Paoletti Estate Winery - Calistoga, California
Located on the Silverado Trail in Calistoga, Paoletti Estate is a premium winery featuring Italian varietals such as Sangiovese and Nero d'Avola as well as Bordeaux varietals and Super Tuscan blends. For a complete review of this winery check out the following link:
Vincent Arroyo Winery in Calistoga, California ( Napa Valley )
Vincent Arroyo Winery:
Private Limousine Service:
Wine Country Driver:
While my clients were tasting wine and enjoying the good company of Vincent Arroyo's Tasting room staff, I took a little video of the winery. Like several other Napa Valley Wineries Vincent Arroyo's greeters walk around on 4 feet. Be sure to say hi! to Bodega and JJ when you stop in for a tasting! Maybe you could even try JJ's blend in the Tasting room.
Napa Valley Wineries and Calistoga
Toured our visiting friend around Napa Valley
SummitVine Ranch Views - Diamond Mountain - Calistoga Ca.
Our SummitVine Ranch visit was the perfect getaway for the four of us. Out of a possible 5 star rating, we all rated our visit as a 10. Just minutes from Calistoga's renowned spas and St. Helena's famed restaurants, this beautiful unique getaway offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the wine country in a private, serene and luxurious setting.
Surrounded by olive trees and vineyards The SummitVine Ranch guesthouse provides a private retreat for family and friends. Experience
Napa Valley as you never have before, amidst 40 secluded acres of beautiful woods and rolling vineyards, with sweeping views of the valley from a breathtaking perch on Diamond Mountain just above Calistoga.
Pricing and availability varies seasonally. For additional information please contact;
SummitVine Ranch
2108 Diamond Mountain Road
Calistoga, California 94515
Phone/fax 707-942-1640
Email: info@summitvine.com
Calistoga North to Tubbs Lane (East to West)
Private Limousine Service:
Wine Country Driver:
Leaving the Town of Calistoga from the Silverado Trail heading North then turning Left onto Tubbs Lane. Chateau Montelena, Envy Wines, & Summers Estate Winery are all on Tubbs Lane. Other Wineries in the area include: Vincent Arroyo Winery and Zahtila Vineyards.
Best of '10... Sonoma Vineyards
Vineyard shots in the Carneros and Sonoma Coast regions of Sonoma County, CA
Paoletti Vineyards with Amicis Tours
Part of the Napa Winery Tour iPhone App from AmicisTours.com. A country feel, rustic and yet refined. Great caves with marble sculptures. A little bit of Italy in Napa.
The Ryde Hotel
This California Delta landmark is located three miles south of Walnut Grove, on scenic State Highway 160. You will find the hotel in its peaceful setting on the orchard-lined banks of the Sacramento River.
This central location in the heart of California's picturesque Delta region makes the Ryde convenient to access from Sacramento, the Central Valley, the San Francisco Greater Bay Area, and the Napa-Sonoma Wine Country.
Perched like a jewel on the Sacramento River, the inviting peach-tone facade of the Ryde literally stops traffic.
Built in 1927 at the peak of the prohibition era. It was an opulent establishment, complete with beauty salon and barbershop, that served as a riverboat way station. It was also rumored to be a bordello. The lower level was a speakeasy, offering bootleg whiskey and jazz to a clientele in search of a good time.
There was even a trap door in the floor that allegedly opened to reveal a tunnel running under the road to a hidden doorway at the river's edge. It's not difficult to imagine the type of nocturnal activities that secret passageway has seen! Speculation mixed with fact generated a good amount of notoriety that brought with it a certain cachet. The Ryde attracted celebrities of all types from President Herbert Hoover to local and state politicians to movie stars and mobsters.
In later years the Hotel became a boarding house for the men and women who built the Delta levees and pioneered the area's thriving agricultural industry. Over time, the Ryde has experienced many incarnations and owners including the Lon Chaney, Jr. family. At one point the name was changed to the Grand Island Inn. During the 1980's it was even a rock'n'roll mecca!
1998 marked the advent of a Renaissance for this historical property. Under the direction of new owners, Jan LeRoy and Cathy Hartrich, the Hotel has resumed its original name and undergone a major renovation. Jan and Cathy have maintained the character of the original design while incorporating contemporary amenities, such as jacuzzi tubs, with glorious river views. What they have achieved is an ambience that is both unique and casually elegant.
Chinese Tourists Visiting The Santa Barbara Courthouse Tower, Part 1
The last year or so, the majority of the foreign tourists in this town have been Chinese. They go to the wharf and harbor, the old mission, and the courthouse.It's interesting to suddenly see Chinese here, after rarely seeing them in the last fifty years. They built most of California and then were pretty much run out of town 100 years ago by racists and bigots and anti-immigrants of various unsavory variety. I wonder if any of them knows that they can see Santa Barbara's old Chinatown from up there, three blocks towards the sea. It's not marked on the placards on the railings, though the library and the parking lot are. I wonder if they know or care about the very significant history of Chinese in California. I wonder if they are rich to be able to come here, and how they got that way in a Communist country. I bet they are rich: most of them are very attractive, and looks and money usually travel together.
Where did they wake up this morning? Hollywood? Are they driving back to Hollywood tonight, and then down to Disney Land and Sea World tomorrow? Or out to Las Vegas, or up to San Francisco? How long are they here? What are they going to say to their friends about Santa Barbara when they go back home? It's pretty, but it's no Universal Studios? Or, It was so beautiful, I have to return there someday?
The song is Sentimientos, by Andres Linetzky & Ernesto Romeo