Another Day...

...another vineyard. This one is in the Napa Valley taken as we drove to the town of Napa to meet ole Berkeley friends for lunch at the Oxbow Market. As many times as we have driven from Berkeley or Santa Rosa to the NapaValley, OIlMan commented  that he couldn't remember ever visiting the town of Napa before, and I could only recall going there once to visit Copia, the predecessor of the Oxbow Market.

As many pictures of vineyards as I have posted, I had to post this one today because it was such a beautiful day, and I have a weakness for the mustard which is planted between the vines as a cover crop.

The Oxbow Market, aptly named for its location on an oxbow in the Napa River, is a big shed-like structure full of food related shops restaurants and a coffee place. Oddly enough, in an area where even the most modest grocery store has an enormous wine section, I didn't see much wine tasting, but after a lovely lunch and a lot of talk, we wandered through stalls of vegetables, spices, olive oil and yes, even one that sold nothing but different kinds of salt. 

We drove home up the opposite side of the Napa Valley on what is known as the Silverado Trail and over the Calistoga road into Santa Rosa. The mountains at the back of my picture are the other side of the hills that separate the Napa and Sonoma valleys. A number of the old wineries that have been there since the valley first became a wine growing region are still there

 A movie called Bottle Shock was made about one of them, Chateau Montelena a struggling winery back in the '60's. It won a first prize at a prestigious blind tasting in Paris sponsored by  the snobby owner of a wine shop in Paris pretentiously called The Wine Academy, and turned the wine world upside down.... It's a charming movie loosely based on a true story.

I Googled Chateau Montelena. They have a bottle of Chardonnay for $715. I don't think they're struggling anymore.