Hic!

I'm a big fan of the movie Sideways and all things grape so I jumped at the chance to go wine tasting in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys today. I joined up with a small group to sample some of the best vino the fourth biggest wine region in the world has to offer. This sounds like Wish You Were Here for some reason - sorry!

A perfect setting for Pinot

After being greeted by a homeless man at 8.30 this morning who was merrily loading goodies from the bin into his trolley, we left San Fran and arrived in the lush Napa Valley. We were greeted by Wine Nazi 'Gabe' at the Kirkland Ranch who didn't want us to take photos or start sampling the wine until the precise moment he gave us the OK. But still, life ain't bad, as at 10.30am we were getting stuck into samples of $40 bottles of wine. I felt no guilt whatsoever about not buying any because they wouldn't ship to the UK, so no lovely vintage waiting for me when I return from Australia then.

An education in wine

We then moseyed on 'Sideways style' to a small family-owned winery and got stuck into some more wine. After that it was lunch at Sonoma - population 7,000 - in the heart of the wine country. The whole place was basically one big square, but what amazes me is how many cars can find somewhere to drive to around the square. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if it were the same cars going round and round or rather square and square non-stop. Because, come on, the only other place to go is the vineyards and there can't be that many alcoholics in one place. Sonoma was such a charming place but as like everywhere in the States, carved up by wide roads that take about 10 hours to cross due to lack of stop signs. And then the cars stop for you and you think 'why are you stopping for me?'. Do pedestrians have right of way here or something? And then I realised that stopping and watching someone dash across the road in front of you looking in the wrong direction for oncoming traffic and wondering whether waving thanks is customary or not is actually welcome distraction to square circling (squaring).

Golden Gate from the other side

Got to talking with a Jane Seymour-esque woman in the last winery of the day as we were at the tasting bar. Turns out she's originally from Portsmouth and spurned the south coast for a life of glamour in California after marrying a US guy. We were talking about Australia and she told me that some British journalist went out there to work and was 'removed' never to be seen again because he got onto a big scoop. (I'm gonna have to research this one and then resign myself to a life of dull stories.)

I also met two teachers from Tucson Arizona who were telling me how one of their students wrote an essay about their cousin who was murdered only for the victim's head to later resurface in a vat of concrete. Now that puts Andover's schools and their problems in context.

Memories

This will be my last blog until I get to Australia. I fly tomorrow night and will lose a whole day during the 14 hour flight because of the time difference. So Saturday will be completely lost on me - a day that doesn't exist. Bizarre. But onwards I shall boldly go to the frozen plains of Oz with my winter wardrobe pret a porter!

Sonoma