Calistoga Vacation!

We enjoyed our visit to Calistoga in July so much, that we wanted to go back.  We asked Jim and Rex to join us for a week at Washington Street Lodging, and he was able to get vacation time, so, off we went!

Jim and Rex arrived on Sunday afternoon, the 10th, and we had a nice afternoon and evening together.  On Monday morning we loaded up the car, including an ice chest full of whatever food was going to go bad during the week, and left for Calistoga.  It was a beautiful day, and we had a nice trip through San Francisco, and into Sonoma and Napa counties.  It was much warmer there - the temps were in the 90's for our entire stay, which I loved!  Jim and Rex, not so much.

Our first stop was at V. Sattui winery.  Their wines are only sold at the winery.  We didn't do any tasting there, as it was really crowded (Monday was a holiday), but we made use of their restrooms and Lee bought a couple bottles of wine to take with us.  

We got to Washington Street Lodging about 3, and our cottage was ready for us.  We reversed the car loading process, and got settled in.  We had some munchies and a glass of wine on the deck, and looked through all of the information that Joan provides on the area, and came up with a plan for where to go and what to see!  Dinner that night was a huge tossed salad with chicken and feta on the deck, under the lights strung across - it was wonderful - probably about 80 and just perfect!!

Tuesday morning we had our normal leisurely morning - coffee, followed by breakfast, followed by showers and getting ready.  We were out of the cottage by 11:00 am, which is plenty early enough for wine tasting!  We decided to concentrate on the smaller wineries in the area, the ones recommended by Joan.  

We started out at Zahtilla Winery, on the Silverado Trail.  They make predominantly red wines, and they were quite good - we bought a bottle, so did Jim - 2 bottles, so far!  From there we visited the Vincent Arroyo Winery - a very small operation - they have tasting just outside their barrel room, at NO CHARGE!!  They also specialize in reds, and in addition to the tasting, they gave us a tour of the area where they were harvesting and beginning the crush - it was amazing!  We bought 3 bottles of wine, Jim bought 1 - now we're up to 6!

At this point it was about 2, so we decided lunch was in order.  Back to the cottage, where we had lunch out on the deck.  We had planned a visit to the g.Cook winery that afternoon.  Gayle Cook is a flight attendant for Delta, and Lee has flown with her for years.  Her husband Glen was a dentist in Palo Alto, decided to make his dream a reality, and start a winery in the Napa Valley.  The Cooks have 3 BIG dogs, so Jim and Rex decided to stay behind and rest and relax, and Lee and I went to the winery.

It was great to see Glen and Gayle again, and they treated us to a barrel tasting of some of their 2010 wines that had just been harvested and were in stainless tanks!  We tried a new rose, which had just gone "on the yeast", a Cabernet Franc that was just two weeks old, and already very good, and a Cabernet Sav that was 3 weeks old.  While we were there, Glen and Gayle suggested that we visit Chateau Montelena, where the movie Bottle Shock was filmed - more about that later.   We left g.Cook winery with 3 bottles of wine - their fabulous field blend red, a sauvignon blanc and a rose - now we're up to 9 bottles on the first day!

Tuesday night Jim treated us to dinner at the Flatiron Grill in Calistoga.  It was within walking distance of our cottage, but we took the car and parked it right outside the restaurant, where we could keep an eye on Rex.  We took the bottle of field red from g.Cook, (no corkage fee),  enjoyed a delicious dinner. They even fixed a hamburger patty for Rex!  We finished off the evening on the deck under the stars with warm, lovely weather.

Wednesday we continued our visit of small wineries.  We began at Chateau Montelena, which has the most amazing grounds, with a lake, several small pagoda-style picnic areas and paths suspended over water.  We went into the tasting room, where Jim discovered the Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon in small "glass sipper" bottles, packaged 6 to a box.  He got some of those to share with the people back at work.  We saw references to the movie "Bottle Shock", and decided that we needed to find that movie!  We left there with 18 cute little bottles of wine!

The next stop was at Summers Winery, again, a very small winery.  They had a "petting vineyard" where a row of vines of each of their types of grapes were planted near the tasting room, and you could walk among them and taste each of them on the vine.  They are one of the few wineries who produce wine from the charbono grape - and there are only 80 acres of charbono grapes in California.  We left with 13 bottles of wine from Summers - although 12 of them were half-bottles.

On my list for our Calistoga visit was to see the Castillo Di Amorosa.  It's a replica of a 12th century Italian castle, and it's authentic in every way.  It was built over a period of 15 years, by Darryl Sattui - of V. Sattui fame!  Darrel is producing Italian style wines on his land and the castle is actually a working winery.  Donna, we sure hope that you still have that bottle of port that Darryl signed, all those years ago! 

When we visited Calistoga in July, we took the tram up to Sterling Vineyards, and you could look across and see the castle on top of the hill, even though its not visible from the road. 
We decided not to take the castle tour, but to go up and have a look around.  Well, it was amazing!!  Anything in the castle that isn't authentic and imported from Italy was created, using "old world" methods.  It's 9 stories tall, and 4 of them are underground.  They have a drawbridge, moat, dungeon and even a torture chamber!  We quickly decided that we wanted to go inside, so we did the tasting tour, which included 2 floors of the castle on a self-guided basis, and the tasting room.  We really enjoyed everything we saw, and the full tour is on the "next time" list!  We left there with one bottle of wine.  So, on Wednesday, we bought 32 bottles of wine, bringing our total to 41!  Although, in our defense, the bulk of these were small bottles - and 18 of them were really small!!

We had pasta with pesto and a green salad on the deck for dinner on Wednesday night - just delightful!

We decided to go south on the Silverado Trail on Thursday - our first stop was at Rombauer Winery - they are known for their reds, and Kerner Rombauer was a pilot for Braniff, so there's an airline connection.  They also have an amazing garden to stroll through that we all really enjoyed.  We left Rombauer with 2 bottles of wine. 

Next on the list was Silver Oak!  Lee and I had visited Silver Oak 16 years ago.  They produce only Cabernet Sauvignon.  We had gotten a bottle on that visit, which we opened the night Lee gave me my engagement ring.  Their wines are still just fabulous!  We got a bottle of a re-release of the 2002 Cab, which we're going to save for our 10th anniversary!

From there we went across to Hwy 29 and the Franciscan Winery.  This was in direct conflict with our focus on small wineries, but it was wonderful!  Their wines are great and the grounds are just beautiful.  One bottle of Chardonnay left with us.

Back to small wineries - we stopped at the tiny Fulton Winery.  They produce only Petit Sirah - it's a true mom & pop operation!  The family has run the winery for many generations, and we left there with two wonderful bottles of the 2007 Petit Sirah.  Let's see - I think that makes our grand total 47 bottles of wine in 4 days!!  Again, lots of them were really, really small!

We got back to the cottage about 3 pm, and stopped at a Mexican restaurant that we had wanted to try and ordered a nice lunch, that we all really enjoyed.  That evening we went to visit a friend of Jim's that he had worked with in San Luis, Wendy.  Wendy works at a casino about 15 miles from Calistoga, on Hwy 29.  She was working that night, but she had a 30 minute lunch break, so she and Jim got to visit during that time.  While we were there, we each put $1 in the slot machines,  and promptly lost them all!

We got back to Calistoga at 8:30, and stopped at their local ice cream shop for a frozen yogurt - yummy!!

And then it was Friday!  And after our not-as-leisurely breakfast, we all got ready, and began the process of loading the car for the inevitable trip home.  It was tricky with all that wine!  But Lee and Jim got us all packed up,and there was even room for Rex and I in the back seat.  We stopped at the Calistoga Coffee Roastery on our way out, as we each wanted a bag of their coffee.  Joan provides freshly ground coffee from the roastery and it is SO good!  When we got to the roastery, we asked for the coffee that "Joan buys for Washington Street Lodging", and they were able to tell us exactly what to buy!  Gotta love a small town!

Then we visited the local museum so that Jim could see it.  It's totally amazing for a town of this size, but that's because a Mr. Sharpsteen, who worked for Walt Disney in the animation area, moved to Calistoga when he retired.  He began creating a huge diorama of the early town and collecting historical information and artifacts.  His passion, wealth and Hollywood connections resulted in a wonderful museum.  While we were there, we saw a picture of the Schrams home, built on a clearing in a hill in the mid 1800's.  We wondered if it was still there, and I remembered that the Schramsburg Winery had been on Joan's list.  So, even though we didn't have an appointment, we went to visit and have a walk around.  Needless to say, it's no longer located in a clearing!  It's not even visible from the road.  But the beautiful old house remains, along with the winery operation and tasting room.

After that, we had no excuse to not head home.  We got to Pacifica about 3, and stopped at Safeway.  While we were there, Lee noticed the DVD shop across the street and went in and got the movie "Bottle Shock".  We watched it after dinner and it was a great movie.  We learned that Chateau Montelena's 1973 chardonnay wine had won first place in a blind tasting of French and California white wines, held in Paris in 1976!  And then we realized that we hadn't even tasted their Chardonnay!!  On the list for "next time".  In that same tasting, the Stags Leap Winery won first place for reds, so the French were not very happy.  In 2006, 30 years later, a blind tasting was again held in Paris, and again, the California wines won first place, resulting in the movie Bottle Shock.

Jim headed for home this morning.  The house is quiet, and there's no little dog to sit with me.

We had a great, wonderful relaxing time in Calistoga with Jim and Rex!!  We're looking forward to our next trip to Washington Street Lodging and the wine country!

The V. Sattui anniversary sign.

Jim, Rex and Lee

Washington Street Lodging.  The main house was built in the late 1800's, and the cottages are in the back.

Jim in the front room.  The day bed is very comfortable for sleeping!  There's also a full kitchen, bedroom and decent sized bathroom with a walk-in closet.  This is Cottage #2, and was built in the 1930's.

The very inviting, comfortable deck!  We spent quality time here!  You can see Cottages #4 and 5 in this picture, and one of our neighbors at the table.

Ahhhhh...   Rex, however, wasn't as sure

But Jim sure looks comfy!

Relaxing time on the deck - Jim with his crossword puzzles, Lee with his computer (on his lap) and me with books and maps, plotting!

Downtown Calistoga - this was the school house at one time.

The guys on the main street - Lincoln Avenue

The original train station in Calistoga.  It was built in the mid-1800's.

There are many beautiful murals on buildings in Calistoga - this one was really neat!

The old hotel

Glen and Gayle Cook and Tank!  Tank is a cross between a Rottweiler and a great dane, and weighs a mere 115 lbs!  Those are Glen's vines in the background.

The gardens at Chateau Montelena

Lee, Jim and Rex on the bridge leading to the picnic pagodas.

Isn't this a beautiful setting for a picnic?

Chateau Montelena, in full swing with the harvest

It's a grand old building, built into the side of the mountain.

Picking the debris out of the grapes.  These are Cabernet Sauvignon grapes

Into the hopper, and off to be crushed!

Tons of grapes - literally!

Jim and I with wine barrels

And Lee, too!

The entrance to the Chateau Montelena tasting room.

Chateau Montelena courtyard.

Rex, Jim and Lee by the koi pond

This is a display that talks about the wine that won the blind tasting in 1976

This is the sign above the fireplace at Summers Winery - love it!

We took full advantage of the "petting vineyard"!

The rare Charbono grape!  It tasted pretty good!

Jim and Rex among the vines

Grapes, ready to be picked.  It's great that they are trained to hang below the foliage, for easier harvesting.

Wine on the hoof!

Castello di Amorosa - Castle of Love

Ready to visit the castle

The castle from the grounds around it

More castle

Here's a view of Sterling Winery, nestled in the mountains on the other side of the highway - the reverse of the view we got of the castle in July

Vineyards.  Everything was beginning to change color - should be spectacular in a couple of weeks.

Lee at the castle

And Jim, too.

Jim and Rex, touring around

One of the corridors surrounding the center of the castle

The great dining hall - it seated 144!!

Kings and Queen for a moment!

The courtyard

King Rex!

In the courtyard with the horse-drawn cart

The ladies room

Lots of arches!

This was a HUGE cask - must have been 12 feet high!

Wine-making at the castle.

Entering the tasting room, underground

Jim and Lee

Wine tasting at the castle!

The gardens at Rombauer

Jim and Rex at Rombauer

Silver Oak - very special wine!

Vines and fountain at Silver Oak

Windows at Silver Oak

Great display!  Lee asked to see the bottle that cork had been in!

Beautiful fountain at Franciscan Winery

More wine tasting!  Note the one glass - the wineries were great about letting us pay for one tasting, and then sharing.  Saved a lot of money, and kept us safe and sober!

Jim and Rex.  Rex didn't quite get our penchant for wineries, but he was very patient.

Jim and Wendy!

The Schramsburg Winery.  They produce sparkling wines.

What a wonderful, relaxing vacation!