May 5, 2011
T-minus 24 hours til Napa!
OoOOoh yeah daddy-o, I am headed to Napa. Believe it or not, it’s my first trip out to wine country… which for most people might not be so strange, but as a vino lover from California, it’s a little odd. Regardless, I’m super excited to get out there, meet my new friends at Jessup, and finally get some vitamin D {I’m still wearing coats to school… don’t get me started on Midwestern weather…}.
I wasn’t quite sure how to “prepare” for the trip… I mean, the reality is that Jessup chose me for my passion + interest in wine… not necessarily because of my Rain Man abilities to regurgitate wine facts. So nerding out and reading The Wine Bible didn’t seem all that necessary. Buuuuut, tasting lots of wine and getting my palate warmed up seemed like an excellent idea. And lucky for me, my favorite wine haunt, Vinic Wine Co, was up for the challenge.
The owner, Sandeep, was totally game and set up a nice tasting spectrum and guided me from white + light to red + full. We shared our thoughts about color, balance, complexity, and finish as we progressed through the line-up. And to keep things interesting, he threw in a blind tasting {*gasp*, a Bordeaux, not a Cotes du Rhone!} and some examples of corked wine {“cheese-y” tasting wine = no thank you}
Me + Sandeep
Getting my sniff on...
Perhaps it wasn’t the most productive activity to partake in between classes – but hey, I didn’t think my home collection of Honey Moon and Perrin Reserve was going to do the trick {Don’t judge. Student budget, remember? Student budget}.
And just to let myself nerd out a teeny tiny bit, I’ve created some goals for my Napa adventure ::
1. Drink more reds – my recent Viognier obsession has led me to neglect my favorite reds. I’m excited to taste Jessup’s Bordeaux-style blends and big bad Cabs.
2. Give Port a chance – I’m not much of a sweet tooth, and Ports have just always been too sugar-y for my palate. But then again, I’ve only had Ports following heavy, Ginormous, fine-dining-esque meals, so perhaps it’s the context that’s making Ports look bad
3. Get a table at French Laundry – listen Jessup… I know you guys are neighbors. Have you told them I’m coming? Do they realize my obsession with all things Thomas Keller? {*ahem* graduation gift. *ahem*}
I’ll update you all post-Napa, and until then… I’ll leave you with a few of my new latest obsessions ::
Champagne + oysters | Trader Joe’s Cats Cookies {for people!} | Next Bangkok 2060
Xo ::
Jess
