Wine and Kissing

 Amantes de vino y besos,

I am on the search for Wine & Kissing locations and adventures. Do you know of a perfect place to stand, sit or recline for a delicious kiss and sip of wine?  If you do, you might be reluctant to share your secret spot. I felt the same but happily realized  that sharing such secrets allows me to find the next spot that much more quickly.

To begin this fun ‘terroir’ section of Wine & Kissing, I hope to present hidden locations and not-so-hidden locations.  If you venture to the hidden spot and find some other Wine & Kissing folks, by all means, do not leave! Give a nod of acknowledgement, unpack your wine glasses, plant your picnic blanket, and enjoy the kissing ambience.  

Que aproveche!

Elisabet

 A Splash and A Splash

Can the same person enjoy a very public ‘fancy’, over-the-top social experience such as Francis Coppola Winery with a Las Vegas-esque campus with al fresco and indoor dining areas, tasting rooms, vineyards and swimming pools, and also fall in love with a taco stand, or dim sum Airstream trailer complete with tent to fend off the elements, string lights, and a fire pit to warm the hands and soul?  I say yes! Here then are two such locations, both absolutely perfect for enjoying the grape and lips together.

What strikes me as similar in both locations is that a serious “foodie”, a seeker of food experiences beyond the day to day experience of the average Joe,  might overlook both both  to the first’s ostentatious presentation and the second’s ‘street’ consciousness.  That would be a tragedy and brings home the message…  the more rules we set for ourselves, the less we are able to experience.  Throw away the rules.  Jump into the pool!

Kissing in Public: Francis Ford Coppola Winery 

Outdoor refreshments (wine), stairwell to a gated entry that made me hum the Johnny Depp’s Willie Wonka song (Willie Wonka, Willie Wonka), gorgeous pools with fountains ready for Esther Williams to ballet-swim through — this is a public kissing venue extraordinaire. Where might you kiss?  Standing at the indoor tasting bar, at the circular outdoor bar, sitting on the bocce ball court wall, on the chaise lounges pool side, in the private cabins with showers?  Some may poo poo the largess of the Coppola Winery but please don’t forget that crowds create anonymity that a smaller venue cannot.  It is rumored that when the pools were completed but before they opened to the puplic, Mr. and Mrs. Coppola held hands, walked to the edge of the pool, and jumped in. Very romantic.

Go ahead, kiss by the pool,  in the pool, under the water. Jump in!

Kissing in Private: Dim Sum Charlie’s  

 Outdoor Dim Sum Charlie’s under the stars or, if it is drizzly, under a tent with strung lights, is an oasis of romantic gourmet perfection.  As a well-read, well-spoken, albeit stubborn, friend of mine (from whom I recieved permission to write about the evening) wrote, “This place is the secret heaven”.  I had proposed meeting for a drink first at an elegant Napa establishment which my friend termed ‘the devil’ (well not really, rather it was ‘cable TV notorious’). Originally a geographical miscommunication, I sat at the bar of the celebrity-chef locale while he sat at the love shack east of the tracks with a bottle of  Cycles Gladiator open. 

A battle of wills ensued. “Get over here”, he suavely wrote.  “I am heading home if you don’t come here.  It is my treat”, I responded.  Settled in his romantic enclave he sent, “You are totally missing the moment. I am in the mood for soft conversation in the rain, not being ripped off by some mega chef in a loud and obnoxious room. The dim sum here will kick that iron chef’s ass all the way back to phoneyland.  Sorry.  I am in the mood to talk, not to shout.” Then, before I could reply (I later found out he was giving a play-by-play to the owners and guests of Charlie’s) he typed “This place is Phuket on the beach. It’s Ghorepani waiting for the dawn over the Annapurnas. It is the most heart Napa has to offer. Are you up to it?”

“Coming” I responded.

He text-sighed, “Well fucking done.”

I  made my way to the secret Dim Sum Hideaway ‘Dim Sum Charlie’s’, perhaps my new favorite restaurant,  and  arrived in a style best left to personal diaries (involving a splash!)  —  let’s just say it required a third-party automotive rescue company. My handsome dining companion forgave me for my tardiness and misguided culinary detour when I pulled out the tablecloth, wine glasses, and gift of candle and book of poetry, and flashed my new dress.  Clayton, whose card reads #1 Steam Jockey, seemed to appreciate the picnic accoutrement at our table. We feasted on nearly the entire menu including Pork Su Mai Dumplings that melted in the mouth, Steamed Scallop and Garlic Dumplings, Steamed Veggies and Dumplings, Lobster Shrimp and Sea Bass and others I can’t recall by name but can remember as exquisite tastes of steamy hot Chinese flavors, while the rain drizzled over our tent.

This is a tale that public can be as private as an out of the way spot due to its crowded, anonymous nature. It is also a tale that if a handsome man can equate the Napa railroad tracks to Thailand and the Himalayas, you run don’t walk to join him.  It is the right thing.  One of Dim Sum Charlie’s tag lines reads “This is where love begins and it doesn’t get any better.”  Corre, no anda!