Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
man in Napa”: He landed by helicopter on
the grassy knoll, coincidentally known as
Charlie's Hill.
Located close to the quaint and laid-back
town of Calistoga, this winery is pictur-
esque and popular. Upon disembarking
from the grape gondola, you can take a self-
guided tour of the immaculate facility, start-
ing in the foyer where a refreshing glass of
Pinot Gris is served. Plaques and flatscreen
TVs guide you through several exhibit
rooms that explicate the winery's history
and the winemaking process. Eventually
you exit onto that sunny roof terrace, where
you can enjoy a glass of Chardonnay and
spectacular views of the valley. Next you'll
visit the barrel room, where a video explains
the bottling process, and then you'll enter
an adjoining building to find a tiny wine
store and tasting lounge. Here you can sit
down and sip a Cabernet Sauvignon and a
delicious dessert wine.
The experience can be somewhat eerie
if the winery is empty, and robotic when it
is crowded, which is more common. But
everything is meticulously well done, right
down to the strategically placed children's
crayon books in the tasting room. The
wine is not bad either. And then there is
the view—you really feel as if you are tast-
ing on top of the world.
Sterling Vineyards,
1111 Dunaweal
Lane, Calistoga (
&
707/942-3344;
www.
sterlingvineyards.com).
(
San Francisco International (84 miles/
134km).
L
$$$
Hideaway Cottages,
1412
Fairway, Calistoga (
&
707/942-4108
). $$
EuroSpa & Inn,
1202 Pine St., Calistoga
(
&
707/942-6829;
www.eurospa.com).
West Coast U.S.
285
Clos Pegase
Art in a Glass
Napa Valley, California
Clos Pegase winery has the most expen-
sive guides in the world. A Henry Moore
greets visitors at the entrance; a Salvador
Dalí ushers them along to the barrel cellar;
and a Francis Bacon joins them for a drink
in the tasting room. As visitors stroll around
this templelike complex, a team of the
greatest modern artists are constantly at
hand, eager to sketch out, portray, and
illustrate that winemaking is not an exact
science but is in fact a very fine, weird, and
wonderful art.
Many wineries look the same, but not
this one. As soon as you enter the grounds
of Clos Pegase you know you are in for
something different. A black 6-foot (1.8m)
thumb protrudes from the vineyard ground,
prompting queues of visitors to pose for a
photo with their own thumbs-up—interac-
tive art indeed. The Italianate sculpture
garden with some very colorful pieces
leads to a long building that looks like a
block of ice cream from your favorite child-
hood memory: yellow and pink with a blue
stripe down the middle. Is this a winery, or
a chocolate factory owned by a guy called
Charlie?
Inside, things become a little more sol-
emn. An attractive reception room leads
to endless vaulted underground chambers
with back-lit niches and alcoves displaying
ancient relics and artifacts. Bacchus raises
his leering head in several guises, accom-
panied by wine-themed cupids telling you
“art inspires, evokes . . . ponders, just like
wine.”
This marriage of grape and canvas can
be traced from the wedding of Jan and
Mitsuko Shrem. The Israeli-born UCLA grad-
uate met his artist wife while on vacation in
