This article is a continuation of my wine cruise through the California Wine Country this past September with my friend, Carolyn Groves. Cruise West has a very unique itinerary that begins in San Francisco and navigates up a network of bays and inlets, docking in small towns along the route. In the morning, we were fetched by our “chariot” and were off to visit the towns and vineyards that make the California wine country so popular.
Day Three. Another early wake up call. This time I mutter to Carolyn, “I’ll need a vacation, I can’t do wine tasting at 8:30 in the morning and stay awake the rest of the day!” This morning we docked in Sausalito.
I haven’t been to Sausalito for years, not since I was a student at UC Berkeley and we would go over to Sausalito for the Turtle Races at the Valhala Restaurant. Fond memories.
We took a shuttle into town and strolled through the quaint shops and galleries so popular in downtown Sausalito. At 11:00 a.m. we had the unique opportunity to do some wine tasting at the Bacchus and Venus Wine Shoppe that primarily sells wine from boutique vineyards. I have never heard of most of the wineries, but I did enjoy the Pinot from Tamber Bey Vineyard in Napa Valley and the Lodi Zinfandel from Starry Night Winery.
We were back on the ship by 12:30 p.m. for a wonderful BBQ lunch on the sundeck. We set sail in the early afternoon for a sightseeing cruise around San Francisco Bay.
The weather was absolutely glorious. We sat on the sundeck with people from Chicago, Connecticut and Washington and it was fun watching their excitement as we sailed by the Golden Gate Bridge,
Alcatraz and the famous skyline of San Francisco. It had been years since Carolyn or I had cruised around the Bay, it was fun and their excitement was infectious.In the early evening we gathered in the lounge for our nightly wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres followed by dinner and an evening discussion on Napa Valley wines.
Day four. Our last day aboard ship. We actually had the morning free and were offered several optional tours including, hot air ballooning, shopping and an historic walking tour around Sonoma Plaza, a tour to an olive oil factory and a “Cab Lovers Tour” to some very special wineries known for their high-end Cabernet Sauvignons. I chose the olive oil tour, since I have never been to an olive oil factory, and was not impressed. The production part of the factory was closed for maintenance so all we saw was the showroom.
No one really explained the different olive oils available and what makes the difference between the expensive, and not so expensive olive oils on the market.Carolyn chose the Cab Lovers Tour and had a fabulous experience at the Joseph Phelps Winery and Peju Winery, a family-owned boutique winery located in the Rutherford Appellation in the heart of Napa Valley. Much to our surprise and good fortune, Carolyn brought back a bottle of Peju Cabernet, which we thoroughly enjoyed for dinner that evening.
In the afternoon we visited two wineries in Sonoma. The group was split and the first winery we visited was the Chateau St. Jean, notable for its exceptionally beautiful buildings and expansive landscaped grounds.
According to our wine connoisseur, Frank, Chateau St. Jean is also the only winery to have placed five wines in a singles “Wine Spectator Magazine" Top 100 rating.
The winery is known for its Cabernets and Chardonnays. I went through the five “s’s” (sight, swill, smell, sip and swallow) with each and every wine and decided the Cinq Cepages was my favorite.Next we drove to St. Francis Winery established in 1979 and christened after St. Francis of Assisi, in recognition of the Saint’s role as a protector of the natural world and as acknowledgement of the Franciscan order, believed to have been the first to bring European grape cultivation to the new world (I really like this story!)
This tasting was more a “lesson” in food paring and they served a wonderful plate of duck pate, fruit and cheeses.
St. Francis Winery is known for its blends: Cabemets, Mentages and Chardonnays. I personally prefer a very dry Chardonnay and found that both of the white wines served were too sweet for my palate.Even though we got back to the ship later than expected, we were all up in the lounge for our nightly hors d’oeuvres and more wine tasting. In all honesty, I could not eat another hors d’oeuvre, but I did manage to taste the two wines from the Russian River Valley.
After a wonderful farewell dinner we reconvened in the lounge for a discussion on port wines and had the opportunity to taste a California Tawny Port (as opposed to a Ruby Port). Since dessert wines are not my thing, I really didn’t care for the port we tasted. As you’re reading this column, I will be on a river cruise in Portugal, and will have ample opportunity to taste different port wines.
The cruise was delightful...the people we met, the staff on the ship and our very own wine connoisseur, Frank Baldasarre, were all wonderful. Both Carolyn and I agreed, we learned a lot about California wines and have a whole new respect for winemakers. The most important thing we learned is that wine tastes are individual. Not everyone will agree on which wine is dry, or sweet, or tastes of tannin or smells of citrus fruits; it’s what you enjoy that is the most important thing to consider when drinking wine.
Cheers.
