blog post

Hello fellow travelers!  Although cruising is my favorite, sometimes I've just got to head out in a car -- this time Steve and I stayed in Santa Rosa, and spent 3 days driving around to new wineries and visiting some of our old favorites.

We discovered a long time ago that it's easiest to fly into Oakland and pick up a car there, unless we are spending time in San Francisco, which we didn't do this time.  Santa Rosa turned out to be a great location -- we were able to get to Dry Creek and Russian River wineries easily, and cut up through the hills (beautiful drive) to Calistoga in less than 30 minutes.  Since a lot of our favorite places are on the North end of Napa Valley -- the Silverado Trail --  it worked out perfectly.  If you are going there, just cut over from US 29 on any of the East-West roads just South of Calistoga to get to Silverado Trail.

There you will find the best wines in the world -- from wineries like Rombauer, Cuvaison, Clos Pegase, and Miner (just to name a few).  The most silky Chardonnays and elegant Cabernet Sauvignons come from this area.  A lot of them blend in grapes from the Carneros region, too, which adds a delicate floral/spicy element that I particularly love.  If we had had one more day, I would have spent it in Carneros for sure.

Over in the Dry Creek Valley, our favorites are Ferrari-Carano, Mazzocco, and Preston.  We then discovered the most  fabulous addition to the "favorites" list -- Lambert Bridge.  The wine-maker there is absolutely inspired, creating big, flavorful red wines without any of the heavy "jamminess" that bog down some of them (not that it stopped me from enjoying a rather dense Preston Barbera with a delightful Italian meal at Ca'Bianca).

Speaking of meals, I highly recommend Ca'Bianca. It's in downtown Santa Rosa, occupying a gorgeously-decorated old house.  Everything was perfect, from the chicken crepes right down to the handsome host.  Another night we had dinner at an old favorite that I always recommend -- The Rutherford Grill.  You need a lot of grilled chicken to counter-balance an afternoon of wine-tasting, though, so order a big meal and be sure to have some mashed potatoes.  I, alas, did not, and thus fell asleep in the car on the way back to Santa Rosa.  Could be that the Rombauer Chardonnay had something to do with it. 

I think my favorite dinner on this trip was at a place on the edge of Santa Rosa called Zazu.  I came across it while doing some internet research -- they said they were having "Pizza & Pinot" night on the Thursday night we came in.  The chef would make pizzas designed to go well with Pinot Noir wines.  Sounded fine with me -- no reason to blow the budget on fancy meals every day, right?  Well, the place turned out to be "ultra-cool."  Steve had a delicious trout dinner, and I had a very unusual pizza (fava beans, ricotta, and Meyer lemon oil) that actually did go quite excellently with our 2005 Kenwood Reserve Pinot Noir.  We heard the chef? owner? hostess? talking with another guest about how Zazu was going to be featured in a PBS production, and a California commercial with the Schwarzeneggers!  So in honor of our close encounter with California coolness, I will share with you the recipe for Zazu's "Spicy Tomato Soup" that we also enjoyed with our Pinot:

1 peeled carrot

1 onion

1 rib of celery

5 cloves of garlic   

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon chili flakes, or more if you want the soup hotter

1  28-ounce can peeled tomatoes

2 cups water

Kosher or sea salt to taste

In food processor, chop the carrot, celery, and onion until fine.  In a large sauce pan on medium-high heat, open up the garlic cloves in the olive oil until golden and fragrant.  Add the carrot-celery-onion mix and the chili flakes.  Saute about 7 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and the water and simmer about 20 minutes.  Puree the mixture and season to taste with the salt.  You may garnish it in the bowl with a swirl of olive oil.  Goes great with a grilled-cheese sandwich!

I will elaborate more on the wines in the next entry, and I hope to have some lovely photographs to share as well.  Thanks and talk soon -- Janet