Napa, Bitches!

Don't you just want to be a grape, soaking that Napa sunshine all day? It would be sweet. Felt like one for a moment.

A glorious Saturday drive and wine-tasting-Michelin-lunch day. Napa's less than an hour from my front door! Which every somewhat-hip Bay Area resident must know, but it's easy to forget if you never go. As the above photo shows, there's a depth to the colors, probably more a feel than color, as the valley solidifies around you as you head north on HY 29 from the East Bay. The land's flat, an extension of the San Pablo Bay until the valley becomes more pronounced as the mountain ridges to your left and right slowly hug the valley tighter as you head north, starting from about Napa (city) forward.

Etiole Restaurant is a one-star Michelin establishment. That one star shined through in the pear creme-brule dessert and also the girl's (woman's?) little white-puffy dog at the very next table that didn't want to stay on the ground, but twirled and desperately tried to claw his way up next to his mom (girlfriend?) at the dinner-couch, which also held her short-flip-flop-clad boyfriend (anti-sugardaddy?). When she lowered her waterglass to the floor to let the pup lap and slobber all over the rim as it snuffed up some ice-H2O, there's no other response but cringe. Maybe star number two comes somewhere in the no-dog-slobbered waterglass realm. Who knows? Really, the dog just added some flavor to the awesome experience. Nothing like getting daydrunk on sparkling wine, sparkling wine, to semi-great service with an idyllic view. The idyllic view was peppered with at least one sugardaddy and big-boned blond. Given the circumstances, harmony?

Enhancing the drive and experience, is the increasingly rugged character of the valley as you head to Calistoga, where you enter the fringe of urban, country. You can feel the shift from urbane to hunting, country, rough-hewed sensibilities. Farther up the hill east of Calistoga is the insane Harbin Hot Springs, a New Age lostworld, where couples congregate in a series of communal warm, HOT!, semi-hot, and cold-plunge pools to somewhat dryhump, float and bliss their minds out in that alternate reality that is dragons and crystals and no-eggs-or-meat-in-the kitchen hippiedom. Hard to believe that's still going.


Harbin; video from a previous trip.

At the Domaine Chandal winery tour, our tourguide Jeffrey explained a little boringly about how sparkling wines are made and that rosé is really good with creamy foods. And that the wine-barrel-themed architecture of the headquarters was shaped by various twisted, majestic oak trees. Two of them framed the back entrance very well.

The more-than-cute partner in crime.

Napa River flows through Napa Valley, too. It’s one of the healthiest rivers of the Bay Area watersheds. It has 60 or so miles of stream that’s spawnable by the river’s several anadromous fish species. Anadromous refers to a fish that is hatched and grown in freshwater, goes to sea and matures, and then returns to the same freshwater stream to spawn. Steelhead Trout and Coho Salmon still run the stream.

There.