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain
I think that every wine lover has secretly dreamed of owning a little vineyard somewhere. Every now and again I find myself day dreaming about tending rows of vines at sunrise and lovingly picking grapes by hand at harvest. While the fantasy is a lovely one, the reality of vineyard work tends to be much less bucolic. In fact, growing grapes is back-breaking work that demands a tremendous amount of skill and knowledge. On a recent trip to Napa I got to experience a taste of this for myself as I took part in a hands-on pruning demonstration at the historic To Kalon vineyard with Matt Ashby, director of vineyard operations at Robert Mondavi Winery. (more…)
One of my favorite winery stops this weekend has been Robert Sinskey Vineyards on the Silverado Trail. I wanted to learn a bit more about natural winemaking and Robert Sinskey Vineyards is one of the very few wineries that is both certified organic and Demeter certified biodynamic. While organic basically means ‘nothing but the grapes’, biodynamics is all about creating a balanced, whole ecosystem. In biodynamic agriculture, you recognize that the soil is alive and do everything in your power to keep the soil happy and balanced. It is based on following the rhythms of nature, including planting according to the position of the moon and stars and using homemade natural preparations instead of fertilizers and pesticides. Is this something new? Pseudoscience? Not at all. It is really just a ‘back to the basics’ approach to winemaking. (more…)
One of the best parts of our Yoga and Wine retreats is getting to know the fun, eclectic people that inevitably become part of our community of yogis and wine lovers. We met up at the hotel and hung out a bit, enjoying a bottle of 2006 Pinot Noir from Hope & Grace vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands before heading to Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio in Napa for our first dinner.
Upstairs, the yoga studio offers students daily opportunities to twist and bend their way to better health and spiritual enlightenment. Downstairs, the acclaimed restaurant offers vegetarian cuisine that offers even non-vegetarians culinary enlightenment. The food is really less about the absence of meat and more a celebration of great fresh produce and we were all looking forward to seeing what the chef had in store for us with our ‘family style’ tasting menu.
The meal started with (completely addictive) lavender sugar and sea-salt dusted marcona almonds, Castelvetrano olives and chick pea ‘fries’ served with a romesco dipping sauce. (more…)
I don’t know what it is about Napa but everything just tastes a little better here. It could be that chefs here have access to the best of everything, from amazing wines to the freshest fruits and vegetables. It could just be that everyone here cares passionately about food and wine and won’t settle for less than the best. Any restaurant serving something less than the best just won’t make it for long out here.
I arrived today, a little bit ahead of the rest of the group, for our Yoga and Wine retreat in Napa and just in time for a quick lunch at The Bounty Hunter Wine Bar and Smokin’ BBQ, always one of my favorite stops in Napa. Originally a J. Peterman style wine catalog specializing in hard-to-find wines and provisions, the Bounty Hunter recently opened a casual and fun wine bar and restaurant in the town of Napa. With over 40 small production wines by the glass, over 400 rare wines by the bottle, great sandwiches and the smells of barbecue wafting through the air….the Bounty Hunter is a find. There are lots of great dining experiences in wine country, but not alot of places where you can get a great sandwich and then open up the wine list and be totally blown away by one of the best wine lists in the country. (more…)
After tasting an amazing bottle of 2005 Meo Camuzet from Vosne-Romanee last year, I have fallen in love with the wines of Burgundy. It was one of those bottles of wine that was truly an epiphany and has made me want to rush out and taste as much Burgundy as I can! In an effort to do just that, I recently checked out the Burgundy selection at Sam’s Wine & Spirits in Chicago where I met wine expert JT Robinson. He gave me some great wine picks, but also told me (very poetically) why he also finds Burgundy (and the whole concept of terroir) so magical. I wanted to share that, along with some of his ‘wine picks’ with all of you.
(more…)
I am looking forward to my upcoming Yoga & Wine retreat to Washington State. This time of the year, when things are grey, it is nice to have something fun to look forward to. This will be my third retreat and I can’t wait to pull off the highway and into the long driveway lined with grapevines that leads up to the Cave B Inn. A weekend filled with the little, primal pleasures of life seems to be just the answer for a time when everything seems a bit shaky. In the quest for the latest blackberry, it can be helpful to remember that the little pleasures of life are often the most simple and, frankly, haven’t changed much over the last 1000 years. (more…)
There is something about Rose Champagne that makes me unconditionally happy. How can something bubbly and pink not make you smile? It is one of those wines that is both incredibly versatile, highly food-friendly and wildly unappreciated….the perfect choice for a romantic dinner, a girl’s night out or as I recently discovered perfect for drinking in bed in my pajamas while watching the Oscars and eating pizza. The Rose in question was a very special bottle of 2007 Domaine Andre Beaufort Rose. This small, biodynamic producer is completely commited to doing things as naturally as possible and it shows in the pure, ethereal, complex and lovely wine. (more…)
A great, fun way to learn about wine is to go to a wine shop and ask them to recommend 5 wines under a certain price. It can be fun to give them certain parameters like all Pinot Noirs or wines from Tuscany. It is always fun to see what they come up with. This is a great exercise for wine novices and a fun way for regular wine drinkers to break out of a ‘wine rut’.
I tried this myself recently at the very expensive (and oh so fun to browse!) Dean & Deluca in Napa. As my price point was under $30 and I was specifying only local, small production wines I was worried that the choices would be limited, but the very knowledgeable wine guy suggested a few treasures. My favorite of these was a 2006 Rhone syle blend called ‘Beautiful Earth’ from McPrice Meyers in Paso Robles. (more…)
