The Search for Riesling

So my wife and I spent Thanksgiving in Napa Valley. We splurged and did the whole B&B thing. The Ink House B&B is beautiful!...check out their crappy website. Our room was tiny but "cozy" and we were pretty much the only people who were staying at the place who weren't a part of some wedding party (the rest of the guests were from Iowa). Both of us were recovering from major nasal leakage and a hacking cough...I pitied our next door neighbors. We had Thanksgiving dinner at a gorgeous Calistoga restaurant: Brannans. My fish was cooked perfectly and the butternut squash soup was like butter, but my wife's meal was disappointing...which really sucked because we spent a rediculous amount of money on that meal. After a couple of days to mull it over, I am a little pissed that they surprised us with a Fix Prix menu that offered no leaway in terms of cutting costs.

But the real fun came the next day with our tour of several winerys. We had a blast. And the whole process was simple,...you stop at every winery, park your car, take in the pervasive scent of ripening cabernet in the air, walk into an always quaint and rustic tasting room and drink your ass off. Now you have to understand, I have little to no understanding for the whole wine fascination thing nor do I have a particular liking for it's taste,...but it simply does not matter. At the end of the day, you end up with a supreme appreciation for the process,.....and a big time buzz.

About Riesling, my wife's uncle bought me my first glass 2 years ago. He gave me a bit of an education about the grape. Very interesting stuff this wine business....so, the Riesling is a grape that flourishes in colder climes, which is why it does well in Germany. That country simply produces the best Riesling in the world. Now the Napa Valley is renown for it's Cabernets; Big and Bold reds. There are some 200 winerys in the Napa Valley and only 3 (as far as I know and learned) grow the Riesling grape. Two of the three grow them in coastal valleys outside Napa valley but only one actually grows them in the valley. Now you have to understand, Napa Valley winerys are known for their technological innovation; these guys will try anything, and it appears that Trefethen (a small family run winery/vineyard) has been growing the Riesling in some dark little valley or on the northern or southern slopes of the Napa Valley, who know what...but they pulled it off and I bought a bottle of Trefethen Dry Riesling! They also poured me glass of this "late harvest" stuff,...now check this out: they leave the grape to continue to ripen on the vine. As it does, the sugar concentrates and the grape raisinizes. When they finally harvest the bunches, each grape will yeild ONE fricken drop! I swear, it looked like syrup and tasted like heaven...as it should considering it's price.

Anywayz, I gotta go,...but any of my friends who might be reading this, we have to get together as a group and spend a weekend afternoon in Napa Valley...we'll have a blast I guarantee.