My Trip to Napa

If you love wine like I do, then you know that Napa Valley California is THE region in the U.S. to see the best of the best!  So, when my best friend Nate decided to get married we thought there would be no better way for us to spend some bro time together than Napa; and what a trip it was!

Our first stop was in San Francisco.  Here we played golf at a course called the Presidio.  If that sounds fancy; it was.  This was the nicest course I've ever played at; although I admit to not being a golfer.  Later that night we stayed downtown at Union Square; which is the heart of San Fran.  We had a great time and stayed out of trouble, mostly.

 The next day, we woke up a little late and took a leisurely drive up to Santa Rosa (1 hour) and had a late lunch at Johnny Garlic's.  If you are familiar with "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives", then you will probably know Guy Fieri.  This is where it all started for him before the Next Food Network Star catapulted him to fame.  I had the seared Ahi Tuna sandwich and garlic fries.  They were fantastic!  I'd go there again in a heart beat!  I think this was also the only beer I had during the entire trip?

This is where the real fun begins!  That afternoon, we went straight up to Francis Ford Coppola's winery in Geyserville, CA.  This was a real treat.  Although I will admit that I wouldn't do the vineyard tour again if I had the chance; just didn't get much out of it.  It was the movie memorabilia that took our breath away.  Everything from the Godfather movies to the Dracula costumes to one (out of 51 ever made) of the original Tucker Torpedoes was on display.  Nate even snuck a seat at the original Godfather desk when nobody was looking.

To make things even more interesting, it turns out that the winery had only been open one week prior to our arrival and had undergone major reconstruction.  With the addition of new movie memorabilia, a new pool, boccie ball courts, and a major face lift we really got our money's worth.  Of course I don't want to forget the wines, of which we really enjoyed!  I especially liked the Director's Cut Cinema; a very nice Sonoma blend.

That night, we wondered off course a little bit and ended up just outside of Santa Rosa again.  Here we ate a little restaurant called Zazu.  This little roadside roadhouse was great!  For any of you that are fans of "The Next Iron Chef", you'll probably remember Chef Estes (Estez).  She is the one who voted for herself during the sandwich challenge.  This was a great experience because Chef Estes actually came out and spoke with us!  She even signed our menu and posed for a pic.  She even made sure to tell me to say "HI" to Chef Tio here in KC!  She was super cool and the food was delicious!  I had the pork cheek ragu with pasta and won't soon forget it!

To read about the message delivery to Chef Tio click here

During our stop at Coppola's first winery we had struck up a conversation with one of the security guards who filled us in on Coppola's other winery, Rubicon.  This turned out to be a gem!  So after making a couple of stops on the road the next day, we ended up at Rubicon; the creme de la creme of winery's.

Whether you are enchanted by the historical nature of the winery that was founded in 1871 or you are simply impressed by the almost half-mile tree lined entrance and  beautiful stone columns that great you, there is no doubt that this is worth the stop!

 Of course, you can add to that list the amazing caves that house some of the historical wines from their decades of production.  As well, Coppola has left just enough of his film making memories here in the form of photo's and historical "magic lanterns" to keep you engaged.  Again, I can't forget about the wine.  We tasted one of his premier wines, Rubicon Estate, which goes for more than $150 per bottle.  Granted, we only had one glass, it was fantastic and probably the only time I'll ever taste it again.  ;)

After Rubicon, we slowly made our way down to the town of Yountville and stopped at the Villagio.  Here we visited the meeting place for my company's upcoming shareholders meeting and meandered around the town that boasts the highest percentage of 5 star restaurant's in the U.S.  We actually ended up eating at Bottega, which is owned by another food network chef, Michael Chiarrello.  Unfortunately, our experience there wasn't as good as it was at Zazu and Johnny Garlic's.  The portions were small and expensive.  On top of that my pork chop was overcooked.  However, it was still a great atmosphere.

Anyway, this was such a great experience that I had to share it!  Although you would think that I was a big Coppola fan before this, I actually wasn't.  I really hadn't seen many of his movies.  However, I think that has to change; I've already added Dracula and Apocalypse Now to my Netflix que.  Oh, and it turns out that Coppola is filming as we speak with Val Kilmer - so keep an eye out for details on his latest quiet project, "Twixt Now and Sunrise".

The only regret I have on this trip was that it was way too short!

Thanks for reading!

BOB


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