The sins of progress have barely touched one of the world’s most prestigious wine regions. Once a sleepy, laid-back hideaway where the residents of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga smugly enjoyed the fragrant air, tended their vines, and quietly celebrated one of the planet’s most attractive setting, the valley today remains the home of farmers and winemakers working the land and vines hand-in-hand. Wineries are still mostly family-owned and operated, some appearing like grand estates plucked from the French countryside.

On weekends, visitors crowd Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail driving through the small 30-mile-long, seven-mile-wide Valley basin past thousands of acres of vineyards with more than 400-plus wineries, and 37 tasting rooms in the town of Napa alone. Napa Valley is interspersed with a wonderland of Victorian architecture, historical stone buildings, grand old landmarks, and expansive chateaus and estates. The gently rolling hills, with their mosaic of soil and climate conditions, obsessively test neatly planted vines. Above and beyond them, the inspiring mountain ranges are often swathed with drifting clouds that play hide and seek with the vineyards.

Virtual Yountville

To visit the petite Napa Valley town of Yountville is to take pleasure in the Napa Valley high life. In 1839, George Yount was the first to plant grapes in the Napa Valley, the first to tap the potential of Napa Valley vines, perhaps not even realizing he was establishing the foundation for a world-renowned grape region. However, after his death in 1867, the town of Yountville took its name from the early pioneer tying the town’s fortunes to the success of Yount’s vines. Yountville is tucked in and around a spectacle of vineyards and hillside in a graceful, time-honored panorama. It seems as if everyone knows everything about everyone in Yountville, including what he or she had for dinner and if the wine was red, white, or bubbly.

Residents laugh, “Everyone who lives here is right up the road. We’re a small town with a big heart, and without a touch of pretension. We have the amenities of a large city without the annoying temperament.” They might be right. Yountville is without traffic signals, only a scattering of stop signs, and no gaudy fast food joints or blazing neon lights. In their place, they have specialty shops, wineries, and chefs to keep taste buds humming at restaurants that include the famed French Laundry, a three Michelin-star restaurant once called “the best restaurant in the world, period” by none other than Anthony Bourdain.

Nearby Napa

Napa, a scenic nine-mile drive from Yountville and the gateway to Napa Valley is a winemaker’s sanctuary. Mark Herold, recognized among Napa Valley’s top winemakers having consistently produced world-class wines said, “Napa is a wonderful little town with a community feel and we’re doing better than most. There is no competition among winemakers. We’re all in it together. We know each other and what everyone is producing. Napa is a hard-working town with climate change a challenge. But if Las Vegas never sleeps, Napa is a city that does sleep.”

Napa is brick-to-brick along First Street with one-of-a-kind boutiques, upscale shopping choices, enough tasting rooms for a train load of wine aficionados, and a collection of talented chefs from throughout the world. The Napan’s dine at Bistro Don Giovanni’s on creative Italian cuisine in a large, leafy patio overlooking a dark green field of vines, with a wine list that takes a few minutes to comprehend.

Sleeping Arrangements

R Inn Napa

New on the Napa sleeping scene is the stylish R Inn Napa, tucked away in the heart of downtown Napa. Sean Heffran and family, with great attention to detail, have created a distinctive boutique property modeled after small European hotels. Totally unique to Napa, the R Inn is a perfect fit for those wishing to explore the delights of downtown.

The artistic Heffran family converted a historic hundred-year-old building into an urban oasis with five loft suites, ten stylish rooms, and a spacious two-bedroom bungalow with full kitchen, serene for a romantic rendezvous. Keypad door codes, baths with heated stone floors, open European showers, deep soaking tubs, heated Toto washlet bidet toilets, and adjustable beds, grace the sleeping rooms while a European style courtyard with a large vintage sign from a salon in the south of France sets the mood. An attractive ten-seat dining room is ideal to enjoy the creativity of Napa chef’s. Complimentary breakfast is served on weekends with open access to the pantry 24-7.

Black Bird Inn

Gifted Scott Warren, possessing all the genius of a master craftsman, purchased a vacant 1910 home just steps from downtown in a verdant, homey neighborhood once known as Millionaires Row. The home was greatly in need of renewal, and Warren spent six long years meticulously recreating the craftsmanship of the 1800’s.

Entering the Inn’s finely designed front door with its brass door handle and gorgeous, inlaid cut glass takes one a step back to the 1890’s to enjoy museum-quality talent based on the famed architects Greene and Greene and others. Warren said, “When I first purchased the property people thought I was crazy. It was a labor of love. I felt I had the opportunity to create a lost art. During the six years I had trouble sleeping, ideas were flowing through my head day and night. I worked with redwood, mahogany, white oak, ebony and hickory, but no pine.”

Warrren has created a stunning showcase crafting the furniture with gorgeous wood, Napa leather, and skillfulness that urges one to gently rub the finish following the grain. Warren also purchased a bungalow directly behind the Inn and with his two Airedale dogs, restored the bungalow to its original 1890 splendor. The Inn offers eight individually decorated rooms with Green and Green style bathrooms, the Finch Guest House with four rooms, all with their own bathrooms, some with private patios, a fireplace and bathtubs.

When You Go

Complementary full breakfast and evening wine and canapes, parking space directly behind the Inn. By chance you might meet Scott Warren who has retired his craftsman tools and taken up gardening along with two new Airedales.

The R Inn Napa is a relaxing and calm oasis, and an ideal booking to rejuvenate the spirit. No smoking, no pets and no children under age 18. Visit the R Inn Napa

The Black Bird Inn offers complementary full breakfast and evening wine and canapes, parking space directly behind the Inn. By chance you might meet Scott Warren who has retired his craftsman tools and taken up gardening along with two new Airedales. Visit the Black Bird Inn Napa

Visit Mark Herold Wine.

The post Napa Valley A Winemaker’s Sanctuary appeared first on Traveling Archive.

My driver was a well-traveled and youthful looking man of 70 who called Friuli-Venezia Giulia home. Speaking in perfect English, “My secret for fitness is to drink just one glass of Frulian wine a day,” he laughed. When I informed him that I was both a Great War and Ernest Hemingway buff, he politely pointed out World War I battle sites, many of which  Hemingway had written about in A Farewell to Arms when he was an 18-year-old ambulance driver.  So my journey continued with the driver as my own private guide. In between his informative commentary, he was anxious to hear about some of my favorite locations in his region.

Aquileia

Aquileia is yet another of Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites; and there are countless reasons why. Now a small rural village, it was colonized by the Romans in 181 BC, and was once the second largest city in the empire with a population of 100,000. It was initially intended as a military center to stave off invasions of central and northern European barbarians. But its position on the edge of the Adriatic’s lagoons led to its rapid growth as a commercial and political center, making it one of the wealthiest cities of the early Roman Empire.

The city was leveled by Attila’s Huns in 452 AD, resulting in its citizens escaping to the southwest, eventually establishing Grado and Venice.  Most of Aquileia still lies unexcavated beneath the fields, containing the world’s greatest archaeological reserve of its kind. In the early Middle Ages, a much smaller town in post-Roman Aquileia emerged. With the construction of the present day Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, it went on to become the largest Christian diocese in Europe.

The patriarchal basilica played a key role in the evangelization of a large region in central Europe. Its remarkable floor mosaics are the oldest in Christendom. Keep in mind, throughout history, most sermons were in Latin, and the average person could not read nor write. Mosaics, stained-glass windows and statues were not only beautiful works of art, but also illustrated important biblical passages the populace could understand.

 Grado, Friuli Venezia Giulia’s Lagoon City

No stranger to creature comforts, the lagoon city of Grado was once a destination for the Romans to cool off their well-traveled legionnaire heels. Their mode of transport was a Roman road from Aquileia, now submerged under the lagoon’s waters.  Located in the midst of the Adriatic’s northernmost lagoon, Grado was later a holistic retreat for the Hapsburg aristocracy who would  use the seaside thermal springs and curative gray sand for therapeutic treatments. Its popularity continues today as a resort destination for German, Swiss, Austrian and Italian families.

Grado is spread across a narrow island, backed by wide open beaches on one side, and lagoons with a series of small islands, wetlands on the other. In the middle there’s a rustic Venetian-style ancient town center where one can stroll through calli (narrow alleyways), which open to squares with examples of early Christian basilicas, fishermen’s houses and restaurants.

A boat tour of the lagoon is essential where traditional island life is on display with modest fishermen housing known as casoni, characterized by their straw roofs. Many casoni are now boarded-up with the glory days of fishing for a living almost gone, but you can still enjoy the rewards of the sea with the freshest of seafood served in one of the small island’s very authentic restaurants. Looking out at the lagoon’s marshes, reeds and petite islands, you can almost imagine what Venice once looked like before there was even a thought of building a city, let alone an empire. In the background looms the mountains where some of the fiercest battles of the Great War were fought.

Cellina Nature Reserve: The Hanging Bridge and the Lake of Barcis

Cellina Gorge is the largest and most spectacular canyon of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Carved away by years of torrential waters, steep limestone rocks plunge vertically into a creek with examples of intense erosion and karstification, a bit reminiscent of a small Grand Canyon. The waters and deep canyons was once the only link of the valley with the plain. The reserve is the most important part of the Cellina stream, located between the artificial lakes of Barcis and Montereale before its outlet in the high plains of Pordenone.

A new metal  hanging bridge was recently constructed  with steel cables and steps above the  steep gorge. Participants wear climbing helmets provided by the custodian at the entrance, who convey instructions to enjoy the experience in safety.

Russiz Superiore Winery – The Grand Finale

Roberto Felluga’s Russiz Superiore Winery is situated in the heart of Friuli’s breathtaking Wine Country. Originally part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, some believe the region is psychologically closer to Austria than to Italy. One can taste this influence in his wines which possess almost a crisp Germanic precision. Russiz Superiore’s estate extends over 100 acres, with the focus on the small production of wines that maximize the intensity of the grapes as well as highlighting the landscape of its home in Collio. The Friulian central plateau’s Wine Country is rated as Italy’s third most important wine quality region.

A wine and food extravaganza at the Russiz Superiore Wine Cellar was a fitting way to end the evening. And a glass of grappa, first produced in the local mountains, was the perfect digestive to end the meal. Other Friulian creations include Prosciutto di San Daniele – similar to Prosciutto di Parma, but less robust and more sublime – white asparagus, Montasio – a creamy, unpasteurized mountain cheese – and Spaghetti Felicetti – pasta from the Dolomites. Remember. In Italy pasta is not served as an entrée, it follows the antipasto and proceeds the main course. Pasta is also served in a bowl, with no large spoon for twirling the pasta with a fork. I asked a waiter in Grado where the antipasto tradition of dipping a piece of bread into a plate of olive oil began. He replied, “Los Angeles, California.” *

My driver and I arrived at the Venice Airport. With almost Austrian formality he dropped my bags at the terminal, and then shook my hand. “It was a great pleasure, signore.” “No, the pleasure really belongs to me,” I replied. “I’ve learned a lot from you.” I handed him a few euros. “Please take this and don’t be offended.” After glancing at the money, he responded, “This will buy many ‘one-glass-a-day-wines.’” He then added, “Friuli has many secrets and maybe the time is right for them to be discovered by the rest of the world.” With that, he drove off and I entered the airport for my exploration of Friuli-Venezia Giulia was over.

* History tells us that the history of dipping a cubed piece of bread in a dollop of olive oil was a way to test the quality of the various oils. Because butter is generally not on the Italian table, North Americans assume that the olive oil which is, is for flavoring the bread.

Get more information about Friuli Venezia Giulia

The post A Piece of Paradise: The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Part II appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Heirs to one of America’s biggest fortunes in the 19^th century, they lived in mansions in Manhattan and on lavish estates in Newport, Rhode Island. But little Georgie Vanderbilt, a bachelor devoted to his mother, spent his money buying up land in the wilds of western North Carolina and set out building a home where he and mama could breathe clean mountain air. Family members scoffed.

Boy, did he show them.

On Christmas Eve, 1895, George Washington Vanderbilt II invited family and friends to his almost-finished home for the holidays. Then, as today, the road leading to the house winds through three miles of pastures and woodlands. Just when visitors think their driver has lost his way, the road ascends a hill, curves right and enters a clearing. Carriages carrying Vanderbilt’s guests stopped. Heads turned. Jaws dropped. What they saw — and what visitors on shuttle buses now see — was a massive residence built in the style of French chateaux with the Blue Ridge Mountains rising behind it. With 250 rooms, it was the largest private residence in America.

But the Biltmore has become much more than just some rich guy’s house. George’s descendants transformed it from a private Gilded Age estate to an attraction welcoming more than a million visitors a year. In addition to the house, Biltmore Estate has two hotels, a spa, shops and restaurants, a winery and a roster of outdoor activities. Though the property near Asheville, N.C., remains in the family, no one with Vanderbilt blood lives in the big house. It has become a museum showcasing art, books, carpets and furniture George purchased on buying trips to Europe.

Shades of ‘Downton Abbey’

With 33 bedrooms, George and his wife Edith, whom he married in 1898 less than two years after his mother died, had plenty of room to entertain. They did so in true “Downton Abbey” fashion with from 25 to 45 servants attending to their needs and those of their guests.

Members of the Gilded Age leisure class changed clothes six or seven times a day depending on their activities on the estate: afternoon tea, a bit of shooting or fishing, horseback riding, croquet and walks in the woods before a seven to ten-course formal dinner. Ladies’ maids styled hair, tended to makeup and manicures and assisted with dressing, often cinching a corset to an 18-inch waistline.

A behind-the-scenes tour gives a glimpse of upstairs-downstairs life, including a visit to the two-story butler’s pantry where china, crystal and silver — 40 serving pieces per person at dinner — were stored. Should a guest desire a bit of caviar in the middle of the night, a bell summoned a servant on duty around the clock.

Another behind-the-scenes tour takes visitors to the roof of the Biltmore where the superimposed initials GV appear along the copper ridgeline. From here visitors get an up-close look at the turrets, balconies and gargoyles designed by architect Robert Morris Hunt who fashioned this American castle in Indiana limestone. They also look out over the vast acreage of the estate, 8,000 acres today, down from the 125,000 George bought. Acclaimed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York City’s Central Park, was dismayed when he laid eyes on the worn-out farmland. Vanderbilt persuaded him to replant it in formal gardens and woodlands to support the estate’s timber business. After George died of complications from an appendectomy in 1914, Edith sold some of the land to the government as national forest.

The Vanderbilts had one child, Cornelia, born at the Biltmore. She married an English aristocrat and had two sons who inherited the property. George and Edith’s great-grandson and great-granddaughter now manage Biltmore Estate.

The city of Asheville, N.C., asked the family to open Biltmore to the public as a means of boosting tourism to the area during the Depression. The first visitors arrived in 1930.

Touring the Big House

Today’s most popular tour, a 90-minute audio tour, takes visitors through most of the important rooms, including the glass-roofed winter garden and the banquet hall with triple fireplace and ceiling seven stories high.

Two paintings by Renoir hang in the breakfast room and John Singer Sargent’s large portraits of Olmstead and Hunt grace a wall of the second-floor living hall. French doors open from the covered loggia to a 90-foot-long gallery hung with Flemish tapestries from the 1530s.

Nearly half of the bookish Vanderbilt’s 22,000-volume collection fills shelves of the two-story library. A chess set and games table once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. The music room was not completed in George’s lifetime. During World War II Edith allowed the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., to store art there to safeguard it from possible attack.

One of the first bowling alleys in a private residence is downstairs, the pins set by servants. The indoor pool had underwater lighting. Visitors walk through the kitchens where a dozen workers assisted the chef. Dumbwaiters transported food upstairs.

A bachelor’s wing was reserved for unmarried gentlemen who could come and go at all hours without disturbing the ladies. It had a billiard room and gun room where guests could select weapons from Vanderbilt’s collection for hunting on his estate. Men gathered for after-dinner cigars, pipes and brandy in the smoking room.

Beyond the House

In George’s time, the estate was very much a working farm and dairy that delivered milk throughout the area. The farm remains, supplying chefs in Biltmore restaurants with salad greens, berries and herbs as well as poultry and eggs from free-range chickens, beef and lamb from Angus cattle and White Dorper sheep. Even some of the grapes from the estate vineyard become wine made in the winery. Tastings are included in the Biltmore admission ticket.

The winery sits in the estate’s Antler Village complex about five miles from Biltmore House. The village has two lodgings, the Village Hotel and the four-star Inn on Biltmore Estate with spa and white-tablecloth dining. Contemporary American cuisine is served in the village’s Bistro, pub fare in Cedric’s Tavern. Deerpark Restaurant, between the village and the house, is known for its Sunday brunch buffet and Saturday Taste of the South lunch. Back at the house, Southern comfort food is served in the former stable, tables set up in the horse stalls.

Visitors find opportunities for shopping at both the house and village, including a toy store, garden shop and year-round Christmas store. Biltmore has a resort side, too, with outdoor activities such as horseback riding, biking, clay shooting, fly fishing, Segway tours, a Land Rover driving school, kayaking and river rafting. Or visitors can transport themselves back to George’s time by taking a carriage ride.

Details

Information: 800-411-3812, biltmore.com

Tickets: $40 to $75 depending on season and advance purchase. Children 9 and younger free, ages 10-16 are 50 percent off the adult price. Audio tours $10.98, guided tours $22-$150.

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