Cruise you say? How can you cruise through Napa or Sonoma--no river runs through either city. Cruise West has a very unique itinerary that cruises from San Francisco and navigates up a network of bays and inlets. Each morning you’re met at the ship and driven through charming communities and down small country roads to area wineries and restaurants. Each evening you return to your floating hotel and enjoy wonderful dinners and the camaraderie of fellow wine enthusiasts. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning and share with you our experiences aboard Cruise West’s The Spirit of Yorktown.We flew into San Francisco and were met by a Cruise West representative and taken to the Sheraton Hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf. Since passengers are coming in at different hours, Cruise West has a hospitality suite at the Sheraton. We checked in with the Cruise West staff and since we had a few hours ‘til boarding, we took off for lunch at the Wharf. On the flight up (to San Francisco.) Carolyn and I had been talking about the wonderful clam chowder and sourdough bread San Francisco is famous for, add a glass of chardonnay and we had a wonderful lunch sitting outside watching all the tourists.
We returned around 3:30 and discovered we were just in time to be bused to the ship, which was docked in Redwood City. Apparently, the fees to dock in San Francisco Bay had sky rocketed, and in order to not have to pass those fees onto the client, Cruise West chose to dock outside of San Francisco.
We boarded the 138-passenger Spirit of Yorktown and were welcomed aboard with a glass of California sparkling wine (or champagne if it came from France.) The cabins were small, but designed well, and more than adequate for a four-night cruise. After unpacking we headed up to the lounge to meet our fellow passengers. This became a nightly ritual. At 6:00 every evening hors d'oeuvre were served in the lounge and the “wine connoisseur” would present two area wines for our tasting and pleasure. The wine expert aboard was fabulous beyond words…Frank Baldassare from Seattle.
He knew his wines and his presentation was terrific. Every night we would practice the five s’s:- sight: how does a wine look,
- swill: does it have legs and body,
- smell: does it have a pleasant aroma,
- sip: how does it taste on the palate, and finally,
- swallow!
After our evening wine tasting we would all adjourn to dinner and regroup in the lounge for an evening program.
Day two started early with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call. I vaguely remember Carolyn muttering something about being on vacation as we hurried to breakfast and onto the bus at 8:00 a.m.. Our first stop--the Culinary Institute of America.
What an impressive sight. The CIA, Greystone campus, is located in the former Christian Brothers winery, an imposing three-story, 101-year-old building that housed generations of wine making friars. It also has an amazing cookware store with hundreds of kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, and beautiful, upscale, cookware.Our first class: wine blending. By definition, blending wine simply means you are combining two or more wines to create a new one. That is definitely easier said than done, as working winemakers have long discovered.
I gave it the old college try. With six different glasses of wine and a pipette, I tried my hand at wine blending. I named my brew Ilene’s Fling. I’m not giving up my day job, but it was also difficult to be objective about wine tasting at 9:30 in the morning!!!We actually spent the entire morning at the CIA. After wine blending we had a cooking demonstration presented by the head chef of the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant on campus. The thought for the day --- use good olive oil and fresh ingredients. The Moroccan spiced loin of lamb and tabbouleh salad were truly wonderful.
Next on the agenda was lunch, served at the world-renowned Auberge du Soleil restaurant, perched on a hill overlooking the entire Napa Valley. The lunch was a lesson in food and wine parings explained by the sommelier. I really can’t remember what we had for the main course, but I’ll never forget the dessert--a chocolate tart in a small pie shell lined with caramel. Outstanding, amazing and wonderful. And I’m not a
chocolate person!
The day was only half over. Our next stop: Mumm Napa, a sister company of Mumm Champage of France. Mumm Napa is located along the historic Silverado Trail with a spectacular view of the valley below.The tour was interesting. I never knew that sparkling wines are first capped with a regular bottle top during the fermentation process. Later, when the sediment rises the necks of the bottles are frozen, the original cap removed and the sediment is expelled through pressure. The bottles are then corked and put on shelves for aging.
We returned to the ship just in time for cocktail hour and wine tasting presented by our own wine connoisseur, Frank, followed by dinner in the main dining.
The Cruise West Philosophy: No one starves or dies of thirst on our ships!!
Join me next week as we continue our wine cruise through the California Wine Country.
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2 comments:
What an amazing adventure!! est of luck in all your travels.
Thanks, Cheryl. Check back on Sunday for Part 2 of my wine-tasting adventure! ~Ilene
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