The
most famous and most photographed sign in Napa and possibly in the USA. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
|
I had
been invited to
Freemark Abbey
note: link to Google maps on Saturday, 15th March, for the release of a wine vintage and after getting
up, we left around 8h30. The event had been arranged for members of the
Freemark Abbey wine club by invitation, though Saturday is business as usual
in the wine tasting room. The winery is located on the Calistoga side of the
junction of St Helena Highway and Lodi Lane. Before we left, I got to meet
Barry's brother, Brian, whom I hadn't seen since the good 'ole days. The
weather was sunny and warm and so I loaned Barry's car, driving the length
and breadth of the Silverado Trail, taking photographs of the vineyards,
returning around lunchtime. And so, on an empty stomach, I spent the rest of
the day sampling the truly astounding wine of this estate and the delicacies
on offer. A young guitarist Barry had "unearthed", played a selection of
well-known folk songs whilst accompanying himself on the guitar - he was
good. Inexplicably, I managed to stay sober which can be more than one might
say for one young Reiki therapist who got a bit out of it and thought I was
only there to photograph her. I got chatting to a fascinating woman who had
German roots and an uncle who visited Germany regularly. I mentioned that I
had always been interested in researching my own family roots and that she
ought to use the opportunity (her uncle) as "a matter of urgency" - this
amused her greatly.
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Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
We returned home and Barry made supper. Barry's son,
Carter, had grown since I had last seen him. So had his hair, in fact, his face barely visible, with a long ginger fringe. One cool dude! Kim was
away on business, winding up an estate in Valejo, as part of her
moonlighting activity. Barry and I watched some
English football (soccer) and chatted, washing down the conversation with grand
servings of stock from his personal cellar. I enjoyed his company and good
humour immensely and I suspect he did mine too. I discovered that Americans
have an absolute fascination for Simon Cowell's innovation, American Idol.
Personally, I cannot stand the man - I think he's obnoxious. But I can
understand Barry's fascination for the show. On
Sunday I went with Barry to his local First Baptist Church. It was a
celebration of Palm Sunday which coincides with the Jewish Holiday of Purim.
Barry's other love is his music and he has developed into a really good
musician. Jokingly, I said that his guitar work was better than his singing.
He does both for the gospel group playing Sunday morning church services and
I thought the songs were really good. Extraordinarily, the pastor had
invited a Jewish guest to talk about Purim. It was generally quite
interesting but I later confessed to Barry that I found the delivered speech
a bit too political for the occasion and being purely and overtly
pro-Israeli, rather one-sided. On that topic Barry and I agreed to
disagree. Nonetheless, the service was quite different to any I had
been accustomed to. We returned for lunch and drove to visit Kim in Vallejo.
On the way back we stopped to buy groceries, as a barbeque had been
arranged. Amazingly, Barry and I bumped into a one Karen Brewster, whom
Barry had last seen around Christmas Eve, 2005, also whilst we were on a
Napa shopping expedition! The barbeque did not materialise, much to Carter's
annoyance, so Barry made dinner. More of that sumptuous Napa wine. |
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Barry
on stage as he loves it, with the band, Free Baptist church, Napa. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area. The county
seat is Napa. Napa County was one of the original counties of California,
created in 1850 at the time of statehood. The word napa is of Native
American derivation and has been variously translated as "grizzly bear",
"house", "motherland", "fish". Of the many explanations of the
name's origin, the most plausible seems to be that it is derived from the
Patwin word napo meaning house, although local residents will often cite an
urban legend that gives the translation as "you will always return". Napa
County, once the producer of many different crops, is known today for its
wine industry, rising in the 1960s to prominence with the wine regions of
France and Italy. Napa is warmer in the summer than Sonoma County to the
west or Santa Barbara County, a wine-producing county in southern
California. Thus, the Napa wineries favour varietals such as Cabernet
Sauvignon, while Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are more the specialty of Sonoma
wineries and Santa Barbara wineries. |
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Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
|
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
Barry
normally has Mondays off and does a bit of housework. I had talked Barry
into connecting his PC (sound) to his amp, as I had brought along a number
of region 2 DVDs which would not play on his standalone DVD player. We went
into town and ended up having lunch at the Villa Corona (see website), a
Mexican speciality restaurant reputedly serving the best burritos and tacos
(yes, Barry, that's "takos", not "take-ohs"!!) in Napa. Barry caught some
shut-eye - checked my BT yahoo e-mails - he then prepared a traditional St
Patrick's dish of corned beef, potatoes and veggies. More heavenly Napa
wine. Corned beef and cabbage is the most common meal eaten in the United States for
St. Patrick's Day, even though historically,
corned beef and cabbage is an American (rather than a traditionally Irish)
meal. Kim arrived back in time for the meal and proceeded to "grill"
me about my private life - the Inquisition personified?
|
Napa
Valley, California - The Silverado Trail. |
So who
is this putz anyway? |
|
Barry
attending to wine orders at the office; Freemark Abbey tasting room - the
staff; Freemark Abbey winery entrance. |
Part
One - Portland, Oregon: [
1 ] [
2 ]
Part Two
- Napa, California: [ 1 ] [
2 ] [
3 ]
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