This Weekend Was All About Fermentation

VSW, originally uploaded by Jeremy Brooks.

That was the observation of one of our friends on Sunday afternoon. They were right about that!

We had a guest this weekend, and the main plan was to head to wine country on Saturday afternoon. We left Saturday in a nice shiny rental (courtesy of Trev) to make our 1:00 appoinment at Del Dotto. The tour is on the expensive side at $40.00 per person, but well worth it. Our tour guide, the legendary Bob, spent an hour or so walking us through their wine cave and filling our glasses with selections directly from the barrels. The tour was relatively informal, with Bob talking about what he loves (wine) and what he knows (wine) and what he lives and breathes (wine). After several tastes of different varietals from different barrels — some Missouri oak, some French oak, some a combination — we tasted several of their exquisite ports. If you are in Napa, I highly recommend that you call ahead a book a tour. You won’t regret it.

After Del Dotto, we went to V. Sattui. The tasting here is complimentary, and they have a great selection of meats and cheeses for your picnic needs. Their Madera is good, but personally I was not blown away with their other wines. This is a great spot to pick up some food though, and we had some amazing paté.

After the wine country, we headed to a friends house for BBQ carne asada and more fermented delights.

Sunday, the quest for fermentation continued, with lunch at Pyramid brewery in Berkeley, and then a trip to Takara Sake in Berkeley…which was closed! We made up for it with a trip to Scharffenberger Chocolate, and got a nice surprise when a tour group opened up (normally you need a reservation). And we learned that the cacao pods are allowed to ferment after they are harvested. That is the point when we made the observation that “This weekend was all about fermentation”.

Yep, fermentation makes for a good weekend.