November 23^rd and 24^th

Our first full day in Calistoga began with beautiful sunshine and temperatures in the high 60’s. We took Jazz for a walk through the downtown and checked out the local Visitor Information centre to learn what all the area had to offer. Lots of wineries of course!! The downtown  had a lot of shops similar to what is in Niagara on the Lake but on a larger scale. The population of the town is approximately 1600. The town has a lot of Hot Spring Spas to enjoy and many great restaurants. Once we had our bearings, we returned to the RV, dropped off Jazz after grabbing a bite to eat and we took off on our bikes to go on a winery tour. Our first stop was at Lava Vine Winery. This winery is owned by 3 guys who were quite entertaining the whole time we were there. Their wine was not bad but the whole experience itself was a lot of fun. We continued on our wonderful bike ride through wine country stopping briefly at Clos Pegase Winery, Sterling Winery (which we decided we would check out thoroughly another day as it was very big and busy) and finally we ended up at Twomey Winery which was a great stop. The tasting server was extremely informative and we learned a lot about the winery and the Napa Valley in general while we were there. He even gave us 2 free really nice wine glasses . Sunday night we enjoyed pasta at Boskos’s Trattoria for dinner. As we were walking back to the RV we found live entertainment at the Hydro Grill being performed by a  group of 7 Swing Musicians performing Jazz music. The music was great and it was a perfect way to end our day. Monday morning we again woke to beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. We set off on our bikes again, this time taking a totally different wine route. We first went to Chateau Montelena . In 1976 Chateau Montelena helped put California at the forefront of the wine world. That year a who’s-who of the French wine and food establishment gathered for a grand tasting at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Paris. Four white Burgundies were tasted against six California Chardonnays. When the scores were tallied, the French Judges were convinced that the top-ranking white wine was one of their own. In fact, it was Chateau Montelena’s 1973 Chardonnay, rated above all other wines. The results proved that Chateau Montelena could produce some of the world’s finest wines, and that California’s wine industry had come of age. This is how California became famous for it’s wines. Check out the movie Bottle Shock (made in 2008) which tells the story. We watched it this past week on Netflix and really enjoyed it. After Chateau Montelena we rode to Bennett Lane Winery as well as Envy Winery and enjoyed tastings at each one. Again we learned a lot about wines and the region from the people at each winery. It was time for lunch and a bit of relaxing at the campsite after all that wine! We knew we still had more wineries to visit and more sampling to do the next day so we had to get ready for that! On Monday, November 24^th we packed up the RV and headed down Hwy 29 toward the city of Napa where we would spend 2 days. On the way, we revisited Sterling Winery which was very impressive. To get to the actual winery you take an aerial tram (Gondola) which is the only one of its kind in Napa Valley, offering stunning views as visitors ride up to the winery. You are greeted with a glass of wine to enjoy while you stroll through art galleries, overlooks, and elevated walkways that allow guests to follow the winemaking process from grape to glass. Along the way, motion-activated flat-screen televisions provide detailed explanations. This arrangement lets guests tour the winery at their own pace. It was an amazing tour and we came away from there with some delicious wines which we will do our best to try and keep to age awhile before we enjoy them. Next stop was just as impressive but in a different way. We went to Castello di Amorosa which is an authentic Tuscan Castle modelled after a 13^th Century castle built by Dario Sattui in Napa Valley because of his passionate, all-consuming desire to create something extraordinary to honour his Italian heritage. It took 15 actual years to construct. It is 121,000 square feet (3 acres of rooms), has 5 defensive towers with battlements, 2000 pound hand-hewn doors from Italy, 107 distinctive rooms – 95 of them devoted to winemaking and 8 levels – 4 of which are underground which makes 2/3’s of the Castello underground. Our server told us that every rock and or reclaimed brick used to construct it came from Europe. You will see from the pictures how many would have had to have been shipped over. It was an amazing place to visit. Check out the website: http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/   if you would like to learn more. The wine they make is only sold at the Winery so of course we had to buy some there as well! Last stop before we arrived in the city of Napa was at the Robert Mondavi Winery. For those of you who know me well, you know that Mondavi’s Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon is my absolute favorite wine to drink. So, I could not have possibly driven by and not gone in for a visit. We were at the Mondavi winery back in 2000 which is when I first discovered his wines and that is where the story began. Anyway, we had a great time there as well and of course we had to do some more sampling. We arrived in Napa in the late afternoon and set up camp in the Napa Valley Exposition Fairgrounds RV Park which was very similar to the Fairground RV Park we had camped in in Calistoga. These RV parks in Fairgrounds are a great idea. They come with all hookups including free Wifi and we quite enjoyed our stay in both parks. The following morning we set out on foot to explore the downtown area of Napa. Napa is quite a big city with a population of approximately 75,000 people. The downtown had a lot of restaurants and shops in it. We saw a lot of buildings which were damaged in the earthquake that just happened there this past August which measured at 6.0 in magnitude. Many of the damaged buildings were their government buildings – the Post office, courthouse etc. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at The Bounty Hunter BBQ restaurant. Then we returned to the RV and spent the rest of the afternoon reading our books while enjoying the sunshine. No wine that day!!! On Thursday morning (Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.) we hit the road and headed in the direction of Yosemite National Park. More to follow on this in our next Blog. Let’s just say it was another eventful drive with me at the helm again.