Post 21. Goodbye America

Hi All,

As the title states, I'm leaving to come home today. It's been a great trip and one I would recommend to anybody thinking about doing the same type of thing. But I'll tell you about my last week in Napa.

Last Saturday I was leaving the house to go into Napa when I heard a band playing. We live very close to the centre of Yountville so I walked to the main street and there was a parade going on. I asked some guys what the occasion was and they said its for harvest and making the most of the warm weather which will end soon. I got a couple of short videos to show you. It was a little peak at American culture.

This week started busy as the push came to get the blocks picked. The fruit was turning fast and we only had a small window of a week to finish picking the remaining blocks. I was on nights running the harvesters at our Gamble, Dos Rios, and Chabot Ranches. The crews were brilliant and apart from the usual vintage issues, we got the job done. I officially finished Thursday morning. On Wednesday James and I went down to Napa Corporate where the employee store is to get a couple of bottles of wine. There is a Brewery across the road called Napa Smith so we called in to check it out. Once we were there we thought it would be a shame to leave without having a taste; so we tasted them all!!

Yum

The Bar at Napa Smith Brewery

On Thursday Michael Clarke, our CEO was in town for a meeting and he addressed the employees at Napa corporate offices. So James and I went back down there Thursday to have a listen. Later on that afternoon there was a tasting of the latest Penfold's releases. So, obviously we hung around for that.

The star of the show

The Bistro



Adding a bit of class and culture to the proceedings

While I was there Michael Clarke saw me and wanted a photo with me. So, how could I refuse?

Thursday night I took The three vineyard managers out for tea at a restaurant in Yountville. It was good fun and we opened a couple of bottles of Wynn's I took. At the same time James had some people from the winery over to our place for tea, so when we were finished at the restaurant the party continued at our place. It was a big night which was a good blowout for the end of the trip for myself and Peter (who is flying out Sunday) but we paid for it the next day.

Below is a panorama from the Yountville Ranch gate looking back to Yountville.

A couple of stats from the trip

1. 10 weeks in California
2. 6500 miles driven
3. 2 regions  worked in : Central Coast and Napa Valley
4. 6 appellations picked: Santa Barbara, Carneros, Stags Leap, Napa, Yountville, St Helena
5. 10 vineyards harvested : North Canyon, Yountville, Gamble, Dos Rios, Stags Leap, Big Ranch, Bale Lane, Chabot, Stanley, St Helena
6. Fruit delivered to 7 wineries: Paso 360, Asti, Beringer, Stags Leap, Etude, Cardinal, Kendall Jackson
7. Visited Los Angeles, Las Vega's and San Francisco 
8. Many Mexican meals

Thanks everyone for reading this blog. It was primarily for Merran and the boys and the rest of my family, to let them know what I was up to, but I hope there was a bit in there for everyone.

Adios from Napa and see you in Australia

Scott signing off