Kathy Ray has worked in the Napa wine district for third of a century, and gave me quite a personalized tour, with all the secrets. We first stopped at Bouchon's for asparagus/fennel soup and a croissant. Then we had a photo op at French Laundry in Yountville, where I was most impressed with their garden, especially the artichoke plant in the bottom shot:
We stopped by the Sattui Winery and Italian Market, an award-winning operation in St. Helena, unique because it can also sell food to accompany your wine:
Through Kathy's connection, we each got a free $25 tour of Sterling Vineyards and tasted six wines. They have a cable ride to the top and back with quite a view:
...and a terrific tour featuring Jean-Pierre Huser (who is also a professional photographer):
We then met Sarah, Nancy and David Kyle for lunch at Equus:
Daughter Sarah is a biology teacher visiting from Baltimore, while Nancy is a ceramic artist (some of her artworks are shown below):
Nancy burnishing one of her works:
David Kyle is the founder of Martek Biosciences and Advanced BioNutrition. He mostly today serves as an international advisor, and only into March this year flew 75,000 miles. Dr. Kyle participated in our bioproducts from algae effort at the University of Hawaii. He provided an enlightening lecture, warning us that high value commodities from algae can make economic sense, but biofuels are long into the future, if ever. He has been right so far.
David spends a lot time involved as a volunteer fireman:
On the drive to Sea Ranch, we stopped by Marimar Estates and Fort Ross Vineyards, where we tasted ten wines:
The awe-inspiring (if you don't mind winding roads with cliffs) drive along the coastline was spectacular:
Sea Ranch is a planned unincorporated community in Sonoma County of close to 2000 homes. Interestingly enough, Oceanic Properties of Castle and Cooke from Hawaii originally purchased this land to develop this project in the 1960's. There is a golf course and a private airstrip. The architecture (iconic chapel below from outside and inside) is distinctive and must blend with the environment.
Sea Ranch features a herd of sheep to keep grass cut low to reduce the threat of fire. No fences are allowed.
The Kyle home at Sea Ranch can be described as almost a fantasy, with their closest neighbor the pounding coastline, where they are entertained by Gray and Blue Whales, racoons, deer, maybe even mountain lions, and certainly sea lions on their beach:
Their home has a name:
Sea Ranch features a herd of sheep to keep grass cut low to reduce the threat of fire. No fences are allowed.
The Kyle home at Sea Ranch can be described as almost a fantasy, with their closest neighbor the pounding coastline, where they are entertained by Gray and Blue Whales, racoons, deer, maybe even mountain lions, and certainly sea lions on their beach:
Their home has a name:
The kitchen (we had David's barbequed rack of lamb with three more wines, although Nancy and Sarah did most of the work--if you're counting imbibibles, you need to add my double MaCallan scotch before dinner), theater (where we viewed PROOF on what must have been a 120 inch screen, as it looked larger than my 100 incher; plus the sound was most impressive), and my bedroom:
My corner of the home to prepare this blog:
This was an absolutely grand day.
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