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You are here: Home / Archives for Activities

Wine Classes in the Napa Valley with the CIA

August 20, 2006 by Joe Becerra

The Culinary Institute of America offers wine and food classes at its campus in the historic Greystone building in St. Helena. What an adventure to combine a trip to the wine country with a wine or a cooking class. If nothing else, a traveler to the Napa Valley should wander in on this lovely historic building that was once the winery and monastery of the Christian Brothers.

culinary-institute

Besides food and wine classes, there is a first class restaurant, the Wine Spectator Restaurant. The Campus Store is loaded with gourmet items and a great selection of books on food and wine. One can browse the barrel room, take a tour, or just walk around and view the old stone winery building that was built in 1889. This building is one of the most beautiful landmarks in the Napa Valley.

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The CIA courses are aimed at the person who is in the food and wine industry or those seeking a career in this area. There are plenty of introductory courses that anyone who wants to develop and improve their knowledge of food and wine can take. Check CIA Web site for their “Enthusiast” line of classes.

In checking the CIA calendar at Greystone, we see that Robert Parker is scheduled for a Pinot Noir seminar and tasting in October. The cost is $500 per person and limited to 100 guests.

Filed Under: Activities, Wine Education

Learning About Wine in the Napa Valley

August 11, 2006 by Joe Becerra

What seems “hot�? right now is an interest in taking wine classes or participating in activities centered on wine education. We have noticed a recent increase in emails from visitors to our Wine Country Getaways Web site requesting information on how and where they can learn about wine. We thought it to be a worthy Blog topic and so here is the first of a few articles on learning about wine. These are based on our own experiences in the Napa Valley.

Our first recommendation is going wine tasting! The more wine you taste, the more opportunity to train your brain for recognition of wine types, wine characteristics, and the quality of the wine.

One of the easiest things to do when your wine taste is to work with the tasting notes provided by the tasting room. Most tasting rooms have them available, but sometimes you have to ask. Add your own comments to the tasting notes. Note the color, the aroma, and the taste. Be descriptive in your own words. Even if you cannot recognize any specific smells or tastes, try and describe what your senses are telling you. Finally, rate your impression of the wine, in other words, how well you like it.

It is always helpful to take a wine tour. The best kind is one that ends with a private tasting. Any time you can taste wines in individual wines glasses and have a chance to compare and contrast the differences in each wine, the more you will learn. When you visit the Napa Valley, try and schedule a tour and tasting of this type. Here are a couple of our recommendations in the Napa Valley.

Chateau Montelena has a tour for $25 per person which includes at walk in the vineyards and a private tasting. wine-classes

Peju Province Winery has a food and wine pairing sessions Monday to Friday, at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm for $40 a person. Call to reserve a spot.

Watch for our next post on this subject when we discuss Copia, the American Center for Food & Wine.

Filed Under: Activities, Wine Education

Napa Valley Artists

August 5, 2006 by Joe Becerra

Our good friend Dale Perkins is a successful watercolor painter. Dale’s focus in watercolors has been scenes from the beautiful city of San Francisco. Now he has added wine country watercolors to his portfolio. Dale got the bug for wine country once he visited our web site, Wine Country Getaways, and viewed the various photographs on the site. napa-valley-art.gif

He saw the beauty of the landscape and with his brush has produced some marvelous wine country art. We really think these are very special and would make a great gift for the wine lover. Dale is a terrific artist and better yet just a very nice guy.

We also just heard about a painting retreat offered in the Napa Valley by Alla Prima Studio, which was founded by artist Gretchen Kimball. The studio has begun providing landscape-painting retreats at various locations throughout Napa Valley. They have just finished their first retreat in July and there are more to come. Check out the offerings on Alla Prima Studio’s Web site.

With harvest time nearing, photographers have that once-a-year opportunity to photograph the Napa Valley at its greatest time, “The Crush.” Whether it is a close-up of ripe bulging grapes, or photographing the furious work of harvesting grapes, the amateur or professional has the chance to visually capture the making of a bottle of wine. Get those cameras ready.

Filed Under: Activities

Bocce Ball at a Winery

June 28, 2006 by Joe Becerra

We spent an entire day playing Bocce Ball at the Larson Family Winery in Los Carneros. Bocce Ball among the vineyards with a group of friends is a fabulous way to enjoy the wine country. There are several wineries in the Napa Valley with Bocce Ball courts. Whenever we visit a winery and see a Bocce Ball court we try our hand a game. It is a fun sport and low-key on the mind and body. Check out our list of wineries with Bocce Ball courts.

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This is our 2nd annual Bocce Ball tournament. We have set up a double elimination tournament with 12 of our wine-loving friends. We meet at the Larson Family Winery just off Highway 121 in the famous wine and sparkling wine region of Los Carneros.

The winners of this tournament, as occurred last year, were first-time players. Don and Nell capture the tournament with relative ease like they had been playing the sport for years. We modified the rules a bit so we could get through the 11 games scheduled within a three hour period. We took time off to wine taste at the Larson Family tasting room and to enjoy our picnic lunch among the vineyards. We decided beforehand that each couple contribute $20 for prizes. We award Larson wine certificates to our top three finishers.

We will cap off our day with a group dinner at the Bistro Don Giovanni later in the evening. Bocce Ball information.

Filed Under: Activities, Tasting Rooms

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