Some people explain things to their dogs.  Rather than just say, “No, stop that” they sit the dog down and go into detail about why they shouldn’t dig up the garden, how it damages the plants and remember how much you enjoy marking all the flowers once they’ve grown, so wouldn’t it be best not do dig up the bulbs, that’s a good boy.”

That’s how I feel at wine tastings.  The server will tell us all about each wine, what goes into, what sort of barrel it was aged in and for how long, what kinds of flavors it will bring to each part of the palatte, etc.  I stare back pretending to be attentive but it all means nothing to me.

“This wine is about 70% estate grown pinot with around 20% malbec, 5% cabernet, 4% irony, 3% wit, several ounces of mischief and two or so grams of regret.”

“Delicious!”

But, since I live in the next county over from the world-famous Napa Valley, I go wine tasting.  People come to Napa from all over the world to visit fanciful wineries, taste over-priced wine and share charcuterie boards.  Why not join the fun.

Yesterday, C.J. and I went to Clos Pegase winery just outside of Calistoga in the northern most end of the Napa Valley.

It took a while, but the architecture, a sort of modern Brutalist take on an Egyptian temple, won me over in the end.  The highest eves of each building are filled with nesting swallows, their chicks just about ready to take flight.  It was fun to see their little heads peaking out.  The rest of the gardens are very nice and the views of the surrounding valley are terrific.  Clos Pegase is off of the Silverado Trail which is the much less travelled one of the two roads running through wine county.

The wine was good, too. Usually, C.J. and I perfer the reds over the whites, no offense, but yesterday the Rose was our favorite.  Since Rose is one of the cheaper wines, we had enough in our budget to buy three bottles.

If you go, I’m told they are busy Friday through Sunday.  We were the only patrons in the place yesterday since it was Thursday.  Maybe because no one else was there the server gave us seven tastings, though the menu only listed four.

It pay to be nice to your server.