Bottle Shock in wine country
- Robin Holabird
- 23 hours ago
- 2 min read
Set-jetters and foodies visit California wine country from all over the world. Perhaps they pay tribute to a movie like Bottle Shock or Sideways, but often visitors arrive for good times and great tastes. Living within easy access to the Sierra Foothills, Napa, Sonoma, and more, husband Fred and I often pop over for the fun of it, our venues ranging from bucket list destinations or little-known operations that fulfill our desires for excellent product and engaging people. I write about some in the Cultural Centers edition of my Popcorn and Passports book series. But a single trip never suffices, and yet another one featured special experiences. We first set out for Calaveras County and Ironstone Vineyards, where an amphitheater combines the chance to drink viognier and watch musical stars like Willie Nelson.
On our way to Calaveras, we met with winemaker Demi Nylk to try her recent vintages that won amateur categories at the California State Fair. A fashionista, she switched gears after moving to Somerset in the Sierra Foothills.
Demi hopes to someday sell her wines. Purchasing wine comes easily in Napa County at such places as Domaine Carneros, where we stopped to pay tribute to its former CEO—and our friend—Eileen Crane. Eileen always felt that maintaining the local flavor provided both distinctiveness and quality that ranks with any other wines in the world. Her sparkling includes two of our favorite varietals, chardonnay and pinot noir, found throughout the region. That led us to Sonoma County where we toasted people who bottled their own version of the grapes.
Actually, we drank sauvignon blanc with David Cohen at Moondance Cellars—he makes a favorite of mine.
For that matter, instead of chardonnay or pinot noir, we drank roselada de tempranillo with Marimar Torres at her home, but we like everything there.
Similarly, we happily slurp—I mean sip—the offerings at Porter Family Vineyards, found way off Napa’s main drag in the Coombsville appellation.
Not shockingly, wine dominates the region’s offerings, but we find other ways to keep amused—maybe a set-jetting stop at the houses used in Pollyanna or Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite movie Shadow of a Doubt, or maybe interactions with the animal world at the Charles Shultz Museum, or even a winery like Pellegrini.
Nothing to feel sheepish about: we love wine and the country that surrounds it, our bottle shock coming from the amount we can drink in a short trip.
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