10 January 2008 by Shifrah Combiths
An Afternoon of Napa Valley Wine Tasting
We decided to spend our honeymoon in northern California. My family has lived in the Bay Area for generations, but I was moving to Atlanta with my new husband, and we wanted to spend our first weeks as husband and wife enjoying some of what the region is known for.
And who can think of northern California without envisioning those sparkling vineyards? Vines bright and young in their springtime newness, filtering the sun through their poignantly green leaves. Stalks trained to stand stark and rigid, and then coiling into gnarled branches as soon as they’re given the freedom. Feathery white flowers, flickering in each breath of a breeze before they yield to the small hard balls that will become grapes bursting with what the vine has worked so painstakingly to produce. What a romantic setting for a blossoming marriage, and we were enveloped by it. We stayed in a guest house perched on the crest of a hill in the heart of Knight’s Valley of Sonoma County, directly adjacent to the famed Napa Valley.
We ventured forth to Napa for wine tasting. Feeling like novices, although I’d been wine tasting before, we drove into the parking lots of many vineyards that offered tasting before deciding where to tour. I remembered V. Sattui, and we decided to go there. After taking refuge from the almost uncomfortable heat by walking through the vineyard’s wine cellars, watching the bottling assembly line, and taking pictures of each other near hundreds of barrels leeching burgundy hues through their wood, we made our way up to the tasting gallery.
Three walls were lined with lists of what must have been hundreds of different wines. In front of them were counters, all wooden and earthy, where clusters of people leaned, quaffing glass after inch-full glass of wine in deep red, rose, pink, and golden shades. We poked around for a while, browsing through all kinds of wine country paraphernalia before we approached the counter ourselves. A nice woman opened a wine menu in front of us and we decided on a tasting package.
We were able to pick a certain number of wines from a couple of different lists. Under each wine’s name was a description. My favorite (description, that is) spoke of a wine harvested from “a brawny, gripping, well-structured, rustic old vine.” Who could resist? Instantly put at ease that we didn’t have to know too much about wine in order to participate in tasting, my husband and I delighted in discovering what types of wines we liked and laughing as we affected expertise.
The special thing about V. Sattui is that it’s set up so visitors can purchase all the makings of a very special picnic and enjoy it on their beautiful grounds. Titillated by the heady and sweet notes of a delightful Gamay Rouge, my husband and I bought a bottle and then went on a search for something to eat with it. The food room is stocked with savory olive oils infused with herbs, gourmet dips and spreads, and all kinds of seeded crackers and freshly baked breads. One wall is lined with a refrigerated bin of cheeses from all over the world.
The man behind the cheese counter offered to let us sample anything we wanted. I pointed to a dense yellowish cheese and the man cut off two pieces for us. Piave Vecchio, as it was called (named after a river in Italy), had a mysterious pungent flavor with a complicated aftertaste. We settled on it immediately, bought a loaf of crusty sourdough to accompany it, and headed outside.
How rustic and authentic we felt as we tore pieces of bread, sliced hunks of the unyielding cheese, and sunk our teeth into the layers of salty hardness followed by sour airiness and a tangy crunch. Sipping the unbelievably smooth and tender blush of a wine and sensing it tempering the acridness of the bread and cheese as it swirled in our mouths was sheer epicurean bliss. Although our official tasting had been done inside, this was a real experience of wine’s unparalleled capacity to complement, and we would be back for more.