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More vacation pictures...
I thought it would take no time to throw up some pictures and a little narrative of our vacation, but how can you take practically the best week EVER, and put it into words? Even the pictures don't do it justice. Have you ever seen the commercials for California cheese? Yes. It's true. Even the cows are happy in California! (We drove by several... they did look rather pleased.)
OK... back to our vacation. I'm getting out of order with the wineries. Cakebread is a favorite of Bryan and his Mom. "Cakebread" is the last name of the founder, Jack. He was in Napa taking photographs for a book, and ended up buying a ranch and founding Cakebread Cellars. 
I didn't take many pictures there, but it was a beautiful winery. 
We ended up buying some of their Zinfandel, which is only available at the winery. I also picked up several recipe cards designed to pair with their particular wines.
Ehler's Estate was the only certified organic winery that we visited. It took them five years to achieve this coveted status. (Bryan says, "That means they use poop for fertilizer.") The tour was very interesting, and they pointed out that they plant certain "weeds" in strategic locations to attract insects that would otherwise feed on the grapevines.
Aside from being the only certified organic winery, Ehlers is also unique in that 100% of the profit from the sale of the wine goes to the Laducq Foundation. The Laducq Foundation is a not-for-profit group founded in 1996 by Jean Laducq, who also owned Ehlers. The Foundation funds international research for cardiovascular disease, which Laducq suffered from. He passed away in 2002, and left Ehlers in trust to the Foundation.
While we were waiting for our tour, we enjoyed the shady courtyard. The olive trees planted by Laducq were never pruned for producing olives, so they were HUGE. 
Ehlers was perhaps most memorable because of the delicious food pairings they served with their wine. We first tasted the wine alone, and then again with a carefully selected food pairing. It actually enhanced the taste of the wine dramatically!
This is Darioush.
From the outward appearance to the cocophany of music and bustling people inside, it was easy to see that Darioush came from influences other than that of the typical Napa Valley winery. The founder, Darioush Khaledi, was born and raised in Iran. His father produced wine as a hobby. Darioush moved to Southern California in the 1970's. After collecting wine for many years, he embarked on a search for the perfect estate vineyard in the 1990's. In 2004, Darioush began welcoming guests to it's visitor center and winery. It is rich with Persian influence, and the architecture is magnificent. In fact, one of the employees remarked, "The magntitude of the building is disproportionate to the amount of wine that is produced." (Limited production is a good thing, ensuring that the only the best fruit goes into the wine.)
The picture below is looking up at the pillars in front of the visitor's center.
I am ordinarily not inclined to buy a t-shirt as a souvenir, but after driving to Pride Mountain, I owed it to my body as a merit badge of sorts. The t-shirt reads, "I survived the drive to Pride!" The winery is near the top of Spring Mountain, which calls for a drive up the winding-est road I've personally ever been on! Bryan thoroughly enjoyed the drive, while I, on the other hand, longed for the long, straight roads of Indiana. 
The property was just beautiful. The tour guide, Jason, was very personable and informative. He also happens to be a trained Chef. Here he is "stealing" wine from a barrel for us to sample. The glass do-dad he is using with his right hand to siphon is called a "wine thief." 
You might have noticed that he is in a cave. Pride Mountain stores their wines in a cave, which provides the ideal temperature and humidity for aging. 
We learned about Pride Mountain about a year ago. I had planned to make dinner for Bryan (I can't remember the occasion), and wanted to buy a special bottle of wine. It's not always easy to find a great wine to drink the very night you buy it, but the wine store recommended a bottle of Pride Mountain Merlot. We loved it!
Jason taught us some of the methods Pride Mountain uses for growing grapes on the mountain. I can't recall them specifically, but I do recall him mentioning that the viognier grape is quite finicky, and "if you look at it the wrong way, it just won't produce grapes that year." Here it is below. 
We got to sample some of the viognier juice (not wine) mixed with Brandy. It tasted like thin honey. It was delicious.
I took the picture above to show the "grafting" of one type of grape onto an existing vine. The middle part that looks like a post is one type of vine, and the two side extensions are another type that was grafted on. 
How the vines are allowed to grow and kept under control is referred to as "trellising." In this picture, the vine grows off to one side, and has "horns" that grow off of the main vine. During the tour, Jason mentioned that there are a specific number of shoots that they allow to grow off of each horn, to focus the vine's nutrients into the grapes. Too many shoots/grapes, would spread the nutrients too thin, and not make quality grapes.
We also got to meet Corky and Rocky, the two Clydesdale horses that work at Pride Mountain. Actually, there's a third, Surf, whom we didn't meet. He's much younger than Corky and Rocky, who are around 29 years old. (I just read that Clydesdales typically live into their teens or early 20s.) The trio are cared for by a fellow named Mario. His only job is to maintain the three, and everyday takes Corky and Rocky out for exercise with their wagon. In their youth, they used to take winery visitors on the tour. Mario stopped for us to pet them, but I didn't get my camera out in time to take a picture of their faces. This will have to do:
And if you look very closely at the picture below, you will see them coming up the gravel road.
That's all for now, but before I go, I just have to include one more happy cow picture...
Jenny
OK... back to our vacation. I'm getting out of order with the wineries. Cakebread is a favorite of Bryan and his Mom. "Cakebread" is the last name of the founder, Jack. He was in Napa taking photographs for a book, and ended up buying a ranch and founding Cakebread Cellars. 
I didn't take many pictures there, but it was a beautiful winery. 
We ended up buying some of their Zinfandel, which is only available at the winery. I also picked up several recipe cards designed to pair with their particular wines.
Ehler's Estate was the only certified organic winery that we visited. It took them five years to achieve this coveted status. (Bryan says, "That means they use poop for fertilizer.") The tour was very interesting, and they pointed out that they plant certain "weeds" in strategic locations to attract insects that would otherwise feed on the grapevines.
Aside from being the only certified organic winery, Ehlers is also unique in that 100% of the profit from the sale of the wine goes to the Laducq Foundation. The Laducq Foundation is a not-for-profit group founded in 1996 by Jean Laducq, who also owned Ehlers. The Foundation funds international research for cardiovascular disease, which Laducq suffered from. He passed away in 2002, and left Ehlers in trust to the Foundation.
While we were waiting for our tour, we enjoyed the shady courtyard. The olive trees planted by Laducq were never pruned for producing olives, so they were HUGE. 
Ehlers was perhaps most memorable because of the delicious food pairings they served with their wine. We first tasted the wine alone, and then again with a carefully selected food pairing. It actually enhanced the taste of the wine dramatically!
This is Darioush.
From the outward appearance to the cocophany of music and bustling people inside, it was easy to see that Darioush came from influences other than that of the typical Napa Valley winery. The founder, Darioush Khaledi, was born and raised in Iran. His father produced wine as a hobby. Darioush moved to Southern California in the 1970's. After collecting wine for many years, he embarked on a search for the perfect estate vineyard in the 1990's. In 2004, Darioush began welcoming guests to it's visitor center and winery. It is rich with Persian influence, and the architecture is magnificent. In fact, one of the employees remarked, "The magntitude of the building is disproportionate to the amount of wine that is produced." (Limited production is a good thing, ensuring that the only the best fruit goes into the wine.)
The picture below is looking up at the pillars in front of the visitor's center.
I am ordinarily not inclined to buy a t-shirt as a souvenir, but after driving to Pride Mountain, I owed it to my body as a merit badge of sorts. The t-shirt reads, "I survived the drive to Pride!" The winery is near the top of Spring Mountain, which calls for a drive up the winding-est road I've personally ever been on! Bryan thoroughly enjoyed the drive, while I, on the other hand, longed for the long, straight roads of Indiana. 
The property was just beautiful. The tour guide, Jason, was very personable and informative. He also happens to be a trained Chef. Here he is "stealing" wine from a barrel for us to sample. The glass do-dad he is using with his right hand to siphon is called a "wine thief." 
You might have noticed that he is in a cave. Pride Mountain stores their wines in a cave, which provides the ideal temperature and humidity for aging. 
We learned about Pride Mountain about a year ago. I had planned to make dinner for Bryan (I can't remember the occasion), and wanted to buy a special bottle of wine. It's not always easy to find a great wine to drink the very night you buy it, but the wine store recommended a bottle of Pride Mountain Merlot. We loved it!
Jason taught us some of the methods Pride Mountain uses for growing grapes on the mountain. I can't recall them specifically, but I do recall him mentioning that the viognier grape is quite finicky, and "if you look at it the wrong way, it just won't produce grapes that year." Here it is below. 
We got to sample some of the viognier juice (not wine) mixed with Brandy. It tasted like thin honey. It was delicious.
I took the picture above to show the "grafting" of one type of grape onto an existing vine. The middle part that looks like a post is one type of vine, and the two side extensions are another type that was grafted on. 
How the vines are allowed to grow and kept under control is referred to as "trellising." In this picture, the vine grows off to one side, and has "horns" that grow off of the main vine. During the tour, Jason mentioned that there are a specific number of shoots that they allow to grow off of each horn, to focus the vine's nutrients into the grapes. Too many shoots/grapes, would spread the nutrients too thin, and not make quality grapes.
We also got to meet Corky and Rocky, the two Clydesdale horses that work at Pride Mountain. Actually, there's a third, Surf, whom we didn't meet. He's much younger than Corky and Rocky, who are around 29 years old. (I just read that Clydesdales typically live into their teens or early 20s.) The trio are cared for by a fellow named Mario. His only job is to maintain the three, and everyday takes Corky and Rocky out for exercise with their wagon. In their youth, they used to take winery visitors on the tour. Mario stopped for us to pet them, but I didn't get my camera out in time to take a picture of their faces. This will have to do:
And if you look very closely at the picture below, you will see them coming up the gravel road.
That's all for now, but before I go, I just have to include one more happy cow picture...
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