Wines, Mines and More 2009: Day 12 September 21

From Cal Expo in Sacramento to Napa Expo in Napa we caravanned. Bidding farewell to Sacramento, we crossed the American River. As we proceeded west we encountered the agricultural areas of the Sacramento Valley we had heard so much about.

After a 1 1/2 hour drive we left the big I-80 highway and began a winding two lane highway (with no passing) drive up and over the first range of hills/mountains which define the Napa Valley.

Everyone settled into their final parking spots of the caravan. We gathered

together in our cars and proceeded up the valley to the Napa Valley Museum. On the way we drove through several areas of the town of Napa where we saw the main headquarters building of "Wine Spectator Magazine" and wonderful Victorian and craftsman style homes.

For miles and miles and miles and miles, vineyard and winery after vineyard and winery stretched before us as well as small town with many restaurants and shops. Napa is located between two mountain ranges with the Napa River flowing through it towards San Francisco Bay and is absolutely beautiful.

At the museum the docent gave us an overview of the current exhibit "Portals to the Past: Work and Play in Napa County” featuring artifacts from the Napa Valley Museum’s permanent collection, as well as artifacts, photographic images, paintings and uniforms and clothing provided by the Napa County Historical Society,

the Society of California Pioneers and the Veterans Home of California. The exhibit gave us a view of history of the area through geological specimens, a Wappo dwelling built on site, objects from an early Mexican rancho, a Chinatown camp, an authentic stagecoach, turn-of-the-century parlor, pioneer farm equipment, a tribute to military veterans and homage to early vintners. Past industries included cattle ranching, tanning, quicksilver mining as well as grape growing and wine making. During prohibition the vineyards survived by selling the grapes, making sacramental wine and smuggling.

Our next stop was at Greystone, the western home of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).

The huge castle like building was originally built as a winery and now houses a school and restaurant.

We will be coming back tomorrow for lunch, but today we experienced a cooking demonstration in their high-tech demo gallery. Julia Cunningham, a graduate of the Institute who now owns her own food establishment but also helps teach at the school, prepared Tomato Bacon Soup (made from fresh

heirloom brandywine tomatoes) with Grilled Cheese Croutons.

Most of us decided that the soup was good but not worth all the work entailed in preparing it from scratch. However, we did learn some interesting food preparation techniques.

That evening at the campground we were in for a treat. George and Gerri Cederholm provided us with a blind taste test. George picked up five bottles of red wine at Costco and placed them in paper bags

numbered 1 through 5. He gave us each

five plastic cups with numbers on them and five sheets of paper to "attempt" to describe color, aroma, taste and aftertaste of each wine and then rank them in the order we preferred. It was great fun especially trying to guess what type of wine we were tasting. He kept saying "there is no wrong answer, its what you like". And we liked it.

After the tasting we gobbled up a wonderful spread including a beautiful antipasto prepared by Gerri and Rolled Lasagna (recipe provided by Dee) prepared by Barb, Dee and Linda. "Chef Extradinaire" Stan Jones created a masterful bread pudding in his Dutch oven. He baked the pudding over and under coals. Each serving was topped off with an outstanding whiskey sauce.