Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
Napa Valley is forever linked to San Francisco and vice versa. It is also linked to good wine, which we learned was any wine which one could drink and not poison themselves.
There is something romantic about a balloon ride over a valley. There is something "not-so-romantic" about having Margherita poke me to wake up at five in the morning. In fact, only negative emotions come to mind when it involves waking up at hours only nocturnal creatures and mid-western farmers wake at.
That said, it was one of our best experiences of the trip. We got picked up by "Balloons Over the Valley" and arrived at their premises at 6 a.m. They have some of the largest balloons in the world and you get to watch them inflate and prepare for take-off.
That alone is a great experience. They lay out this long tarp, turn on these large fans and propane tanks and before your eyes the Macy’s Day Parade develops right in front of you. After about half an hour, you climb into the basket (16 people in their largest) and you’re floating away.
The experience of floating away is odd as you don’t feel any propulsion but simply drift along. You’re moving along at walking speed, and when you take off initially you’re literally 10-15 feet about the ground. You can practically reach out and touch the grapevines and even spot a rabbit running through the fields.
Then you follow the drift of the winds and see the entire valley all around you. Between the experience on the Wine Train and this, you've gotten a great overview of your surroundings. You drift along to the point of which you start to get a little bored and then it’s time to descend.
Our Captain has to look around for what would make a good landing site and then he radios to the base for the trucks to follow us and help us land.
After a few guesses we were within ten feet of a house just below us, but finally landed in a field. It was then about half an hour to pack up and we were back to "Balloons Over the Valley" for their Champagne Breakfast. All the eggs, waffles, fruit and cheese that you could eat, while hearing everybody say, "That was amazing." I was drinking my coffee to wake up, while Margherita was on the phone explaining to her mother that the danger was over and we were still alive.
After breakfast, we went back to the hotel to rest and change. I mean, honestly you expect me to spend a full day from six am until midnight without a break in the middle?
We then decided to head out and go to V. Sattui for lunch. They are Italian, Margherita is Italian. This alone made her rather happy. However for lunch, they are the only deli/winery in the Napa Valley and this made her even happier. Italian Food, a calm and relaxed wife after wine. Using transient logic, this in turn made me rather happy.
Balloons Over the Valley
However my happiness immediately turned. The emotional weather changed and the demons of evil had returned. Yes, the battle between Mr. Budget and Mrs. Wallet had developed.
"Honey, did you know that V. Sattui doesn’t sell their wine anywhere but here? They don’t distribute it anywhere so the only place you can buy it is here. I mean, the only place that one could purchase it is here."
If you notice she mentioned buy and wine in the same sentence three times. It was her means of subliminal logic. I know Margherita well enough that the allure wasn’t as much the wine, but the fact that it was rare. After all, you could only get it here.
We tasted the wine and it was rather good. In fact it was my favorite, but I had to hide my emotions or else Mrs. Wallet would empty out as much of the green stuff as she could.
This is where Mrs. Wallet tricked me. Inadvertently, but like the Serpent and Eve tricked Adam, she forced me the apple. I have a rather low tolerance for wine and Margherita helped me taste the wine. It wasn’t my fault for drinking it, but she forced me to. Well, after the sixth glass, which I enjoyed even more and more, I didn’t feel as uneasy about buying the wine. After my eighth glass I was okay about buying wine for the entire year. After my tenth "tasting" glass I even was okay about buying a bottle for my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day.
Mrs. Wallet liberated some of the greenbacks and Mr. Budget walked around aimlessly in the fields singing that the "Hills were alive, with the sound of music."
We stayed in V. Sattui longer to not only appreciate the Italian architecture but to allow my blood to thin of alcohol to the point of normalcy.
What else to do after seeing a winery in Napa? See another winery. It seems the thing to do, but it’s unfair to do after V. Sattui. People love V. Sattui and I was no exception. I wasn’t even that upset that we had to charter a plane to take home all of the wine that we bought.
We headed straight over to Rutherford vineyards. The big log building was beautiful. The caves which they built to contain the wine were romantic and made a great setting for a wedding. The fields of Olive Trees would have made a wonderful picnic. But I admit, I was distracted. I had already tasted the fruits of V. Sattui and my Pavlovian reaction was to drool and think of V. Sattui every time I heard wine. It was a bit crazy to try so many wineries in a short period of time, so I wouldn’t recommend influencing your own judging by doing the same thing.
We toured the place and I loved looking around, but it was time to go. We had scheduled a massage at Ammadeo and had to run to make it.
A massage is a good thing. I don’t like quoting Martha Stewart but it is a simple statement. A massage is a good thing. A massage after feeling happy over wine is a better thing. A massage after feeling happy over wine and looking forward to a good dinner is really a good thing.
This was a good day. Life was good, my body was relaxed and my brain cells were dulled into a mild sense of euphoria.
It was time for dinner and we went off to Misto. Misto is good. Lets continue that theme because that was the theme for the day. They had great crab cakes, great risotto. They had fish that I actually liked and I even tried Margherita’s Mahi Mahi. I tried a little of everybody’s food and was quite happy.
I was engorged. I was fat on good food, relaxed from a massage, still tipsy and I had some cappuccino and cheesecake. It’s hard to go on about Misto as my feelings are simple and to the point. It was my best meal of the week and it was a damn good day.
