Do you know the science of Ampelography?  How can you decant a good cabernet to make it a great cabernet?  What are the 3 Sip Steps to de-coding a great wine?  These and many other questions were answered on my recent trip to wine country.  My outrageous, unbelieveable and spectacular visit to the center of the wine universe - Napa Valley, CA!

You see, last Thursday I began my pursuit in becoming an accomplished Road Warrior of Great Wine.  After 15 vineyards, an amazing multi-course dinner at the Wine Spectator's Greystone Restaurant within the CIA (that's Culinary Institute of America, located in the famous 101 year old Christian Brothers Winery Chateau), I topped off my experience with a visit to the Fall Harvest Party at Frances Ford Coppola's Rubicon Estate.  While I'm still exhausted and trying to give my liver a much needed rest, I'm even more passionate about the science of Oenology!  

Oenology.  Ain't it a great word?  It's derived from the Greek term, oenos (οίνος), which means the science and study of all aspects of wine and winemaking, from the grape harvest to the bottle.  I learned so many things - things I want to share both by blogging and in person.  But first....it's

Starring....

The Start to a Wonderful 5 days in Wine Country!

First let me say I hate wine snobs.  But surprisingly, I only encountered one Vineyard that oozed snobbery - Opus.  To nobody's surprise, it's owned in part by the famous frenchman Baron de Phillipe Rothschild.  The french ~ always trying to rain on our parade.  Thankfully, the rest of the vineyards were warm, welcoming and eager to pass on whatever knowledge they had, helping a newbie like me.

We visited, tasted and toured 15 vineyards.  Although one of my favorites was closed (Cakebread) we've been ensured we can visit next year.  And for those of you thinking 'safety first', our 13 person group (hailing from points all over the country) hired limosuines each day so that we could start at 9:30am, floating back to our rooms in time to dress for dinner.  It was hard - but I took one for the team!

Here is the list of Vineyards we visited:

The study of Ampelography is about the botanical aspects of the grape leaf.  Did  you know you can identify a grape and the kind of wine it will yield by looking at its leaf?  Yup, the "hard cores" as they were referred to along St. Helena and Calistoga trek can lay down leaves in quick succession and ramble off the blessed wine it will make.  Now that folks is the kind of trivia I aspire to!  Kudo's to our wonderful private tour guide Doug at the Robert Mondavi Vineyards for his wonderful tour, enthusiastic nature and his love to sharing all things good about wine.  BTW - Doug will be coming out with a book next year (he has a publisher) and I believe it is titled (at this point) "Accessories after the Grape".  If he writes like he presents, it's sure to be fun and informative.

Wine Master Doug - Robert Mondavi Vineyards

Decanting - well I learned a little about that too.  Our private guide Tom at Cliff Lede took us through the vineyards and then back to the tasting patio.  He set down a cabernet and then decanted another.  First we tasted the straight-from-the-bottle wine; no doubt, it was good.  But then 20 minutes later we tasted the decanted wine (same vintage).  It was soft, the tannins were more subtle and it was deeee-lish!  Stags Leap is another wonderful wine...I'll be sure to de-cant it from now on.

Tom - Our Cliff Lede Expert

As I sat in my office today, the Fed Ex guy rang my bell.  Oh how I love the Fed Ed guy!  He delivered the first of what is sure to be many cases of wine we purchased on our trip.  Some I remember ordering - others are sure to surprise me!  I know we became members at numerous vineyards - why not!  It's true you can get swept away in the moment of tastings, but I will have no regret.  Many of the wines cannot be purchased anywhere else but the vineyard (because of such low case availability) so we decided to throw the current US economic crisis' to the wind.  If nothing else, we can drink ourselves into the new Administration....

Finally, the Coppola Fall Harvest Party was breathtaking.   Looking out over the estate , which is the historic Inglenook Chateau from the 1800's, we danced to the live band, took a tour of the caves attached to the chateau, and wandered through the interesting Coppola museum.  The food was fantastic and needless to say, the wine was one of the best I had all week!  My favorite was the Cask - full bodied, bold yet deliciously floral, with rich tones of black cherry and caramel.   See - I learned something!  And I'm waiting for that shipment with delightful anticipation!

If you have the ability to visit California and you love wine, make the trek to Napa Valley.   You're never too old or too smart to keep learning; I know I'm going to continue my education of wine.  I simply find it fascinating.  I have posted many pics on my site of Napa's beauty and I will post more when I can. 

In the meantime, think 2005.  At every winery and vineyard we visited, every private tour we took and through every wine cave and tastings room, we discovered that 2005 was a GREAT year for wine.  Everyone can remember that! 

CHEERS!

ItsJill in the Rubicon Wine Cave
* Happily Over a Barrel *