In the Napa Valley we are blessed with dozens of exceptional restaurants locally, and we frequent them often. Within 15 minutes of our home in St. Helena some of our favorites are Farmstead, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, Tra Vigne, Brassica, Gott’s/Taylor’s Refresher, Market and Terra. A little further afield in Yountville, 15 minutes further down the…
Blame it on Millie. She was the fawn colored Nubian goat that we inherited on the ranch we were care taking in the mid 1970’s – head-strong, vocal and capable of eating anything in her path – who subsequently proceeded to give birth to twins. What to do with all the milk? Make cheese, of…
The holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years are usually times when we share celebrations with big meals, and lots of friends and family, paired with great bottles of wine from our cellar. But in our household, it’s time to collect the eggs, buy the gallons of cream and get the 3-4 bottles of assorted booze…
Our family has traditionally split the holidays with Herb’s family in Napa for Thanksgiving, and Jennifer’s family in Pasadena for Christmas. For over 30 years, at Thanksgiving all we had to do was make a salad or bring the green beans and the wine and show up at grandmas for football and a full turkey…
Basking in 75 degree temperatures at the end of October, with a warm breeze blowing the fall leaves throughout the vineyard, it’s hard to vividly remember the worrisome fog, rain and cool weather and the problems it brought us last summer. Over 2 inches of rain in early June caused many of the flowering grapes…
This was going to be exciting and different – picking Sauvignon Blanc under lights in the middle of the night! Although night time harvests, with their spot lights lighting the sky as though it was a local football game, have been used in the Napa Valley for many years, we have never been part of…
Living out in the country, seemingly miles from civilization with nary a neighbor in sight, we are always asked what critters we see in the vineyards. Yes, we did have a Brown Bear cruise though several years ago (he was more interested in the cat food and garbage bins than the grapes), and have even…
We all know that great wines are made in the vineyards . . . given the right circumstances! A “Normal” season of grape growing starts in the spring, when the vines send tiny new “buds” of growth out with the warming of weather after 6 months of winter dormancy. In approximately 50 more days (mid…
Living basically on the fringes of rural America (albeit with the benefits of a wealthy wine-making populace and within a hours’ drive of northern California ‘s cultural capital), we are blessed by the opportunities we have to connect with the farming and agriculture communities in our backyard, a staple of which is the summer-time County…
If this is your first visit or if you are a seasoned wine taster, here are some basic tips that will make your trip to the Wine Country so much more enjoyable; Check the weather report. Our grapes ripen beautifully because we are located in a Mediterranean climate; almost no rain at all from June…