Scribbles

Napa Valley is horrible for allergies. Arriving in perfect timing for the pollen in full bloom, I sneezed at least as much I drank.

That’s all I have to complain about my 2-day sojourn in amazing California wine country. After a rather productive week in the Bay Area, the brief time off relaxing in Napa was the perfect conclusion to my trip. Sure there was a lot of wine to taste and food to eat, but the theme of relaxing was well maintained. Think leisurely walks, naps, and massages.

I didn’t bother too much to visit many wineries. We took some suggestions from the inn-keeper and trekked between highway 29 and Silverado Trail for a bit of tasting and sight seeing. Clos Pegase stood out for its eccentric art-loving owner, who graciously outfitted the winery with his vast art collection. While I didn’t get much into the paintings hung on the office walls, I fully appreciated the statues scattered throughout the grounds and the caves. We picnic’ed on the patio, enjoying the breeze and surroundings. While generous with art, they were somewhat stingy with their wines for the tasting, proffering less spectacular samples while hoarding the good stuff.

The name-brand slut in me couldn’t resist stopping at Opus One, the Louis Vuitton of wines. For once I could relate to the hoards of women who dig LVMH. I even paid the premium price of $30 for the tasting – a single glass of the 2004 blend. Served in a Riedel glass by a French hostess, of course. I knew I was probably out of place the moment I walked in; some Japanese tourist had laid out several thousands of dollars worth of travelers cheques on the counter. He must have a lot of friends back home that need souvenirs. Quality wine, premium price.

Having my fill of nature and architecture, I wanted a good swig of grape. The final stop did just that. Jessup Cellers put up a tasting room in one of the Napa towns for the sheer joy of tasting, cutting out all the winery related sideshows. No tours, no vines. Simply a store front with bottles of oenoholic goodness. The host poured me at least 6 delicious reds, and offered to open up anything more I wanted to try, all complementary. I enjoyed their wine the most, preferring their flagship brand over Opus One.

Ending on a string of high notes, we stopped for a late lunch at a classy Vietnamese-fusion restaurant on Main St. The chef, Anna Lien, played host while we gobbled down the yummy food. Not taking away anything from Ubuntu’s unique and delicious veggie fare, Anna’s presence makes her cozy place stand out in the superb dining environment of Napa.

French Laundry will have to wait until next time.

Posts have been sparse lately due to my recent efforts to migrate this blog. It’s taking a lot longer than expecting, having to manually edit a lot of old postings and links to move the content to the new location. The work involved in setting up the new site is also dragging my time from writing coherent postings about my life.

Why am I moving? Well, the blogware software on my old site hasn’t been updated in ages. Being a technophile, I hate being restrained from using some of the newer features in the current world of blogging simply because I bet on the wrong horse 3 years ago. So rather than stick around, I’m willing to do the work of moving to a different system… Wordpress as you can see here. The current look and feel is still temporary as I’m learning that tweaks take a lot of time and effort. But will do my best to get this done soon.