Everyone met at the San Francisco airport where we loaded luggage and persons into a Hummer and a Navigator and thereafter became know as team Hummer and team Navigator at our Bocci ball games.

 We immediately went to Chinatown where we were treated to a lunch in a top floor restaurant overlooking the vistas of San Francisco. After lunch we found our way to the Quoit Tower and drove down Lombard Street,  the most crooked street in San Francisco, followed by a sightseeing tour of Fisherman’s Wharf. After dinner there we experienced the oldest bar in San Francisco, called the Buena Vista. They specialize in Irish coffee to the extent that they buy 40 cases of Tullamore Dew liters a week.

 The next morning we drove to Napa Valley where we started the vineyard part of the trip with a visit to Etude and tasted a delicious ‘04 Cab. What follows is a winery-by-winery summary of the rest of the whirlwind trip (not necessarily in order):

 Viader Winery where we tasted more great wines and were entertained by the winemaker and her daughter, who I understand will be coming to visit us here in Florida.

• Ladera Winery also floored us with outstanding wines. We met the owner who showed up complete with cowboy hat and silver buckle. He has sold his cattle off and started in the wine business.
• Nickle and Nickle, which produces single vineyard wines, gave us a tour and tasting highlighted by actual soil samples from each vineyard.
• Far Niente was an outstanding winery with great wines and a good collection of antique automobiles.
• Conn Creek offered us the opportunity to taste barrel samples of wines and then to make our own personal blend to take with us, also serving us a beautiful lunch to showcase their wines.
• Mondavi winery offered a great tour including vineyard tastings of their grapes and a tour through their large winery where only the Napa wines are produced. We tasted many cabs and we experienced tasting a 1979 Reserve Cab. They served us a superb lunch while the head winery education program spoke to us.
• Sutter Home provided a tasting at their Trinchero tasting room. Some of their cabs were superb. At the main reception area at Sutter Home we were treated to a sumptuous dinner meal with some really great wines.
• Atlas Peak gave us a slightly different perspective on winemaking as their vineyard manager--complete with pickup truck and dog--gave us all samples of his wines and a tour through the caves and winery. Nothing fancy here but the setting was fantastic as we overlooked a valley dotted with vineyard after vineyard.

 Wayne Dieser, Wine Consultant, Merritt Island