Rachel Stewart Rocks California!

On occasion, Joe Canal’s staff members are able to go on trips to meet the producers of the items we sell. Whether we travel to the great wine regions, or any other location, the trips are educational, great for team-building, and, of course, they’re fun.

Rachel Stewart, Front End Manager at our Woodbridge store, recently visited California wine country on just such a trip with other Joe Canal's team members. Here's her report:

October 7, 2013: Day 1

I'm up and moving a little before 4am, double checking my stuff and grabbing any last-minute necessities before heading to the Philadelphia airport with my co-worker David.  So we make the drive, check-in and go through security in no time at all. We meet up with the rest of our group, which consisted of Brandon Bartfalvi and Mike Reardon of our Lawrenceville store.

From L: David Rudd, Rachel Stewart, Brandon Bartfalvi, Mike Reardon

We have ourselves some breakfast and make small talk before taking flight to San Francisco! We land safe and sound and a little early. Baggage claim is a breeze then it's off the get the rental van, for which there was a bit of a wait. I didn't mind the wait because I thought if I had a chance to stand and stretch I'd get my "land legs" back (instead of sea legs or in this case air plane legs) which in the end was pointless because it took me almost 10 days to stop feeling like I was gently swaying from side to side.

Toasting the grapes, tasting the wine

"On the road again..." We leave the San Francisco area by way of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was very impressive, and make our way to our first winery of the trip: Francis Ford Coppola, in Sonoma County. We drive through the high arched gate up to the estate, which looks more like a manor than a winery...beautiful building! To the side sits a pool, lined with lounge chairs just begging to be occupied, a bocce ball court, out-door theater area and a tee-pee style tent (this time of year the cover had already been removed) fully stocked with books for children to read. Later on the tour we came to find that it was Mr. Coppola's love for children and his inability to say "no" to them that the pool was built. You see, parents would bring their children to the winery (still do, of course) and on hot days the children would ask to go swimming in the fountain out by the front of the building. What a guy!! We meet up with our guide, who first took us through the shop/museum of sorts where we got to look at large glass cases filled with notes, awards, props and costume pieces from various movies including The Godfather, Bram Stoker's Dracula (a personal favorite), Into the Darkness, Apocalypse Now and other well-known and not-so-known titles.

Doesn't every winery have this?

Then its outside to the grapes! We find ourselves standing amid Zinfandel grape vines that had recently been picked over (this happened pretty much wherever we went because this time of year is harvest time) but we managed to find some stragglers, and we picked, squeezed and tasted them. We were told not to eat the skin because it's bitter, but of course I, being curious, couldn't help but to find out the bitter truth for myself (yes, terrible pun intended). Yuck!! And that was a lesson learned.

Bottling line

We then head to the behind-the-scenes areas, where our first stop is the assembly line of bottles to labels to boxes. Though the wine is poured and labels are attached by machine there's still someone sitting in front of a big bright light checking each empty bottle for cracks or imperfections and both full and empty bottles are loaded and unloaded by hand. Next stop was the fermenting room. This room was literally just that, rows upon rows of fermenting vats filled with various juices making wine magic. Just a few doors down we knock on a window and out walks Corey Beck, Director of Wine Making. He was kind enough to greet us and shake our hands before heading back inside and back to work. For a man in his position, harvest is an extremely busy time of year, filled with many long hours. To the tasting area! (a private tasting area actually) So cool!

It was there that we sampled many wonderful selections, some of which are not available in NJ at this time. But I do hope that a certain few will make their way into our stores sometime next year. We do, however, carry a very large selection of Coppola wines, including most varietals in the Director's Cut and Diamond Collection, as well as a few of his daughter, Sofia's wines. There's something for every palate!! Good stuff! And now, it's time to eat at the on-premise restaurant, Rustic. We're seated outdoors at a nice big table with a gorgeous view. The food was incredible! Very flavorful and filling but not to worry, I was sure to leave room for dessert. Who could say no to dark chocolate mousse with cream on top and a lovely glass of port to go with it? I'm sure some could but not me; so rich and decadent! Yum! A wonderful end to a great first day's adventures! As we wave goodbye to the Coppola Winery we head to Glen Ellen's Jack London Lodge, where we find our nice comfy beds for the night. Some of the gents head over to the Jack London Saloon for a nightcap. That's where Jack London himself used to visit for drinks and chat with local friends and patrons. I gracefully bowed out and stayed in to touch base with my family, get comfy and get some rest for the next day's new adventures: two more wineries!

I couldn't say no to this

October 8, 2013 Day 2

"Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day..." The sun is shining and birds are chirping and there's a continental breakfast on the patio just past the pool. Very charming. I fuel up and head to the van where it's off to today's first winery: St. Francis, in Sonoma.

We enter the main doors of the vistiors center at St. Francis and are greeted with a glass of St. Francis Sonoma 2011 Chardonnay. We took that outside to sip and enjoy the beauty of the mountains and hills, covered with grapevines, while we waited for our guide to arrive. Normally I don't care for the palate of oak, nuts and butter offered by most Chardonnays but I found this one to have delightfully light fruit flavors of apple and pears. Big fan! Our guide arrives and takes us to a private dining room filled with light from the early afternoon sun. We are seated and served lunch. While finishing our chardonnay with a wonderful heirloom tomato salad we learned an important item: White grapes are picked at night because they're colder. The cold temperature allows the aromatics and sugars to be preserved. Fun Fact! Our savory main dish was a very tender red wine braised short rib served with potato purée, glazed carrots, brussels sprout leaves and braising jus.

I could get used to this

We were given 3 reds to taste with this meal: a 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2009 Merlot and a 2010 Old Vines Zinfandel.

Though I enjoyed all three reds, I found myself going back to the Zinfandel the most. It was such a great full flavored wine. And for dessert? Warm chocolate ganache cake with fresh berries and whipped cream.

Delicious!!

With full bellies, we head to the van and up the road we go for a peek behind the curtain to see how it's done. First, to the Barrel room! Such an impressive sight to see, like walking into the warehouse scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark with the replacement of French oak barrels stacked in rows instead of crates, sooo cool and there were just so many barrels!!!

Back outside with perfect timing to watch a large flat-bed style truck pull up with large containers filled to the brim with freshly harvested grapes. Each crate is lifted and tilted to pour the grapes into a machine that looks like a large screw turning on its side, this keeps the grapes moving down the line as they are rinsed off then de-stemmed, squeezed and discarded while their juice is sent through the process to become delicious wine. Cool!

Lots of manual labor goes into a bottle of wine

Next stop: Benziger Winery, Sonoma.

This place was awesome! Our lovely, down-to-earth guide was Kathy Benziger, sister to the man, Mike, whose crazy idea eventually brought the whole family cross-country to open a winery. Lucky for us all that he did. This winery was like an organic oasis, a piece of environmental heaven, like visiting a state park with various gardens and tons of grape vines.

But before that incredible beauty, the Benziger family almost lost the entire vineyard due to soil that had been depleted of its nutrients. Instead of throwing in the towel they called in agriculturalists that helped them build the land back up to be healthier and richer.

A thriving vineyard today

This is how Benziger became Bio-dynamic (a happy accident that worked out well for them); instead of using harsh chemicals to solve there bug problems they used the environment to keep those bugs at bay. How do you do that? You plant the bush that attracts the bug that eats the other bugs that are causing the problem. Genius! Not to mention the variety of plant life generates wonderful nutrients that go into the soil for a better harvest.

Can't do this in Woodbridge today

Kathy drives us to a a few secluded tasting areas where we sample, among other things, a delightful crisp and refreshing Sauvignon Blanc bursting with citrus! Along the way we tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and their Tribute Red Blend. Along with the Sauvignon Blanc, I really enjoyed the Tribute Red. It was a bold red that carried wonderful notes of dark fruits, some spice and a hint of chocolate. We eat figs that Kathy plucks right from the tree and enjoyed a snack of grape tomato wrapped with a leaf of basil, talk about fresh! And of course it was tasty!

After all of this to take in, I will proudly admit that my absolute favorite part of the tour was driving down to see the cows!!! I love cows!!! Beautiful, sweet mother and baby (both with hair the color of caramel) seem to be ok with our approach to the fence. They're so close I want to reach out and touch one of them but a quick glance at dear mother's impressive horns snap me back to the reality of "look with your eyes, not with your hands", especially if you plan to leave in one piece and without holes! Thank you, Kathy, for making that special trip before we said goodbye back at the main building!!! Just thinking back makes me so giddy! Heehee, cows!! And thus ended our tour of beautiful, bio-dynamic Benziger. Our evening was spent out and about in the hoppin' town of Santa Rosa, where we visited a few recommended hot spots before heading back to the Jack London Saloon for a nightcap. This time I joined in and toasted to a wonderful day shared among good company. As I headed back to my room for the night I stopped to enjoy a sky filled with countless numbers of bright glistening stars, and it was an incredible sight to take in. I drift off with happy thoughts and another action-packed day ahead of me, tomorrow we visit three more wineries! First stop: Cakebread Cellars, Napa.

Jack London Lodge

October 9, 2013 Day 3

We make our way to the winery, having driven up, over and down the mountain using Trinity Road. This ride is not for everyone but it's an experience to have and a sight to see even if you only open your eyes a few times during the ride. It's a narrow, windy road with not much comfort in the way of guard rails. We arrive at Cakebread a little early and wander around the front waiting to meet our guide.

Cakebread Tasting Room Entrance 

After tasting a few whites (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and a Reserve Chardonnay) we head inside to see the fermenting vats. I turn around and peer into the darkened room and see that bottles are sitting, waiting to be labeled. Back out we go for some reds: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a great Zinfandel. The "tip of the hat", however, goes to the Dancing Bear Blend. Really nice stuff! Next stop is just next door at Sequoia Grove.

Heading down the driveway at Cakebread

We pile into the van to go out one driveway and into the next one; hello Sequoia Grove! After sipping on some delightful Chardonnay we begin our tour of the grounds. Out back, they're de-stemming grapes to be juiced for fermenting. At the top of a large vat, we see a woman sampling the juice and taking notes. She climbs down to meet us and wouldn't you know, it's the wine maker, Molly Hill. She shook our hands and chatted for a few short moments before getting back to work (it's harvest, remember? busy time in wine). We move inside a tall, barn-like building filled with fermenting vats on either side, and head down to the barrel room.

Piles of barrels everywhere and an odd gated room off to the side where we get to taste the juice from a barrel that's nowhere near ready to drink; now that's a grapey sweet juice!! Whoa!

I'm not too sure about this barrel tasting thing 

Back up and out we go, to head back to the visitors center for more wine tasting. We had several different Cabernets including the Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (available in our stores at the time of my writing) which was somewhat dry and full of dark fruit flavors, but a very nice glass of wine. To our surprise a nice, simple lunch of sandwiches, chips and some sort of creamy pesto pasta salad was set up for us outside, surrounded by beautiful flowers and towering sequoias. As we're nearing the end of our meal an adorable, energetic black lab runs over to greet us. It turns out her owner is the president of the winery as well as head wine maker, Mike Trujilo.

Center: Mike Trujilo

He was delighted to see we hadn't left yet and chatted with us for a little while as we nibbled on truffles and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. What a tasty way to end a tour! Next stop is our last winery on the trip: Mumm Napa!

Fun bubbles!!! Our tour at Mumm Napa begins with a glass of Carlos Santana Supernatural Brut. I'm so bummed out that this sparkling wine isn't available in NJ. Delightfully dry yet lightly fruity, and I'm loving it! We stop at a small patch of grapevines before heading inside, where we were taken on a tour with check points that had various videos to give more detail about the process that each batch of grapes goes through to eventually becoming a sparkling wine.

The bottles must be turned as they age

One stop on our tour had us mixing various parts of different white grape juices to give us an idea on how the different combinations taste.

A fun and interactive lesson!

 Tasting is hard work

The tour ends and we head out to a table drenched with sunlight on a large porch. It's filled with tables and chairs with other guests enjoying the bubbles and the glorious view of endless rows of grapevines, some of which have started changing color for the season.

We are treated to a wine pairing. Glasses of various bubblies are arranged at our seats and trays of fruits, nuts and cheeses are put out for us to experiment with. So cool! I've never done a sparkling wine pairing before, so it's fun to see what tastes better after eating this cheese or that one or what didn't pair well. I found myself going back to the Cuvée M, which is available at Joe Canal's. Simple and elegant. As a special treat, we were allowed to pick something from their list to taste; I chose the Cuvée M Red! Yup that's right, a sparkling red! It was so delicious, I hope this one makes its way out to NJ sometime sooner rather than later. I bought a bottle of the Supernatural, that we started our tour with, for my parents who like both wine and Carlos Santana. Had a wonderful time at this winery! After we freshen up we head to Allegria for dinner, where we sat in a bank vault turned private dining room and enjoyed fantastic Italian food.

October 10, 2013 Day 4

We head off to San Francisco and, on the way, we stop by Skyy Vodka headquarters. Skyy is owned by the Italian company, Campari. I never realized how many labels they carried until we saw the wall that they have covered with white 3-D foam plaques of the various labels. There are two bars in different spots on the floor. One is for in-house promotions and entertaining, while the other is used for research on creating new mixed drinks and also to train bartenders hired to pour for various events hosted by the company.

Big place; they own the whole floor! On our little tour we saw an office with a life-sized image of the outline scene on the espolon tequila label, wrapped around its full length corner windows, so awesome!

We got to sit down with a sales manager and I learned a little bit about research and development when it comes to flavors. Cool! After Campari we had some time to ourselves in San Francisco. Then it was off to Epic Roasthouse where we dined on amazingly delicious food. Enjoyed at dinner: a strawberry fields martini (made with Skyy Vodka!) to toast the day and the ending of a wonderful trip, Lobster bisque that was so savory and an incredible steak cooked to perfection! No room for dessert. Our table was in a perfect place near the window to offer a full view of the dancing lights on the Bay Bridge.

October 11, 2013 Day 5

We're up and at'em, when it's dark and early again for our flight back home, which gets delayed due to inclement weather in Philly. We eventually make it home safe and sound. What a wonderful trip!