Toast to the new year

On another day off from work we visited the California wine region of Napa. A valley set amidst a series of north south hills on either side of highway 29 we went to a favorite haunt of ours called V.Sattui. This is a family business which I must say has got a bit snobbish since the last time we visited them a decade ago.

It is more geared toward large events and parties and one off buyers are not in favor it appeared. This is evident with the generally lackadaisical attitude of the deli staff as well as the bar keep of which they had two attending to a white couple. When we walked up there was no movement to attend to us or even acknowledge our presence. Was that bit racist perhaps? Maybe. But we are suckers (literally) for two of their beverages. One is a Madeira and another a fortified Muscat grape juice branded as Angelica.

Prices in the last 10 years have jumped about 30% or more. A standard sized bottle of the brandy fortified Angelica has jumped to over $50. We got the wine server to pour us a helping of both the Madeira and Angelica to make sure we remembered the taste from before. Spot on.

Having acquired our precious purchase we drove around to visit some properties that were either newer and some that we wanted to reminisce on.

Hall family owned compound also in St. Helena, is relatively new with the art pieces decorating the property including a historic limestone building that is used for large events.

All that walking coupled with appetite whipping dessert wine sampling made us hungry and I got a cafe and Rueben at a local deli. Both were delicious but pricey, which was to be expected.

That done we drove to Lake Berryessa to the east which is a dammed reservoir one of many in the region. Hung out in its vicinity enjoying the scenery.

Driving around winding roads in a sunny afternoon with the greening hills as a backdrop was enjoyable. Got back before the weekend evening traffic snarled up the highways.

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