It’s a lovely day to be in Napa! Of course, every day is likely to be a good day in Napa for someone like us.
I’m grateful that we woke up feeling better than we deserved this morning after a great big first day here. We didn’t “take it easy” on our first day. It was easy to have just a little too much fun, especially when we didn’t have to worry about driving and were literally like kids in a candy store. Today we were much more responsible.
While this is my fourth time visiting Napa Valley, it was the first time ever seeing downtown Napa. For us, it was a great opportunity to visit these smaller winemakers who are trying to build a living from their storefront. These folks love to make and sell wine as their dream; they were down to earth and supported a casual style. They are not trying to be anything more than artists in winemaking. They don’t have the capital backing of these mega-wineries, and they aren’t trying to grow their own grapes. We enjoyed what we tasted, and we think that we supported them appropriately. It would have been difficult to walk out with just a tasting, knowing how expensive it is to rent a space and live in this area. Plus we have some lovely souvenirs to enjoy at a later date. ?
Aside from the two small wineries that we visited, downtown is a foodie mecca and has all of the upscale shopping that you would expect. It was interesting to see people strolling in late afternoon all “dressed for dinner” while we were ready to stroll back to Livvy in our casual attire. Outside of what we did yesterday, I don’t think that downtown is a place that we would be visiting regularly.
Today was a much more traditional Napa experience, and what we came here for. The drive into the valley was as beautiful as we remembered, and more so seeing the ripe grapes on most vines. As Rick mentioned, we had member tasting reservations at V. Sattui. I first came here with my friend Sarah in 2004 and have been back every time, at least once per visit. I have been a member pretty regularly most of these years as well, so our wine collection is pretty heavily stocked with goods from here. They only sell to consumers; there are no retail outlets to buy their wine. And it is a “mega-winery” in their own way; they produce 70,000 cases per year!
We booked the first tasting of the day since we wanted an indoor tasting and knew we would have to leave Daisy in Livvy. While today is the hottest of those during our visit, it was only around 65 degrees this morning. We were so fortunate to find a shady spot under some trees at the far edge of the property this morning, so that all would be safe and comfortable.
The tasting was as wonderful as we remembered, enjoying the place pretty much to ourselves at that early hour. The tasting host let us know that there was a team meeting going on in the room next door, and before we knew it, the owner came out and was chatting it up with us. We had met him in 2021 at a Futures/Barrel tasting party, but this was neat to have a quiet conversation with him, including how much he also enjoyed Lassen Volcanic National Park.
The other wonderful feature about V. Sattui, besides their wine, is their market. They are one of the few to offer a market on their grounds, and they are putting the finishing touches on a beautiful, remodeled version of it. So after our tasting we had a wonderful picnic lunch outside! It was so perfect, that we’re going to do this again in a couple of days! After all, our tastings are “free” as members, and so we need to take advantage of it while we are in town.
We were smart and kept it to just one tasting today. We had 3 months of our regular monthly wine membership to pick up, and also bought a couple of special extras to bring home.
This afternoon we napped, did laundry (hopefully for the final time on this trip) and then strolled to dinner at another favorite spot.
We had been to the original Gott’s Roadside in St. Helena on our last trip, and were happy to see that they have a location just a few blocks from us. Gott’s is effectively diner food, best known for burgers. They were established in the late 90’s and are apparently James Beard award-winning for their cuisine. We just loved it and were excited to go back for burgers and fries! It was just as delicious as we remembered it.
The walk back did us good, and we’re resting up to do it all over again tomorrow. Yes, more wine tastings!
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