CA Central Winery Excursion
 

For each of the last two summers, my wife and I have spent a week in Napa and Sonoma visiting various wineries to do some tasting and buying. Not to mention the opportunity to visit some great restaurants! We found these trips to be a lot of fun and very educational.

Living on the east coast, there are many CA wines, especially those of smaller wineries that are not available locally. Visiting the CA wine regions gives an introduction to these and to taste other things that are only available at the wineries. We were first introduced to Central Coast wines by the staff at the LA Wine Company a few years ago.

Although we are not fans of LA, the LAWC has become a must stop for us whenever we are in the area. Located in a warehouse area north of LAX and east of Marina del Rey LAWC is a 'value' (not necessarily cheap) retailer that primarily carries various wines on an 'in and out' basis. Sorry for the gratuitous plug, but this is a good place for wine.

Because I have spent a bit of time trying to learn about wine, some of my friends and family like to think of me as some type of wine expert or connoisseur. Personally, I think a more appropriate term would be 'wine bozo'. I have only gotten serious about wine for about the last 5 years and like to think of my self as a perpetual novice. As this report evolves, I will mention my impressions of some wines and wineries. I, as with anyone else, have my own favorites and prejudices. As a bit of disclosure, this is what we normally drink at home: 40% Chardonnay (separate from food about 2/3 of the time), 5% other whites, 5% sparkling with the remainder split between various reds including the Italian varietals (zinfandel, dolcetto, sangiovese...), merlots and pinot noir. We also enjoy cabernet sauvignon and bordeaux-style blends, but of most of those at home are <5 years old, so we let them sit for the moment. In an average week, we will use 2-4 bottles depend on a variety of factors.

Back in early February, due to a SW sale that US matched, I was able to buy RT tickets on US for my wife and myself ALB-PHL-LAX-PHL-ALB for $212. This gave us the opportunity to visit a new 'wine country' in CA.

Day 1, April 3rd
After driving down from Vermont, the previous evening, we had a 'luxurious' 5 hour nap at the Hampton Inn Wolf Road in Albany. I don't remember much about the hotel, but it is your basic Hampton. Clean and comfortable, we were able to get a room for a reasonable price ($89) for a weekday night in that area.

Getting up early, we headed to the airport to check in. We are both Gold with US and upgraded with US' 800 mile North America certificates. Arriving at the check-in counter, we chated with the TA regarding various early morning flights. The is the first recent, for us, early morning flight that was not a Saturday 'Disney' flight. Living in the Northeast, the first flight on Saturday mornings always tends to be full of families headed for Orland and the Mouse House. I guess I am a bit of a grump; but I don't well tolerate loud, excited children at 6am.

US #1071 ALB-PHL
This is a 737X aircraft and we are sitting in our favorite seats, 2D&F. This is a short flight to PHL, about 45 minutes in length. Pre-Flight drinks were offered, but everyone was sticking to water, OJ and coffee. There was a second beverage service after takeoff (on time). The only snack offered was the usual items in a basket. I like Milano cookies, but it was a bit early for me. This is a quick flight, but service was effecient and attentive. Arriving in PHL a few minutes early, we only are two gates away from our departing flights. We only had a 50 minute layover, but went to the club to see if there were any magazines or newspapers that we could 'borrow' for the next long segment. I found one magazine, but at that hour, the only paper available was the local one-no USAToday or NYTimes.

US #17 PHL-LAX
This is our first trip on the new Airbus 321 aircraft. As with F in other US AB's, I think the seating it is a definite step up from F in 737X and 757. I like this plane. Comfortable and 26 seats in FC. The seats in F are slightly staggered, so don't try to book adjoining aisle seats on this US equipment. One down side, the overhead baggage compartments are definitely smaller than normal. There are two closests in FC with most coats kept in the rear one. We were in 5D&F as our favorite second row was not available.

Once again, pre-flight drinks were offered and served as always, in plastic. After takeoff, a second drink service was offered and breakfast menus were distributed. The choices were the usual Western Omlet, cold cereal and pecan waffles with cinnamon maple syrup. Both my wife and myself had the waffles which were quite good. After serving breakfast, one of the FA's went to help in coach while the second FC kept on an eye on F.

The movie was 'Family Man' with Nicholas Cage. IMO, it was totally forgettable and I ended up switching to the audio channels half way through the movie. Reading through the Attache magazine, I noticed that the wines in the A330 F cabin have gone through a bit of a downgrade. The Dom Perignon is gone and the Caymus Cab. Sauvignon has been replaced by one from Clos du Val. For this flight, the best thing I had to drink was the Martini merlot.

Overall, service was typical for US; generally attentive, but not overly. Just before landing, they served a roast beef sandwich. I think it had been smuggled up from coach. It was not really edible. We arrived about 35 minutes early.

After landing, we picked up our luggage (priority tags helped for a change) and headed over to Hertz. Using #1 Gold, we picked up the basic Taurus, and were on our way in within 5 minutes of arriving at a very busy Hertz. We started to head out to LA Wine Company, but about 2 miles from Hertz, the car's GPS system died and could not be restarted. We went back to Hertz and after some delays were upgraded to larger vehicle to restart our trip. Five minutes after again leaving Hertz, we arrived at the LA Wine Company. We chatted with the staff about their recommendations for wineries to visit in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. We also bought a few bottles (Qupe Bien Nacido Chardonnay, Blackjack Pinot Noir, Rancho Sisquoc Cab. Sauvignon and Montes Alpha Merlot).

More tomorrow.....