Napa - Day 5

Began our fifth day at Oxbow Public Market, just off downtown Napa. Oxbox is a collection of artisan food and drink producers similar to the Ferry Building in San Francisco. We started with a refreshing iced tea at Tillerman Tea (wish I'd bought some loose tea leaves) and then made our way over to The Fatted Calf to procure some charcuterie for our "brunch." We picked a selection of smoked ham, proscuitto, salami, and cornichons. We also added house-made beef jerky. To complement our charcuterie, we grabbed a small loaf of crusty sourdough bread. Wish we had a charcuterie shop at home, wow...

Next up today was Vinter's Collective, a small tasting room in downtown Napa featuring "boutique" wine producers too small to offer their own tasting establishments. Can't say I was thrilled with our service there, as it was a a bit pretentious, but the wine was solid. Ended up snagging 2 bottles of 2007 Melka "CJ."

I hoped we'd be able to visit Gustav Thrace, another nearby tasting room, but it was closed each time we checked throughout the early afternoon, so we made our way back over to the Oxbow Wine Merchant and Wine Bar. I had a great 2007 Cab Sauv from a small producer called Maroon Wines at the bar. I wish I would have bought a bottle or two to ship back. It was excellent. They had a few other $25-$40 bottles that looked awesome, as well.

After more wine, we figured a snack was in need, so we grabbed a taco from C Casa. I had a shrimp taco that was quite good, but I must say - $6.50 was too high. I'd rather stick to my $2.00 La Esperanza fish tacos. Wish we had time for a beer - they had Negra Modelo on draft. Only my second time seeing it on tap!

Our winery appointment today was our first in the afternoon. (I was actually getting used to drinking wine starting at 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning.) We made our way up to Franciscan Estates after Oxbow for their Magnificat: Art of the Blend seminar. This was the first that was strictly educational (no scenic views); it focused on the 5 Bordeaux vartietals that go into their flagship wine, Magnificat. We got to try each varietal individually, blend the five varietals into our own custom Bordeaux-style wine, and then compare our blend to the real Magnificat. Lots o' wine and lots o' fun. And lucky us, it ended up being another private experience, as the other group cancelled. Too bad for them, we drank some of their wine....

After all that tasting, we needed more food. I'd heard good things about the Hog Island Oyster Co. in the Oxbow, so we headed back there. It was really expensive, as oysters often are, coming out at about $50+ for 14 oysters, but they were all really excellent. Eight were grilled with fresh tomato and basil. They were certainly the highlight.

Following all that we ate at a little quaint place called The French Laundry. I think that deserves it's own post.

More to follow from our last day...