Discover Napa Valley 2012

The Petrified Forest Step back in Time,

over 3 million years, and follow the trail of majestic petrified redwood giants arrayed before you in a fascinating grove in beautiful California wine country.

See Story on Page 4

Swim Trunks

Shoes & Sandals Sunglasses

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•

Accessories

Casual & Work Clothes Fine Cigars

A Word From Our Editors

Come discover Calistoga

Welcome to St. Helena

By Sean Scully, The Weekly Calistogan

Napa Valley is all about wine, right?

The answer to that question is far more complicated than you might imagine.

Sure, the valley is blanketed with grapes, in their neat, orderly rows tended by expert vineyard workers. Undeniably, the roads are lined with some of the finest wineries in the world with names that are famous, from Opus One and Caymus up to Chateau Montelena and Sterling.

But there is so much more to the Valley for residents and visitors alike.

That is the story we at The Weekly Calistogan like to bring to you.

Napa Valley is also rich in history predating the Gold Rush and statehood. From our prehistoric Petrified Forest to historic Aetna Springs resort, the playground of the rich in the 19th century, there are treasures and stories to be told. That’s why in this issue we will tell you about the latest research into the historic hotels of Napa Valley, showing this has been a thriving and colorful tourist destination far longer than most people appreciate.

Napa Valley is also the home of interesting things to do that have little connection to wine, from cruising the morning skies in a hot-air balloon to biking among the vineyards and enjoying spectacular views of the mountains.

That’s why we’ll bring you the story of a developing plan to make biking accessible throughout the county to tourists and commuters alike.

And Napa Valley is people. We’ll profile Calistoga grape grower Charlie Wolleson, who has bonded with his great-grandson over a shared love of historic farm tractors. Or businessman John Merchant, who set up a series “Gratitude Trees” in downtown Calistoga to allow people to air their innermost wishes, hopes, and memories.

We can’t, of course, ignore the wine. We will bring you stories of unexpected or little-known wineries and growers, such as Calistoga’s B Cellars, which is turning to a chef to create interesting wine and food classes and experiences to help customers learn about their wines.

Napa County is a special place and I am privileged to work in one of its most special corners, the city of Calistoga. It’s a small town with a big heart.

Here, at the top of Napa Valley, we have preserved a working agricultural town, yet we’ve also stayed true to our historic roots as a tourist destination.

Here, you can see and hear and feel the grapes being grown and the wine being made. You hear the wind machines chopping the air in the spring as they protect the vines from frost. You see the teams of vineyard workers as they prune and tend the canopy of leaves in the summer. You can watch the harvest in the fall and see the wineries in full operation during the frantic weeks of the crush.

Yet here also you can relax, treat yourself to a spa visit or mud bath, eat in fine restaurants, enjoy biking and hiking, or shop in unusual stores.

We know most visitors come for the wine.

We hope you will return, or even stay, for all of the other things that make Calistoga and the rest of the Napa Valley such a beautiful place.

By David Stoneberg, St. Helena Star

Inside this magazine, you’ll find a lot of information about this wonderful town, called “the heart of the Napa Valley.” There’s a variety of things to do in and around St. Helena, including shopping, eating at world-class restaurants, hiking, biking, taking cooking classes, learning about local history, watching first-run movies at a beautifully-restored single screen movie house, or attending a local musical or theatrical performance.

Whether you live here, work here, have visited here many times or are a first-time visitor, you’ll find a warm welcome. People stop and chat on the sidewalks and strangers become friends at our groceries stores, shops, coffee houses or post office.

Walking through the downtown, you’ll find a variety of shops. Whether you’re looking for a dress shirt or a pair of fine trousers or the latest in fashions for both men and women, you’ll find it downtown.

St. Helena is also known for its fine art galleries, fine jewelry stores and its boutiques, each with its own character and one-of-a-kind items for sale.

When you get tired of shopping, stop in one of our restaurants for a fine meal, believed by many to be among the best in the world.

For a complete list of businesses and activities in St. Helena, check in with the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, either in person, 657 Main St., by phone 963-4456 or at www.sthelena.com.

Beginning May 4, don’t be surprised by the crowds of people in the downtown as Cheers! St. Helena begins its summer-long social events. They begin at 5:30 p.m., continue for three hours and are held on the first Friday of each month through October. Besides May 4, dates are June 1, July 6, Aug. 3, Sept. 7 and Oct. 5. It’s an opportunity for you to wander through the downtown, stop in the shops, talk to your friends and enjoy a glass of wine from one of the many dozens of vintners who serve their finest in the shops during the evening.

During the summer, the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce will host its free “Music in the Park” concert series from 6 to 8 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays from June 14 through Aug. 23. Each of the concerts are held at Lyman Park, which is in the 1300 block of Main Street, adjacent to City Hall and across from the post office. It’s a relaxing place to enjoy music, food and drink and the friendly atmosphere.

The 2012 schedule is: • June 14, Beso Negro • June 28, Dgiin • July 12, Spill the Wine • July 26, Todd Haaby • Aug. 9, Buckeye Knoll • Aug. 23, Sweet Burgundy

The Napa Valley, of course, is well-known for its wines and driving either north or south on Highway 29 or the Silverado Trail, one can’t help but notice the acres and acres of vineyards and numerous wineries that produce the world-class wines that we all enjoy.

St. Helena is alive and you’re welcome to come join us, whether it is for a few hours, a romantic weekend at a world-class resort or a long, lovely vacation in the heart of the Napa Valley.

Publisher

Brenda Speth

Napa Valley

Publishing Company

Editors

David Stoneberg St. Helena Star Sean Scully The Weekly Calistogan

Advertising

Carolyn Wagner

Design

Moye C. Stephens

Cover Photo

Will Chubb Will Chubb Photography

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ADVERTORIAL

Step Back in Time at the Petrified Forest

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Over 3 million years in the making

n 1870 a farmer named Charles Evans was clearing his pasture near Calistoga, California when he uncovered a huge hollow log, about 8 feet in diameter. The log looked like wood, but when he touched it, it was cold like stone.

Lacking any idea of what this log really was, Charlie contacted the Federal Government hoping that with their assistance, an answer might be found.

The Government dispatched Yale Professor and dinosaur hunter, O.C. Marsh to help with the investigation. Marsh and his party arrived by stagecoach and went about collecting specimens of all kinds. After conducting his research, Marsh returned to Yale and in 1871 published an article announcing the discovery of the Petrified Forest in California.

Marsh identified the specimens on the property, including Charlie’s original find, as petrified Sequoia Redwood trees. With the announcement of this exciting discovery, visitors began to flock to the site and the Petrified Forest became a popular stop on the local stagecoach route.

Photo courtesy of Will Chubb, Will Chubb Photography

Ollie’s home, built in 1915, now serves as the Museum and Nature Store.

Bockee (pronounced “bouquet”) in 1914.

Ollie passed away in 1950, and members of her family have continOllie used her $4,000 inheritance ued her legacy ensuring that the Petas a down payment on the purchase rified Forest is protected and open to of the property. She ran the Petrified the public for scientific and educaForest until her death in 1950 and tional purposes. is considered to be the single most In 2014 Ollie’s family will have important individual in the Forest’s preservation. Ollie made great ef- owned The Petrified Forest for 100 forts to preserve the forest for future years. generations and purchased neighThe Petrified Forest is open from boring properties to turn Petrified 9 am – 6 pm (Summer hours 9 am – Charlie’s original 1862 homestead of 7 pm) and several walking tours are 140 acres into a protected Petrified available. It has a Museum and NaForest of about 580 acres. She invited scientists from all over the world ture Store with rocks and fossils from to participate in further exploring all over the world. Please visit the website at www.petrifiedforest.org. 3 the Forest’s natural treasures.

In 1880 the author, Robert Louis Stevenson befriended Charles Evans, now known as Petrified Charlie.

Stevenson wrote a chapter, The Petrified Forest, in his book, “The SilIn 1912, Luther Burbank, a world verado Squatters”. famous botanist and horticulturist, When Charlie passed away a few estimated a Valley Oak tree located years later, the title to the property near the entrance, to be 550 years passed to his sister, Christina C. old. Several years later he assisted Ryden, and changed hands a few Ollie in the dedication of a 5,560 lb. more times until it was purchased piece of Petrified Wood to New York by a young woman, Ollie Alma Orre City.

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Petrified Forest California Registered Historical Landmark, No. 915 4100 Petrified Forest Road Calistoga, CA 94515 707-942-6667 www.petrifiedforest.org

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Calistoga Winegrowers ready to market AVA wines

By Cary Shott STAFF WRITER

A

fter years of struggle, delay, legal battles, and bureacratic wrangling, Calistoga’s “American Viticultural Area” is finally ready to get down to business.

More than two years after the federal government approved the new AVA, the Calistoga Winegrowers have installed their first board of directors and have begun to market the region as a distinct source of wine. Highway signs telling the world about the AVA went up late last year, putting Calistoga on par with well-known regions such as Stags Leap and Rutherford.

“Folks were ready to celebrate Calistoga as a distinct AVA, and when the designation was finally granted, it provided the incentive for us to come together and speak with one voice about what makes our wines special,” said Karen Cakebread, the first president of the CWG board of directors.

Calistoga was designated as a distinct AVA in December 2009. Famed Chateau Montelena Winery winemaker Bo Barrett wrote and filed the petition for the new AVA in September 2003 and made three lobbying trips to Washington, D.C. before the petition was finally approved six years later. The process was slow and difficult since organizers ran into opposition from some existing winemakers, including Calistoga Cellars, who tried to carve out exemptions from normal AVA rules because they already used the name “Calistoga.”

One of the new Calistoga AVA signs gracing area highways.

Sean Scully photo

For a wine to feature the AVA name on its label, at least 85 percent of the grapes it contains must be grown inside the AVA boundaries. The federal government eventually approved the Calistoga region without the exceptions.

With the battle out of the way, the group’s organizers have been working over the last two years to garner nonprofit status for the organization, solicit members, obtain permits for installing signs at the appellation boundaries and create a board of directors.

Besides Cakebread, members of the board include: Candi Czapleski, Canard Vineyards (vice-president); Mark Mathewson, Sterling Vineyards; Barr Smith, Barlow Wines; Beth Summers, Summers Estate Wines (secretary); Laura Zahtila Swanton, Zahtila Vineyards (treasurer); and Ace Yaksic, Joseph Cellars.

The board’s first actions included the formation of a marketing committee and the hiring of a consultant with experience in

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Submitted photo

Calistoga Winegrowers board of directors, back row from left, Barr Smith of Barlow Vineyards, Mark Mathewson of Sterling Vineyards, and Ace Yaksic of Joseph Cellars. Front row from left, Laura Zahtila Swanton of Zahtila Vineyards, Karen Cakebread of Ziata Wines, Carolyn “Candi” Czapleski of Canard Vineyards and Beth Summers of Summers Estate.

launching new AVAs.

“The wineries here are on an island, on their own, and many haven’t ever done any cross-promotional marketing,” Cakebread said. “Now we have a collective voice and we can get the word out on how Calistoga is dis-

tinct and unique.”

According to Cakebread, the current challenge facing CWG is formulating a concise vision, a clear set of goals, with such a diverse group of members whose numbers are conSee AVA on Page 8

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Roots run deep

A sense of history in Main Street businesses

T

By John Lindblom STAFF WRITER

ime stands still for no one, but on St. Helena’s Main Street, the clock has a slow hand. Ask Main Street merchants “What’s new?” and you’ll likely get “Not much” for a response. And that’s exactly the way they want to keep it.

From Model T to Maserati, the buildings and the businesses along Main Street have remained predominantly the same despite the 19,000 cars and trucks that roll past its storefronts daily.

Generations tread gently onward in St. Helena, as can be observed from the following: Goodman’s Department Store, 1331 Main St. Jack and Karen Paulus became only the third owners of the store in 1976, when they purchased it from Mr. and Mrs. Zoltan Rosenberger, proprietors since their 1961 purchase of the store from the last of the Goodmans.

John Lindblom photo

Amber Paulus Ebling exhibits a ledger from the early days of Goodman’s Department Store showing the account of Levi Strauss & Co.

Large antiquated ledgers along the store’s walls tell of a time when Hungarian immigrant Abraham Goodman opened a pioneer dry goods and ready-to-wear business. That was in 1879, the same year that Goodman is alleged to have sold the first pair of Levis in Napa County. The rivets for the iconic blue jeans (to strengthen the pockets) were patented in 1873, 20 years after Levi Strauss founded his company in San Francisco. Goodman’s original store was located at the corner of Main and Spring streets and later moved into the classic building that now houses it.

Nieman’s Motorcycle Rentals. Sure, Mike Nieman rents out his seven motorSee Main Street on Page 9

AVA

Continued from Page 6 tinuing to increase.

The CWG launched its membership drive a year ago via direct mail and has succeeded in attracting at least 40 members, all “without a lot of effort,” Cakebread said.

She said she’s pleased that both wine producers and growers are joining the organization and notes that most of the new growth is due to word of mouth.

Members are happy to have found, “some-

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John Lindblom photo

Mike Nieman, owner of Nieman’s Motorcycle Rentals and a man who likes engines, demonstrates a Lycoming airplane engine that powered a 1937 PT Stearman trainer.

thing to belong to that they feel more connected to,” Cakebread said.

Now that they have formed a marketing committee, next steps on the CWG agenda are creating a logo, building a website and developing a trade tasting event as well as a consumer tasting events.

Bigger goals on the horizon include finding ways to partner with the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce on new events and adding value to existing events; developing a unique annual event that specifically showcases the CWG members; future participation in trade events, such as Premier Napa Valley; and col-

laborating with Destination Napa Valley, the county’s main tourism promotion agency.

In the meantime, the member wineries are putting together an e-auction lot for Auction Napa Valley, which will be held from May 31 to June 3.

For more information about the Calistoga Winegrowers, contact Beth Summers at beth@summerswinery.com. More information about CWG can be found on their Facebook page: facebook.com/calistogawinegrowers. 3

Main Street

Continued from Page 8

cycles, but there’s a lot more that goes on at 1132 Main St. Nieman had operated an automotive repair business for both cars and motorcycles at the site for 15 years before he began renting Harley-Davidsons.

Nieman further diversified when he married Jodie, a sign maker, seven years ago and took an interest in metal art. This led to his acquisition of a half-dozen Stearman training aircraft engines, all built from 1929 to 1942.

If you ask him, he may fire up the mounted 1937 Stearman PT17 engine at his place.

Many Stearmans have been used as wind machines.

“There’s a lot of history in them,” Nieman said. “If we didn’t preserve them, they would be gone forever. Probably end up in a steel mill.”

Giugni Delicatessen. When W.J. Giugni — whose name is on the red brick building at 1227 Main St. — opened his store in 1911, it was an Italian grocery. When Giugni’s son and daughter-in-law, Bill and Kathy Giugni, became owners of the business in the ’70s, they began the conversion to a deli, said Cheryl Stanley, who bought the deli in 2002.

“I formerly worked here,” she said. “I’d been in the deli business for 30 years, then

John Lindblom photo

Giugni Delicatessen owner Cheryl Stanley recalls Bill and Kathy Giugni, from whom she purchased the business in 2002. The Giugnis took over the business from W.J. Giugni, who founded the business as an Italian grocery in 1911.

this opportunity came up.”

Anyone who misses the ambiance of a big city deli will not be homesick at Giugni. Most days there’s a big-city-long sandwich-order line, as well. Erica Tijerina, who’s worked the serving line at Giugni for a decade, said when the crowd comes in during the October Harvest Festival, things can get pretty crazy.

There is also not a space on the walls at Giugni to hang another poster, newspaper clipping, snapshot or business card, and as long as Stanley owns it, that will always be the decor.

“Why would you want to change it?” she said.

See Main Street on Page 10

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St. Helena’s RLS Museum seeks donations

By David Stoneberg EDITOR

account of his honeymoon spent on the slopes of Mt. St. Helena, is fitting.

t. Helena’s Robert Louis Stevenson Museum is the finest and largest collection of Stevenson memorabilia in the world. It includes books, art, manuscripts and memorabilia, most acquired directly from heirs and friends of the Stevenson family. That this collection is in St. Helena, near where the author penned “The Silverado Squatters,” an

Schleicher took over the museum on Oct. 1 from Dorothy Mackay-Collins, who had served as curator and director since June 2008.

In a news release, the museum’s directors said

S

For the first time, the staff and Board of Directors of the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum has sent out a plea for funds. Marissa Schleicher, the organization’s executive director, said the nonprofit’s goal is $15,000.

Mackay-Collins “played a key role in the museum’s transition from its early beginnings into the computer age. Under her direction, the museum undertook an extensive cataloging of the collection’s 11,000 items, reorganized the exhibits and Scholar’s Room, addressed the museum’s fading physical condition and opened its doors to a wider audience.”

The funds raised through this annual appeal will support seven programs:

See RLS on Page 11

Main Street

Continued from Page 9

Brown’s Auto Parts. The space at 1218 Main St. has been an auto parts store since the ’30s. In 1946, it became Brown’s Auto Parts. “We sell parts here and do machine work. The ag stuff is our bread and butter,” said Dan Beltrami, a third-generation Brown family member and the store’s president.

Which is pretty much what Browns did in his grandfather’s generation.

From Goodman’s, Nieman’s, Giugni and Brown’s, it’s clear that roots sure run deep on St. Helena’s Main Street. 3

John Lindblom photo

Dan Beltrami, president of Brown’s Auto Parts, and canine mascot Riley are about to embark for a trip in the store’s iconic 1930 Chevrolet sedan.

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RLS

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• Trunk Museum visits to schools and community centers; • Stevenson Lecture Series;

• Object Digitization Project; • Student internships;

• Collections preservation;

• The annual Community Treasure Hunt; • New acquisitions.

Schleicher said the Trunk Museum is an effort to bring a collection of “touchable� artifacts to schoolchildren and to teach them about the author. The lessons can be tailored to specific fields — whether it is history or geography, for example. Several hundred students have participated in the program and teachers can call the museum, 963-3767, to request a Trunk Museum visit.

A well-known expert on Stevenson, Roger Swearingen, was one of several speakers who participated in the lecture series. He spoke about the friendship between Mark Twain and Stevenson, both superstar 19th-century authors. They admired each other’s work, exchanged several letters and finally met up in New York City.

Another of the goals of the fundraising drive is to pay for the expensive and time-consuming task of taking digital photographs of the collection’s 11,000 items and putting them online for everyone to view.

This is a project that is ongoing, but Schleicher said the collection is expected to be online later this year.

visited the site of the bunkhouse and became an ardent Stevenson collector.�

The website states, “When Mr. Strouse retired as chairman of the board of J. Walter Thompson Company, he and his wife, Charlotte, retired to St. Helena, where they established a foundation to provide funds for a museum devoted Some of the funds raised to the life and works of Robwill be used to preserve the ert Louis Stevenson. Strouse collection, which includes, gifted his personal collection for example, Stevenson’s own Robert Louis Stevenson by of Stevensoniana, one of the manuscripts, letters, journals, Girolamo Pieri Nerli, 1892 finest in private hands, and this two pages from “Strange Case became the nucleus of an everof Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,� scrapbooks, and growing collection.� the last words he ever penned.

Stevenson, who suffered with chronic reThe Robert Louis Stevenson Silverado Museum opened its doors in December 1969, which was the 75th anniversary of the author’s death. After nine years in a beautiful old stone building, in May 1979 it moved to more spacious and permanent quarters in the new St. Helena Public Library Center.

According to the RLS website, the museum was the “realization of the dream of one of America’s foremost bibliophiles. As a young man, Norman H. Strouse came across John Henry Nash’s fine press first edition of ‘The Silverado Squatters,’ read it with enthusiasm,

spiratory illnesses and coughs throughout his life, died at age 44 on Dec. 3, 1894. He was the author of many classics, including “Treasure Island,� “Kidnapped,� “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,� and “A Child’s Garden of Verses.�

The museum at 1490 Library Lane is open to groups with advance reservation from 9:30 to 11:45 a.m. and is open to the public from noon to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.

To make a tax-deductible donation, send it to P.O. Box 23, St. Helena, CA 94574. 3

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11

Tractors of yesteryear unite two generations

F

By Sean Scully EDITOR

rom the time his “Papa Charlie” took him for a ride through the vineyards, young Andrew Chadsey was hooked.

Hooked, that is, on the belching, roaring, clattering power of old-time tractors, huge machines with vast engines, cylinders the size of large coffee cans, tracks like tanks or wheels taller than he.

Now four years later, at age 11, Andrew and his great-grandfather Charlie Wolleson are hooked on this together, finding, buying and restoring these glorious iron and steel machines from the past.

“There are no more” like these, Wolleson said, gesturing at his collection of tractors from the between the great wars, displayed at last summer’s Napa County Fair. “Oh, they make Caterpillars,

but not like these.”

Andrew, a slight but animated young man with a patch of bright yellow hair, even has his own tractor. (Well, really it’s “half his,” as his Papa Charlie explains. “When I’m gone, he can do whatever he wants with it.”)

Andrew’s machine is a huge orange Case Model S from 1943.

He picked it and helped restore it with his own hands, scraping rust and rebuilding the enormous engine. Andrew has begun competing in tractor pulls himself.

He even prepped his tractor and had it loaded on the trailer for transport to the fair before his great-grandfather could get home to help.

“It felt cool” to ride on the tractors, Andrew said slowly, his eyes excited but words eluding him slightly. “It’s … exciting.”

Wolleson has always had a lot of machines around him, running his 19-acre vineyard just south of Calistoga and working alongside

Sean Scully photo

Andrew Chadsey, 11, on his tractor, a 1943 Case Model S, on display at the Napa County Fair, with his great-grandfather, Charlie Wolleson. Andrew’s love of tractors has pushed Wolleson into serious collecting of the antique machines.

the legendary Louis Vermeil to race sprint cars and fix vehicles around town.

But now that his great-grandson has caught the tractor bug, Wolleson has moved over into serious collecting. He and Andrew scour the region looking for derelict machines. They restore them, research the serial numbers to find the history, and take them to antique vehicle shows and tractor pulls throughout the area.

Wolleson isn’t quite sure how many tractors he has at this point.

Seventeen, maybe 18.

Wolleson had an additional treasure at the fair this year, one

he will bring back for the Louis Vermeil Classic races over Labor Day: a 1930 Ford Model AA pickup truck, fitted with a big hook, that he and Vermeil used to tow disabled vehicles around town and off the dirt sprint track that is the centerpiece of the Fairgrounds.

Wolleson’s new tractor hobby has made him the subject of some gentle ribbing from his family.

“He runs his ranch on tractors as old as these,” said daughter Susan Freund, waving her hand dismissively at the line of vehicles and laughing. “He just won’t buy See TRACTORS on Page 13

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Inspiring wine & food pairings

Chef Machamer of Calistoga’s B Cellars kicks off new tasting program

By Catherine Seda FOR THE STAR

W

ould you pair a lemony citrus dish with cabernet sauvignon?

Not the first thing that comes to mind for many people. Juicy steaks? Sure. Smoky barbecue ribs? Absolutely. But lemons?

David Stoneberg photo

St. Helena Star’s Dave Stoneberg and I set out recently to visit B Cellars in Calistoga. We met with Chef Christina Machamer, who not only gave us a tour and tasting at the winery, but also opened our eyes to take-home principles on wine and food pairings.

That lemon dish with cabChef Christina Machamer is a In a continuing series of great host and developer of B ernet sauvignon? As Chef Mawinery visits to keep abreast Cellars’ new tasting program at chamer explains, a wine that of Napa Valley goings-on, the the Calistoga winery. might be drying (tannic) on its

Tractors

Continued from Page 12 a new one.”

His secret motive, she said, must be to have one tractor for every acre of grapes he works, “So he won’t have to move ’em.”

Wolleson may not be sure exactly how many tractors he has back home, but he knows the history of all of the nine or so he brought with him to the fair. One in particular — a

big red 1940 International Harvester TD6 that bears a comical resemblance to a great iron frog because of the two huge headlights perched over the grill — he seems particularly proud of. The company produced lots of these machines, he said, tens of thousands of them, so there are still plenty of them around. But this one is special — the serial number shows that it was only number 26 off the production line, making it the tractor equivalent of a first-edition book.

Down the row is a squat, gray 1929 Caterpillar Model 15 that, he proudly points out,

own can taste smoother after a bite of food with citrus as an ingredient. The citrus lowers our perception of the drying sensation. Even chicken can pair well with cabernet sauvignon (or any tannic wine), Machamer stated, depending on how you prepare it. Lemonpeppered chicken is a good example — the lemon smoothes out tannins while the pepper is a nice bridge (link) to the spices often found in cabernet sauvignon wine.

If you are still hanging on to the old noSee B CELLARS on Page 14

still has the old-fashioned company logo, stamped over the grill in a cheerful squiggle, painted red, that suggests a real caterpillar.

But make no mistake about it — there was nothing gentle about these powerful machines, Wolleson makes clear as he pats the thick steel tracks that made them almost invulnerable to mud, rocks and harsh terrain.

Unlike the polite modern tractors, he said with a grin, “These guys, when they turn around [in the fields], they tear up the ground.” 3

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B Cellars

Continued from Page 13

tion that fish pairs best with white wine, we also found that you can easily replace that white with a red wine. If you choose a heartier fish, as Chef Machamer does with sturgeon, you can grill it with lemon to create a cabernet sauvignon-friendly meal.

It is inspiring wine pairings like these which roll off Chef Machamer’s tongue at her Sensory Wine Tasting. Before coming to B Cellars and helping to establish the winery’s new tasting program, Chef Machamer opened several famous restaurants, including Gordon Ramsay’s London West Hollywood and Thomas Keller’s Beverly Hills Bouchon.

More notoriously, she won the fourth season of Fox Television’s “Hell’s Kitchen.” Pitted against 15 other chefs, Christina Machamer surpassed the current record for Challenge Wins to take home the grand prize.

For our wine tasting with Chef Machamer, Dave and I were first introduced to the primary aromas and flavors that can appear in a glass of wine. A dozen small bowls were each filled with a different item: blackberries, raspberries, coffee, vanilla, and more obscure items like Lucky Charms cereal marshmallows (explanation in a minute).

A set of four wines were presented, and

David Stoneberg photo

One of the Napa Valley’s beautiful oaks shows off to great advantage in a winter landscape at Calistoga’s B Cellars, which is located on the Silverado Trail.

we tasted each to choose our favorite. For that favorite, we were to write down notes on the aromas and flavors we were experiencing.

Chef Machamer explained that while you could be including those bowled raspberries or vanilla aromas, our tasting notes could also include items which we personally associate with the smells coming from the wine.

This is where the Lucky Charms marsh-

mallows come in. When Christina smells a wine that has a toasty aroma — whether it is from French oak, or the toasty-ness of a rich chardonnay that has gone through malolactic fermentation, it brings forth a memory of eating Lucky Charms cereal. We all personally develop our own references for smells, starting when we are very young. Chef Machamer See B CELLARS on Page 15

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B Cellars

a selection of artisan cheese and charcuterie. ($65 per person)

Continued from Page 14

encourages this exploration of our memories and smells.

One other thing Chef Machamer encourages is fun. While everyone says that learning about wine should be fun, B Cellars makes it happen. It was then that Chef Machamer pulled out a B Cellars version of the Madlib.

Our wine descriptors were added into the Madlib to create some pretty fun entries. But watch what you write! The best will be posted on B Cellars’ Facebook page.

This Sensory Tasting is just one of the choices in B Cellars’ new lineup of private tastings for 2012.

Guests can also choose:

• The Special Celebration Tasting, for groups of between 9 and 25 participants.

Group guests will be greeted at the wine bar for a glass of the winery’s white blend, followed by a private tour, tasting and small BBites. ($25 per person) • Exclusive Single-Vineyard Private Tastings, where guests will take a behindthe-scenes look at the winemaking process, followed by a tasting in the intimate barrel room. Cabernet sauvignon and syrah wines from single vineyard estates are tasted with

• Library and Future Release Tastings explore age-worthy wines ($65 per person); and Signature Private Tastings ($35 per person) take a look at B Cellars’ 90-plus point rated flagship wines. Each of these tastings is paired with artisan cheeses and charcuterie.

• Perfect for two is the Romantic Picnic, which is offered from June through October, weather permitting. You will enjoy a glass of wine in the tasting salon followed by a cellar and barrel room tour before being whisked away to a private spot in the vineyard for a gourmet lunch. A bottle of B Cellars wine will be packed into your take-away picnic basket along with your gourmet goodies. ($150 for two) In February, there are two opportunities to visit B Cellars, a wine tasting 101 (11 a.m.

Sunday, Feb. 19) and a wine blending boot camp (11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24.) For a full listing of wine and food experiences at B Cellars, visit bcellars.com.

The B Cellars winery was founded in 2003. Initially, owners Jim Borsack and Duffy Keys had a difficult time choosing a winery name. It seemed as though every good idea they had was taken already. As Chef Machamer explains “They did what anyone in their See B CELLARS on Page 18

David Stoneberg photo

During a private tasting of B Cellars’ red wines, including a barrel sample, Chef Christina Machamer, center, and writer Catherine Seda discuss the way a lemon smoothes out tannins in cabernet sauvignon.

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Ultimate ‘ghost winery’?

Reports of ghost sightings haunt Charles Krug Winery

A

By John Lindblom STAFF WRITER

chance of ghosts at St. Helena’s Charles Krug/Peter Mondavi Family Winery?

Not a ghost of a chance, skeptics say. But others have insisted that spirits are alive and well at Krug, most especially in the historic Redwood Cellars, which was built in 1872.

Reportedly Charles Krug, founder of the first winery in Napa Valley, saw ghosts there himself.

Claims of paranormal sightings over the years have been enough to give the St. Helena winery a status as the ultimate “ghost winery” — and enough to convince Paul EnSee GHOST on Page 19

B Cellars

Continued from Page 15

situation in the Valley would do — they brainstormed on the porch with a bottle of wine.” It was then that a Mercedes car drove by. And a new idea formed — the owners would name the wines after numbers as Mercedes names its cars after engine-related numbers.

And so the signature wines from B Cellars are named af-

John Lindblom photo

A view of the Redwood Cellars winery at Charles Krug, which has been alleged to be haunted by several visitors and some former employees. Note the cupola at the rear right of the building, which can only be reached by climbing five sets of stairs.

ter the sugar levels, or degrees Brix, that the wines’ grapes were picked at, leading to names such as Blend 23 and Blend 24. The winery itself gets its name from the word Brix.

The wines we tasted during our visit were beautifully crafted — full of flavor and very balanced. These are wines you just have to try:

sangiovese, syrah and petite sirah ($47); the Mt. Veeder Syrah 2007 ($35); and Syn3rgy, 2008, a blend of premium cabernet sauvignon vineyards ($55).

(Catherine Seda is the St. Hel-

Blend 23 2010 — a blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and viognier ($35); Blend 24 2008 — a blend of cabernet sauvignon,

ena Star’s tasting panel writer and works for Balzac Communications & Marketing in Napa. She holds a diploma in wine and spirits from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust, and enjoys all things wine. Contact her at catseda@gmail.com.) 3

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Ghost

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glert, barely six months into his position as vice president of marketing at Krug, that this called for an investigation.

“Whether you believe in ghosts or don’t believe in ghosts, I think it’s an interesting story,” Englert said. “I’ve never seen one, but I’m open to the possibility that they exist.”

He said he knows of two present-day Krug employees who have reported ghost sightings.

Englert brought a new approach to the issue by inviting two ghost-hunting entities to Krug. One was the San Francisco Ghost Society, a volunteer paranormal-investigating organization; the other was psychic medium Leanne Thomas, who operates her Angelic Hope company out of Santa Clara. So far the two investigating parties are stalemated on the subject.

Thomas gives a detailed description of a slender woman with light brown hair in a floor-length, 1800s-era blue party dress with a satin bow in the back in the winery’s Carriage House. She claims she has also seen an age “9ish” girl and age “5ish” boy, and a padre inside the Carriage House.

After a five-hour investigation that lasted until 2:30 a.m., and employed an assortment

John Lindblom photo

As members of the San Francisco Ghost Society, sisters Sharon, left, and Ann Leong test an infrared ghost-detecting device they used in December during an investigation of buildings at Charles Krug Winery.

of detection devices, Tommy Netzband, who presides over the SF Ghost Society, told Englert his team of nine investigators found no evidence of paranormal activity in any Krug building.

But Netzband wants to reserve judgment

until he revisits following a major construction at Redwood Cellars. Thomas said she would come back if invited. Englert indicated that she will be. He has tentative plans for

See GHOST on Page 20

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Gratitude Trees give visitors a chance to speak their hearts

By Sean Scully EDITOR

F

rom a distance they look like simple slips of paper cluttering the small potted olive trees along the sidewalk next to Lincoln Avenue.

Step closer and they turn out to be slivers of people’s hearts.

“For Cheryl, gone two years but still in my heart.”

“Dear Shawn, thanks for my first kiss.”

“Jackie, I am so sorry I never told you the truth. Michael.”

These are Calistoga’s “Gratitude Trees,” the brainchild of John Merchant, owner of Indian Springs resort and the old Gliderport, where the trees are on display.

See TREES on Page 21

Ghost

Continued from Page 19

a “Wine and Spirits” netherworld dinner in which guests involved in a seance in the Carriage House will address questions to Thomas, who in turn will relay them to Krug — assuming his spirit can be induced to show up at his old haunt.

Thomas, Englert said, told him that would be “very possible.”

“She’d like to do it. She’s done things like that before,” he added.

Englert decided to launch the investigation at Krug after a conversation with Marc Mondavi about the pending Redwood Cellars reconstruction.

“It came up unexpectedly when I mentioned having a haunted house in there,” En-

Sean Scully photo

Charity Okerson of Placerville hangs a mutual love note she and her boyfriend wrote on one of the Gratitude Trees at the Calistoga Gliderport.

glert recalled. “I felt we needed to do something quickly.”

While Netzband and his society have yet to find evidence of ghosts at Krug, the organization has identified several Bay Area landmarks that it has determined to be haunted.

The list includes Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge, the Sutro Baths and Presidio Hospital. But, he added, “We go out with a skeptical attitude because if you go out thinking something’s a ghost, everything becomes a ghost. If we hear that businesses are haunted, we go out with a lot of high-tech equipment (a DVR system, cameras, infrared thermometers, etc.) and a lot of know-how in the paranormal field.”

Regarding Krug, which he said was the first winery his group has investigated, Netzband said, “There are several people who have seen activity and things here. We’ll try to corroborate those stories.”

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20

At some point in the process, Netzband’s group will coordinate findings with Thomas.

“We haven’t spoken with her, because I don’t like to speak about history too much,” Netzband said. “We consider what we find here and then make a comparison.”

Englert hasn’t seen any ghosts at Krug, but he has found evidence of Krug’s considerable history everywhere during his six months at the winery.

“I’ll look in a drawer or a file cabinet and I’ll find some archives dating back to the 1800s,” he said. “It’s really interesting. You kind of don’t know what you’re going to find when you open a closet.”

And then there’s those five flights of stairs, growing ever narrower and leading upward to the cupola atop the winery. It would be a great place for ghosts. If they exist. 3

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Trees

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Continued from Page 20

Merchant gives each tree a theme — Lost Loves, Wishes, Wisdom, Parent’s Advice I Didn’t Take — and invites passersby to write something related on a small luggage tag and tie it to the trees.

The results range from the comical to the heartbreaking.

From the Parent’s Advice I Didn’t Take tree: “Pot = Bad. Sorry Moms” or “Don’t get your boyfriend’s name tattooed on your boob. Not a good idea.”

From the Wishes tree: “I wish for a healthy baby.”

From the Lost Loves tree: “Danielle, you said you loved me but you couldn’t rise to the challenge. I loved you with all my heart.

Bob.” Merchant said he got the idea after seeing a similar exhibit in New York City. It derives from the Buddhist tradition of writing wishes on colorful prayer flags and hanging them to flutter in the wind.

“It was a really cool idea,” said Merchant, who installed his own trees earlier this year.

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Visitor Shirley Thomas of Hayward said the trees remind her of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the foundation of the destroyed Second Temple where Jews gather to pray, often sticking written copies of their prayers and wishes into the crevices between stones.

“I’m just thankful to God,” Thomas explained as she prepared her card to hang on the Gratitude tree.

Guy Pederson, the artist at the Indian Springs Art Gallery where most of the trees are located, said people who stop to examine the trees are mostly tourists like Shirley Thomas; locals have yet to discover them.

Patty Servin, in town visiting from Salida, said the trees are a natural attraction for a visitor to a beautiful area like Napa Valley.

“Sometimes you go to a place and see something and think I wish that person could see this,” she said. “You can bring that person here.”

She hung a tag on the Lost Loves tree to remember “Miss Mary,” who died two years ago. “I am just telling her I am enjoying the day with her son out here,” she said.

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Likewise, Maia Andrade, visiting from Argentina, wrote a tag to remember her parents.

To tell them “that I love them,” she said.

“I am bringing a little part of them here, to travel with me.”

The messages tend to fall into two categories — deeply heartfelt or irreverent, often to the point of unprintably racy.

Sometimes, however, it’s hard to tell which category applies.

“I wish to fulfill my highest dreams, fall in love,” wrote one person in a youthful, feminine hand, “and meet Justin Bieber.”

Charity Okerson and her boyfriend Brandon Michael Case, visiting from Placerville, paused on their bike ride to commemorate their current love on the Lost Loves tree.

“I think it’s neat,” she said after hanging their love notes to one another. “It’s something we can come back in a year and see if it’s still there … it’s something we can look back on.” 3

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21

A man for all senses

Jean Charles Boisset transforms Raymond Vineyards

T

By Cary Shott STAFF WRITER

he delight that radiates from Jean Charles Boisset face is positively contagious.

It can be seen in the broad smile of the Raymond Vineyards tasting room host, the laughter of the cellar workers, the flair with which Chef Michel Cornu presents his platter of delicate morsels and even in the spritely trot of Frenchie, the pet bulldog.

“We’re very excited to be around people who love wine, who love history, who love emotion,” Boisset said. “We’re just passionate about all of it.”

As Boisset described the recent transformation of Raymond Vineyards, his excitement and enthusiasm were palpable.

“What is exciting with Raymond, beyond the playfulness and whimsicality we brought here, and the surrealistic approach of how we did things, is that it’s genuinely a thorough education program,” Boisset said.

“Ultimately, what we want is for people to

feel welcome. We want people to have an unbelievable experience and enjoy and stay. We want them to spend the whole day.”

He envisions guests attending an educational session; touring the Theater of Nature, a two-acre classroom of sustainable, organic and biodynamic farming; having a picnic in the grove or relaxing in the outdoor living room; blending a custom wine; sampling new vintages straight from the barrels; or simply enjoying the Red Room with its many games, books and music.

“They are our guests, this is their experience,” Boisset said. He wants his guests to “be part of what we do — be part of our life.

You feel welcome any time you come, whatever you want to do and hopefully, you learn something along the way,” he said.

Boisset, who was born and raised in the heart of Burgundy, France, has always been fascinated by America.

“I was very, very fortunate to be raised in a family who has always been very pro-American,” Boisset said.

See BOISSET on Page 23

Cary Shott photos

In 2009, Raymond Vineyards became a part of the Boisset Family Estates collection of wineries and Jean Charles Boisset began the process of transforming the estate into a destination, “where our guests discover our commitment to fine wines while enjoying a succession of transformative experiences.”

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Boisset

Continued from Page 22

Both sets of his grandparents told stories of American heroism and generosity in World War II that impressed the young Boisset.

“I was very privileged, early on, to be raised around a very strong value of history and thankfulness to the U.S. and admiration to the U.S. with a very strong aspiration to the American lifestyle,” he said.

“I was born in ‘69 and in the ‘70s the American way of life was very trendy in Europe,” Boisset said. “It’s still very trendy today but the concepts of the ‘60s and the ‘70s — America was so hot as a country.”

The Guest House The Barrel Room

orabilia (including a bound set of Playboys), embellish the main room — a room that belongs in Graceland.

Visitors can see the influences of the ‘60s and ‘70s in the estate’s guest house, in which one could easily imagine James Bond sipping a martini at the mirrored bar or Austin Powers lounging on the white leather sofa.

“It’s a love story with the U.S. lifestyle, with the people, with their energy,” Boisset said.

Attention to sensory detail Perhaps the most compelling thing about Boisset is his innate sensuality — his pervasive attention to the tiniest sensory detail

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of each experience.

The Red Room is an excellent example. “The goal of this room was for you, as a guest, to feel very comfortable in the world of velvet and red wine,” Boisset said.

He points out the six different shades of red in the room, chosen to reflect the various tones of red in the Raymond Vineyard wines.

Boisset chose a specific rose, the Ingrid Bergman, to adorn the Red Room because of its velvety touch, its distinct aroma and its precise shade of red. No sensory detail — that of sight, sound, touch, smell or taste — escapes his notice.

He designed two hallways to appeal to the senses: the Corridor of Red Wine, where 16 different colors of red wine are displayed and explained; and the Corridor of Scents, which allows visitors to sample a large selection of aromas that are often found in wine.

The Crystal Cellar is another room inspired by Boisset’s imagination and his philosophy of wine.

“Crystal is a product of the earth. Crystal you see through, but you also see yourself. It’s one of the purest things,” he said. “It’s all about illumination and reflection.”

That’s why all the mirrors are in the Crystal Room. Boisset said, “Wine is a reflection of you ... Wine helps you to get to know yourself better.”

Boisset wishes to teach people how to reflect on wine. “I love the idea of tasting wine and reflecting on you, on what you drink, on what you are and how you evolve as an individual,” he said.

Lifting his glass of wine, he said, “Having this as a sociological and introspective tool to make you think about yourself and get to know yourself better.”

“I believe in this 21st century ... we will have an awakening, an enlightenment on wine and on our own selves.” 3

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The rich history of hotels in the Napa Valley Donald Winter writing the book on valley lodging

A

By John Lindblom STAFF WRITER

lthough buried beneath all the plowed earth of the contemporary vineyard rush, the Upvalley has a prior claim to fame. A book to be published within the next two years by Donald James Winter, a nationally recognized hotel and restaurant industry consultant, will more than affirm that the region was a significant player in a major post–Gold Rush buildup in the lodging industry over the past century and a half.

“Most locals believe our vibrant hotel business was largely launched in the 1980s and 1990s. The facts prove otherwise. The Napa Valley has always been a major resort area and has always offered center city hotels,” Winter informed a full house at the Harvest Inn that came to hear him unveil his daunting research project tracing Napa County lodging history. The presentation was sponsored by the St. Helena Historical Society.

“Napa has always been a major resort and hotel destination area. Always,” said Winter.

“And the St. Helena region has played an instrumental role since the very beginning.

In fact, St. Helena lays claim to the first resort hotel in the entire state of California — the historic White Sulphur Springs Resort, founded in 1852.”

Witness also the Hotel St. Helena, formerly the Windsor Hotel on Main Street, which has been in continuous operation for 131 years. The St. Helena is one of 33 hotels still operating of a total of 99 that once functioned from downtown St. Helena to Silverado Trail. Sixty-five of the overall 195 hotels, inns and spas are still operating in Calistoga, including the historic Mount View Hotel.

“Right up to the start of the Depression, Napa County was a huge destination. There were resorts and hotels everywhere,” Winter said.

Napa’s rich and vibrant lodging history can be categorized into three eras: • 1849 to 1929 (80 years): Rapid growth.

• 1930 to 1979 (50 years): Languishment.

• 1980 to present (32 years): Renaissance.

610 hotels documented In three years of exhaustive research, Winter has documented the existence of 610 hotels in the 788 square miles comprising Napa County. A ledger containing his research has more than 650 pages of notes, charts, tables

24

Sean Scully photo

The Mount View Hotel is one of hundreds of lodging establishments documented by hotel historian Donald Winter for a forthcoming book. The Mount View Hotel is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Most of the other hotels that Winter studied have long since vanished.

and graphs. His narrative, he said, is more expansive than the notes.

“The way I look at it, the hotel industry is the second most vital industry in the entire history of the county,” Winter explained when asked why he has taken on this project.

“For the prosperity, the well-being, the quality of life, the fact that hotel owners would provide leadership, help out the local community organizations and charities, provide employment for many people, markets for the farmers, gas stations and car rentals. Back then it was blacksmiths, livery stables and drayage companies. Their livelihood was enhanced by the hotels.

“From 1849 through the present, the hotel guests have always supported local restaurants, retailers and wineries, as well as related services industries.”

Winter’s research has been undertaken through a variety of resources — miles of microfilm reviewed, 50-plus history books studied, exhaustive Internet archival searches, interviews of old-timers, line-by-line scanning of hundreds of directories, and of course the support of the St. Helena Historical Society and the Napa County Historical Society.

At present, 177 hotels of the 610 discovered by Winter are still operating and 433 no longer exist, for a wide array of reasons.

Some were renovated or rebuilt and assumed new names, some changed ownership and

management and marketing styles, some were converted to other uses, and many more burned down, fell down, or were simply abandoned during the Depression. Several of the county’s ancestral hotels now lie buried beneath the waters of Lake Berryessa.

Examples: Woodworth’s Resort on Howell Mountain, in operation for 45 years, was ultimately done in by the Depression and changing vacation patterns. Bothe’s Paradise Park and Mountain Mill House were sold to the state. In St. Helena proper, the U.S. Saloon, Depot Hotel, Roma Hotel and Miramonte all occupied the site of what St. Helenans now enjoy as Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen.

A boom in the 1870s The most rapid growth in hotels occurred during the 80 years between the 1849 Gold Rush and the Great Depression. “I discovered 243 resorts and hotels during that period, but (St. Helena historian Mariam Hansen) disallowed two of them. She said they were brothels,” Winter quipped, eliciting guffaws from his listeners at the Harvest Inn.

The most impressive decade of hotel economic growth and the third busiest decade in the 17 encompassed by county history, Winter said, was from 1870 to ’79.

“In the 1870s there were more hotel rooms See HOTELS on Page 25

Hotels

Continued from Page 24

(per capita) than there are today. ... In fact, there were twice as many hotel rooms in the 1870s in Napa County than there are today,” he asserted, putting the present number of operational lodging enterprises in the county at 177, offering 5,036 hotel rooms.

Ninety-nine of the hotels Winter documented were in St. Helena, and the overall St. Helena region had 147, a full 25 percent of the county total, he said.

Winter praised the city of St. Helena of the earlier era for its national marketing acumen.

“Because having hotels is vital to the prosperity of any city, St. Helena had the prescience and forethought back in 1902 to engage in destination marketing,” he said. “That’s a big deal. St. Helena placed ads in major newspapers as the most charming spot in California with good hotels, summer weather, sprinkled roads and how tourists could buy a trip ticket at the foot of (San Francisco’s) Market Street.

“The tourists were driving the economy, even back then. Nevertheless, I found letters to the editor of the St. Helena Star complaining about all the carriages on the road from those darn tourists. Some things never change,” Winter said with a grin.

Submitted photo

The original St. Gothard’s Inn, now known as the Grandview, was built in 1907. Recently, investors have acquired the stately mansion with the intent of preserving and restoring it and making it a highquality small hotel.

Forerunner in wellness Nationwide, the Napa Valley region was a forerunner in the health and wellness movement with its sophisticated promotion of fitness, climate, and waters and mud, Winter said.

“One of the health and wellness granddaddies was the Rural Health Retreat built

in 1878, which was a five-story health resort on Howell Mountain,” he said. “These people spent a lot of time and money putting the health and wellness industry on the front burner and spawned recognition for other resorts.”

See HOTELS on Page 26

1332 Main Street, Saint Helena 707-963-2154 daisysthelena.com

25

Hotels

Continued from Page 25

In 1898 the facility was renamed the St. Helena Sanitarium, which during its years of operation attracted people worldwide. In 1969 it was renamed St. Helena Hospital and Health Center.

Of the countless historic hotels the county boasted during the first century of its existence, only a handful remain. “The others have fallen down, burned down and a few are under the waters of Lake Berryessa,” said Winter. “Rutherford had a great hotel, the Villa, that went on for decades and decades, but the locals burned it down during an Armistice Day celebration in 1918. The hotel structures that have entirely disappeared can never be resurrected.”

Winter laments that the few surviving hotel landmark structures are in grave danger of being erased forever. Due to political bicker-

ing, the half-dozen or so remaining heritage hotels are inexorably undergoing demolition through neglect. The surviving heritage hotel structures include the Napa Springs, Aetna Springs, Walters Springs, and the Pope Valley Store, which included a hotel. The citizens of St. Helena have supported the preservation of the historic St. Gothard’s Hotel, now known as the Grandview.

“Napa’s Soda Springs was one of the finest resorts in the western United States and was the concept of Col. John Putnam Jackson.

The resort epitomized the fine life, California-style. Its architecture was exquisite. Everything about it was breathtaking. President Benjamin Harrison actually stayed there, as well as other dignitaries,” said Winter. “Soda Springs was a principal exporter of Napa water, which was shipped all over the world. The finest restaurants in the world had Napa Soda Springs water.

“Soda Springs had a massive rotunda, Jeffersonian marble columns and copper roofs

because of fire danger. When the rotunda, originally intended to become the finest stables in the U.S., became known as ‘Jackson’s folly,’ Col. Jackson quickly pivoted and redesigned the structure with guest rooms and an opulent lobby.

“It’s hard to believe, but there were actually four resorts on Atlas Peak — Napa Soda Springs, Evans Atlas Peak Resort, Wilson’s Resort and my favorite, the Hulham House — a home for spiritualism and massage,” Winter said.

Don Winter has spent 12 years in the Napa Valley. Last year he sold his home in San Francisco to spend more time at his Silverado Trail residence. Discover Napa Valley appreciates his assistance with the foregoing article, as well as that of Mariam Hansen of the St. Helena Historical Society. 3

Calistoga hotels figure in valley history

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By John Lindblom Staff Writer

he following is a list of some of the most notable Napa County lodgings that Don Winter identified in his three-year research project. The historic hotels will be featured in his forthcoming book.

Magnolia/Calistoga Hotel The Magnolia was built by Jack Chesebro and was Calistoga’s finest hotel until fire destroyed it in 1901. It was quickly replaced by the legendary Calistoga Hotel, a major hotel in downtown Calistoga that had a long and successful run, ending in 1959.

Mount View Hotel Louis Banchero built the Europa Hotel in the early 1900s and in 1912, Johnny Ghisolfo, who would eventually become known as “Mr. Calistoga,” leased and then bought it. From 1917 to 1919, Ghisolfo reconfigured the hotel and built the Mount View Hotel, an iconic lodging facility that thrives to this day.

Windsor Hotel This hotel was opened by Sven Alstrom on June 11, 1881. It contained three storefronts, a saloon, a dining room, and 28 rooms above.

Alstrom had previously operated the fabled White Sulphur Springs Resort for almost 20 years. The Windsor quickly became a centerpiece for St. Helena. Following the demise of another hotel named the “St. Helena,” the Windsor was renamed the St. Helena Hotel

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and continues in operation to this day.

White Sulphur Springs Hotel The first resort in California, Sulphur Springs began operations in 1852. More than 30 different entities have tried to tame or at least survive in this spectacularly beautiful setting. Few have succeeded. An entire book can be written about the 160-year history of just this one fascinating and beautiful St. Helena resort setting.

Empire Saloon The saloon, partially erected in 1848, was the first commercial building in Napa County. It was built in the middle of hay and bean fields, but the Gold Rush started and it ended up as an unfinished building, improperly situated in the middle of a street plot. When the miners returned to Napa, the building was picked up and moved to a proper lot, and a hotel was added. (Incidentally, the Empire Saloon was the polling station for the referendum for the California constitution.)

Rural Health Retreat Built in 1878, it became a five-story health resort. In 1896 it was renamed the St. Helena Sanitarium and successfully served people from all over the world. In 1969 it was renamed the St. Helena Hospital and Health Center. Proponents and financiers of this lodging enterprise spent a lot of time and money to put the health and wellness industry on the front burner and spawned recognition for other resorts that catered to health and wellness.

Stag’s Leap Manor Resort One of the hottest spots in the north valley, it operated from 1917 to 1951. For a long time it was a mecca for high society, and during Prohibition, one of its clandestine features was a speakeasy hidden next to the U.S. Post Office occupying the ground floor. (Scenes from the 1959 Disney movie “Pollyanna” were filmed at Stag’s Leap Resort.)

Gray Gables Hotel A classic beauty of a hotel at the corner of Adams and Kearney streets in St. Helena, it was built in 1890. The building was a former school that was converted to the hotel in 1898

by Nelson and Maggie Outwaters. Operating for more than 60 years, it was a great loss to the cultural heritage of St. Helena when it was sold and demolished in 1959 for $1 in salvage rights.

St. Gothard’s Inn Now known as the Grandview, it was built in 1907 as a private home on the site of the first schoolhouse in St. Helena. In 1911 it was converted to the St. Gothard’s Inn by Herman Schultz. It was a well-known high-class hotel with 23 rooms and a restaurant. For a while it became a hospital and then returned as St. Gothard’s Hotel. Then, in the 1950s, it became a hotel and “rest home” and when sold in 1956, it was converted to a retirement home. Recently, investors have acquired the stately mansion and grounds with the intent of preserving, restoring and returning it to its historical use — a high-quality small hotel. 3

Chamber hopes to spur tourism with TripAdvisor campaign

By Sean Scully EDITOR

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ravel website powerhouse TripAdvisor is now featuring Calistoga businesses and events thanks to a $16,000 marketing campaign by the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

The year-long marketing campaign allows the chamber to partially control the content of the website’s search page when people look for Calistoga-related lodging or restaurants.

That means it can advertise events and special promotional packages and drive traffic directly to the local website, calistogavisitors.com.

Without the marketing campaign, TripAdvisor users could still find local hotels and restaurants, but they would not see any of the chamber’s additional marketing material, and the results would not be as neatly organized.

The deal also gives Calistoga banner ads that pop up when a would-be visitor looks for information on Napa Valley in general.

The site saw an 8 percent jump in traffic in just the first two weeks after the marketing program went online last summer.

The money for the campaign comes out of funds collected from city hotels and other lodging operations under the “tourism business improvement district” (TBID), approved in 2010. Lodging operators add an extra 2 percent to each visitor’s hotel bill; three-quarters of that goes to fund countywide marketing efforts and the rest is given to local TBID committees to fund individual efforts.

When it was established, the county hoped to raise about $4 million annually, with about $125,000 going to Calistoga alone.

The TripAdvisor campaign “is not something I would be able to afford through the Visitor Center or destination marketing budget, so it seems perfect for the TBID money,” said former Chamber Marketing Director Eden Umble, who created the program before leaving to take a job with the Napa Valley Film Festival.

Michael Quast, chairman of the Calistoga TBID committee, which is independent of the chamber, said the project seemed like an ideal way to direct visitor traffic to the upper end of the Valley.

“This gets the information out to people in

a place they basically trust,” said Quast, who

also owns the Roman Spa Hot Springs hotel.

Too often, he said, tourists never get far-

ther north than Yountville or St. Helena, missing out on Calistoga’s quieter charm.

“We’re basically an island in the vine-

yards,” he said. “People have some of their most relaxing times in Napa here.”

The Internet, particularly a major player

like TripAdvisor, is a good away to attract people farther up the valley, he said.

TripAdvisor claims to be the largest trav-

el-related site on the Web, with 50 million

visitors per month on a cloud of related sites operating in 30 countries.

The year-long commitment gives the

chamber several ways to measure the success

of the campaign, Umble said, including traffic

to its website, customer participation in special deals, and occupancy rates during special events and promotions. 3

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CIA hosts the world

‘World casual’ foods highlighted at international conference

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By David Stoneberg EDITOR

undreds of people, chefs, food service professionals and media from all over the world attended the 14th annual Worlds of Flavor International Conference and Festival held at the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone.

The theme of the conference was “World Casual: The Future of American Menus,” and it began Thursday, Nov. 3 and ended two days later. The event included 16 general sessions, 24 seminars, workshops and numerous cooking demonstrations. One of the highlights was the World Marketplace, for which the CIA’s Barrel Room was transformed into a street fair with 50 or more chefs cooking their specialties. It was staged Thursday and Friday nights and again on Saturday at noon.

Adam Moore, a corporate chef for Bunge Food Service Oils, said, “It’s been great to be in front of this group and this type of audience.”

The Chicago-based chef added, “We’ve definitely seen a lot of good exposure with chefs in the industry as well as those attending in terms of trying some things. We’re here to talk about a lot of health benefits of our frying oils and their fry capabilities.”

Another corporate sponsor was the Singapore Tourism Board, which sent five chefs — Malcolm Lee, Samson Chan, K.F. Seetoh, Wee Liang Lian and Willin Tow — to the event to cook foods from their homeland.

Lee, for example, presented a Peranakan noodle dish. Peranaka, which is a marriage between China and Malaysia, is a culture in-

David Stoneberg photo

David Stoneberg photo

Chef Charles Phan and Christina Betondo prepared Hue dumplings with mung beans, a dish from Vietnam, at the World Marketplace.

Chef Jorge Ossio prepared a skewered meat dish at the World Marketplace at the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone, which was held Nov. 5.

digenous to the Singapore region. Their chefs also prepared white pepper crabs and Singapore Rojak, a salad that includes fried dough, vegetables, prawns and spices. It also has a kick to it.

who owns three restaurants in Chicago, said attending the conference exposed him to all kinds of ideas, all kinds of techniques and all kinds of ingredients.

Some of the countries represented included Australia, Mexico, Spain and the Basque country, China, Ecuador, the region of Crete, Japan, Italy, India, Korea, Latin America, Senegal, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

One of the presenters, chef Rick Bayless,

“I think if you’re a good cook, you’re always absorbing ideas and learning about new things and learning how to think about food because you talk to other people,” Bayless said. “If you think you know it all, then you’re certainly going to be one of the worst chefs out there.” 3

White Barn’s season opener a success

FOR DISCOVER NAPA VALLEY

T

he February season opener of “Le Jazz Hot” quartet at St. Helena’s White Barn was a success with 75 people in attendance. The White Barn, at 2727 Sulphur Springs Ave., is an intimate 75-person theater set in an 1872 Carriage House that was once part of U.S. Civil War General Erasmus Keyes’ home and winery estate.

The remaining 2012 schedule is as follows: • 4 p.m., Sunday, May 13, Taylor Brown • 4 p.m., Saturday, July 7, picnic and rock

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concert with Doug Streblow

• Sept. 7-9, Broadway Tonight, featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim • 4 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 14, Music from the Great American Songbook • Nov. 10-11, “The Region of Bliss,” Charlotte Bronte and Emily Dickinson in conversation.

For reservations, call 251-8715, for more information, call 963-3408 or visit thewhitebarn.org 3

Cary Shott photo Lead guitarist Paul Mehling selling CDs and signing autographs during an intermission at the season opener in February.

Roots run deep in Calistoga

Alex and Gayle Dierkhising began running restaurants in town in 1976

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By John Lindblom STAFF WRITER

he food and wine business in Alex Dierkhising’s family runs deep and wide.

How deep? Alex can show you a framed photograph of his great-great-grandfather standing out front of his Albany, Minn., establishment with the “choice wines, liquors and cigars” and “California Wine House” signs on the window, circa 1908.

How wide? Alex is one of eight siblings who all have been — or still are — in food and wine. You can’t get much more proliferate than that.

“I think the family has tomato sauce in their veins instead of blood,” Gayle KellerDierkhising, Alex’s wife, said with a laugh.

As owners of the All Seasons Bistro at 1400 Lincoln Ave. in Calistoga and the Hydro Bar and Grill across the street, Alex and Gayle are inextricably tied to the culinary culture of the Upvalley. They opened All Seasons in 1983; Hydro in ‘96. Before that, they owned and operated the third restaurant, now Brannan’s Grill, on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Washington Street. When the Dierkhisings ran it, the restaurant was called the Silverado Tavern, and they operated it for 20 years — 1976 to ‘96 — during which they won Wine Spectator’s prestigious Grand award.

John Lindblom photo

Inextricably linked with the Calistoga restaurant scene, Alex and Gayle Dierkhising have seen much of the world go by from the vantage point of the three restaurants they have owned since 1976 on Lincoln Avenue, the town’s main north-south thoroughfare.

“We left (Silverado) when the rent went up and up and up, until it finally became too hard to make it,” said Alex.

Before coming to California, Alex worked in his family-owned, gourmet eatery in St. Joseph, Minn., which for a while also employed Gayle, who now manages All Seasons.

“We met when I came home from Vietnam and when we were both in college in St. Joseph,” said Alex. “I was at St. John and she went to St. Benedict. Our family’s restaurant was too far out in the boonies to do any real business, but it had a college bar — our alterego was the restaurant, but the bar was crazy.”

Reportedly, the Dierkhisings have one of the finest wine collections in America. “Both wines that won in the Judgment in Paris — the (Stag’s Leap Cellars) cabernet and Chateau Montelena chardonnay — are on our wine list,” said Alex. “In all, there were about 10 wines tasted and we still have some of them in our cellar.”

It was, in fact, wine that led to Dierkhis-

Submitted photo

Joe Dierkhising, the great-great-grandfather of Alex Dierkhising, in front of his wine store in Albany, Minn. sometime around 1908. The family found the photo in the local historical society and Alex now keeps a copy in his own wine shop, attached to All Seasons Bistro.

ing’s relocating to the Napa Valley.

“I got into wine through a friend of the (St. Joseph) restaurant,” he recalls. “I decided I needed to go to California to visit the wine country to buy wine for the restaurant and

every so often I did that. I was here in January once in about ‘72 and I called back home and asked ‘What’s going on?’ I was told it was about 35 below (zero), the restaurant was See ALL SEASONS on Page 30

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Plan calls for increased bike access

C

By Peter Jensen and Sean Scully STAFF WRITERS

alistoga would become home to 6 miles of bike trails, 3 miles of bike lanes, and 2 miles of bike routes under an ambitious new plan being considered by county transportation officials.

The plan, created over the past year and a half, was presented to the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency’s Board of Directors earlier this year. It calls for more than $60 million in investment to create 450 miles of bikeways to link all parts of the county and tie in to regional Bay Area road and bike networks.

“It provides a way to change the context of bicycling in Napa County,” said Mike Costanzo, executive director of the Napa County Bicycle Coalition. “The benefits are going to be huge. I urge you to dig into this and support it.”

The plan includes both current and planned bike paths, such as the Napa Valley Vine Trail, the Bay Trail, and the Bay Area Ridge Trail, and bike lanes and bike routes along state highways, county roads and city streets.

NCTPA Program Manager Eliot Hurwitz said the “spine and heart” of the plan is the completion of the Napa Valley Vine Trail, which is a proposed bike trail that would run 44 miles from Calistoga to the Vallejo Ferry Building.

The trail includes several existing parts, including segments in Calistoga and St. Helena, and several additional pieces under way now.

Chuck McMinn, executive director of the Vine Trail Coalition, said engineering and environmental studies for the 6-mile Solano Avenue section, which will link north Napa to Yountville, are 80 percent complete. They will be finished this year and the project will go out to bid, with construction started either in late 2012 or early next year.

A majority of the funding for the 6-mile section has come from a grant of $2.5 million in federal transportation funding, which was awarded last year. Still needed is the 20 percent match, about $625,000, McMinn said. The focus this year will be on raising this money through philanthropic donations and creative business partnerships

All Seasons

Continued from Page 29

closed because they were snowed in and couldn’t do anything.

“Some fiends out here invited me over to a salmon barbecue and I said, ‘I think I’ll just stay here,’” he recalled. “So I took the wine back to the restaurant, which my brother had decided to sell.

Gayle moved out to California just before I did.”

At the time, Alex and Gayle had no idea of the role they would have integral to the evolution of the restaurant industry in Calistoga — and, for that matter, the Upvalley.

“There were just a handful of restaurants here when we first started,” said Gayle. “Some of them were already somewhat well known. A few employed celebrity chefs. When we came in we were kind of like a second wave. It was during a period when some chefs realized there was a potential here.

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such as Solage Resort’s guest-check opt-in, which has raised thousands of dollars for the Vine Trail.

So far, the city and county of Napa and the Vine Trail have spent $500,000 on engineering the segment, McMinn said. He said he’s hopeful the $2.5 million will be enough money to build the entire segment, adding he’s “keeping his fingers crossed.”

McMinn said the group has a pretty good handle on the entire route, although not on specific parcels, and added that nearly half of it — 48 percent — can be built on public rights of way; either land that Caltrans owns, through parks in the American Canyon area, or near and next to roads.

McMinn and others are working with the Napa Valley Wine Train to secure the 9-mile segment from Yountville to St. Helena, which is next to the Wine Train tracks.

The Vine Trail’s St. Helena section will run approximately between Zinfandel and Bale lanes.

The Calistoga portion of the plan, although physically small compared with other parts of the county, would cost about $9.6 million.

At a presentation to earlier this year, McMinn explained that Calistoga presents unusual challenges, including proposed routes that cross lots of private property lines, which complicates the process of getting right-of-way agreements for the trail.

The existing right of way on Highway 29 is also complicated, he said. Although there is plenty of room for bike lanes all the way to Bothe State Park, the proposed Vine Trail would have to shift back and forth from the west side to the east side.

In order for the bikers and pedestrians to cross the busy highway safely, it would be necessary to build underpasses, an expensive proposition.

McMinn said the money to build the Vine Trail would come from a combination of state, federal, and local grants and private donations. The organizers hope to raise enough private money to create a permanent fund to maintain the trail.

The larger plan now being considered by the NCTPA is designed to boost bike trips in the county by at least 10 percent, aiming to reduce auto traffic congestion while making bike travel

safer than it is now.

The plan is broken down to six smaller plans, one for each of the valley’s five cities and another for the county’s unincorporated area. It will be presented to each town and be opened for public comments. The comment period will run from Feb. 15 to March 15.

County supervisor and NCTPA board member Keith Caldwell voiced support for the plan.

“It’s long needed,” Caldwell said. “It will help all of the jurisdictions.”

The plan also lobbies for broad policies that would require buses to have bike racks, expand education programs devoted to bicycle safety, increase bicycle parking in the county, encourage employers to provide showers and locker rooms, and maintain the bikeway network once it’s complete.

Hurwitz said the plan represents a drastic change for the future of bicycling in the Napa Valley, one that would help achieve the transit agency’s long-term goal of reducing traffic congestion and increasing bike trips by 10 percent.

“While this is an extremely ambitious goal, it is a critical part of the plan,” Hurwitz said. “This is really the initiation of a new phase of cycling in Napa County.”

In addition to the Calistoga portion, the plan calls for: • In St. Helena, 15 miles of bike trails, 9 miles of bike lanes and 11 miles of bike routes, with an estimated cost of $9.3 million.

• In unincorporated Napa County, 51 miles of bike trails, 50 miles of bike lanes, and 216 miles of bike routes, which are routes shared between bicyclists and cars but which would be improved with warning or guide signs. The total estimated cost is $32.5 million.

• In the city of Napa, about 11 miles of bike trails, 15 miles of bike lanes and 32 miles of bike routes, with an estimated cost of $7.9 million.

• In American Canyon, 8 miles of bike trails, 14 miles of bike lanes and 1 mile of bike route; a cost estimate for these projects was unavailable.

• In Yountville, the plan calls for 3 miles of bike routes, with an estimated cost of $56,000.

David Stoneberg also contributed to this report. 3

“In a way for them it was like living a dream,” she added. “Having a restaurant with access to a metropolitan area, access to some of the best wines in the world, some of best organic food and more and more a public that was gravitating toward those things. Well-known chefs started moving in.”

display cases,” said Alex. “Some things were out of our control and we didn’t understand, but in two years we went from a deli to a full-fledged restaurant.”

One of them was Alex’s brother Mark, a certified Master Chef who graduated in the first class of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Another brother, Ron, teaches culinary arts at City College of San Francisco.

Dictated by the times, the restaurant business in Calistoga has gone through numerous changes in the three and a half decades the Dierkhisings have been a part of it.

“There are food fads and tourist styles,” said Alex. “In the early years a lot of restaurants closed down for January, February and March.”

All Seasons, itself, underwent a major change.

“When we opened we wanted to be like a highend deli. We had a fish display in the window and

With all the expertise on Alex’s side of the family, one would think that holiday dinners would be purely delightful. Unless you’re Gayle Dierkhising.

“At first I almost resented them,” she said. “I tried so hard to put on a nice meal. But my superchef brother-in-law or some other member of the family would say, ‘I like what you did with the venison, but you know there’s interesting thing you might have done with chestnuts. I think it lacks a little structure.’ They were not insulting or anything, but ... ” Once more, indicative of how times have changed, in 2009 Gayle and All Seasons chef Summer Fernandez won the Mustard Festival’s recipe competition.

Without chestnuts. 3

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