wednesday...denial, double nickel and texas

we were scheduled for caymus at 11:30 on wednesday morning; however, due to several ill-timed 18 wheelers and a missing street sign, we didn't get there until about 11:40, at which point we were promptly denied access to the super secret tasting room. we had been warned about being late, to be sure....but the gate keeper took his role a bit seriously for my taste.

he offered to reschedule and kept saying, "i'm terribly sorry, but..." kevin had already headed back to the car, and my smart ass mouth wasn't warmed up, so i didn't come up with a witty comeback until we were already in the car....if i had been a little sharper, i would have replied, "somehow i don't think you are." but curses, i was too late. caymus took our 50 bucks and we didn't get any wine.

we shopped a little while in st. helena to pass the time, where we sampled olive oil and chocolate truffles, and perused a few art galleries. we headed for nickel & nickel early so that we wouldn't suffer any more rejection...that place was locked up tighter than the pentagon. we had to get buzzed into the gate, which was a new one for us in napa. we were escorted into a salon (their word, not mine) filled with french antiques and we sipped chardonnay as we awaited everyone on our tour.

one couple was late, but still allowed entry--the woman was hammered (this was 1:30 in the afternoon), and we learned they had come from caymus. rat bastards....i told kevin later i was actually glad we weren't there with them - she had one of those voices where her decibel level exactly grates my ears like a dog with one of those whistles. i don't think i could have survived 2 wineries in a row with her. she kinda cracked us up though - was wearing gym sneaks and some sort of denim skirt business with a bunch of layered sweaters. it appeared to be a lime green mock turtleneck with a black cardigan buttoned up over it. i couldn't figure out if she got dressed in the dark or wasted...it was bizarre. her husband seemed nice, but he spent a lot of time guiding her around and apologizing on her behalf. they were from tennessee (sorry mom/dad, harold/cheryl).

the nickels just started their winery in the late 1990s. they produce single-varietal (one kind of grape), single-vineyard (grapes only from one vineyard) wines, and as far as they know, they are the only winery to do so on that scale (about 30k cases per year).

the wine lab and offices are housed in a restored new england farmhouse for which they paid $200k. here's what i didn't get - the barn was from new hampshire or vermont or something and was scheduled to be burned down (a literal barn-burning). the nickels paid the owners $200k for it. then they paid some other exorbitant sum to have the thing dismantled and shipped across the country to napa. then they realized the exterior timbers were unusable, so they paid for reclaimed timbers from some other barns, painted them, added windows doors and a turret and renovated the interior. they raised the hay lofts 3 feet to make the space usable and added a second floor for offices and a wine lab on the first floor. there were in fact some original timbers inside that smelled like hay (our pithy tour guide informed us that after 200 years, you just can't get that smell out). so here's my question - what exactly did they pay the $200k for? hay-scented timbers? help me out...that doesn't seem like such a great investment. maybe it's just me.

their caves were cool - vaulted ceilings and yummy smelling barrels. we learned that napa valley is the world's largest consumer of dixie cups bc wineries use them to cap off barrels. fun fact for ya...

our tasting was back at the house in the dining room. we tried 4 cabernets, and a "secret" wine. a few years ago, someone fell asleep at the switch and accidentally mixed two varietals in the vats - 85% of the premier cab ($150+/ bottle) and 15% of a syrah. oops. the guy in charge that day submitted his resignation when he told the nickels about the mistake. they didn't accept it, plus didn't fire him. the resulting wine was named "lightning strike" since supposedly it never happens twice in the same place. it was awesome, so we bought some. i think they should blend more often - the result was quite good. oh yeah, and we joined the club. after a series of questions, kevin settled on the unadvertised cabs only club.

we tried oakville grocery, part deux after our visit to nickel and nickel. we picked up a few cheeses, bread, stuffed peppers, and plastic cups and sat outside at the picnic table to finish our turley leftover from our greystone dinner. we liked our second oakville grocery experience much better.

dinner was at auberge du soliel. we arrived early so we could change clothes and have a drink on the deck to watch the sunset. auberge is gorgeous--set up on a hill that overlooks the valley. it's also a resort, so i think we might try to stay there for a night next time we're in town. the view was truly spectacular, so i'm glad we arrived early.

we had an early dinner reservation (open table has a hard time deciphering time zones when you make reservations from the east coast for restaurants in the west), but no matter since we ended up closing down the restaurant again.

we opted for the tasting menu with wine pairings for dinner, and the food was exquisite. we sat outside (underneath a heat lamp for me) and enjoyed a 6 course meal. my favorite course was the harachi sashimi, and my favorite wine was the paradigm cab that was paired with the ny strip steak and tempura mushroom with broccoli rabe and eggplant.

our least favorite course was surprisingly the fois gras. it was cold (ick) and served with a sweet tangerine something and a mysterious white powdery substance. we hazarded a number of guesses on the white stuff (use your imagination) and settled on something like powdered sugar. it was paired with a syrupy eastern european desert wine....all in all, i didn't dislike it, we just would have preferred greens of some sort before the quail and beef.

about the time our last course arrived, we made friends with a couple from ft. worth who were seated next to us. we basically talked back and forth for several more hours (as they went through the same tasting menu), and ended up back at the patio where the boys smoked cigars. oof. regardless, we had fun with our new friends from texas.