Why I'd Like to Live in Trinchero Family Estates Hospitality Center

"Trinchero Show"

If you think our tasting room looks good, you'll be in for a treat when you see inside our hospitality center," said the Tasting Room Manager at Trinchero Napa Valley as we sidled in for a private tour of one of the valley's most remarkable, state-of-the-art, new wine education facilities.

We were at the tail end of a splendid industry jaunt that had taken us behind the scenes of one of California Wine Country's first families of wine. Cafe and west country market owners Michael and Lesley had brought me along for a private tour and tasting at the source of some of their eateries' best selling wines.

We'd lost the fourth member of our foray into Napa County following a night out in Saint Helena, dinner at Go Fish and a plush little wine country overnight in guest rooms at the classic Victorian Sutter Home (unimposing mother ship of Trinchero dynasty). Soccer coaching called back over the hill in Sonoma County, leaving Michael and myself to carry the flag for west country neighbors as we 'poshed' it up a bit in super plush Napa Valley. Lesley, an ardent non-drinker, had prepped herself for appreciating the architecture and stunning locale as she patiently waited for her traveling companions to sip, swirl and shoot the breeze while sampling the winery's wares.

Though none of us had an inkling of how blown away we'd be by the gorgeous surrounds and drop-dead spectacular interior design and decor of the Trinchero estate.

"It was clear from the outset that the family did not want to construct yet another elaborate Italian winery here in the Napa Valley," said our captivating, charismatic tour and tasting guide, wine educator and avid hobby cheese maker Gail Bickett. "The concept was to create a space that reflected the Trinchero family's arrival at Ellis Island from Italy and their humble beginnings in the U.S, cross country travel by train and decades of hard work that had led to the development of Sutter Home."

Since purchasing the Folie a Deux property north of Saint Helena in 2004 and hiring whom Bickett fondly described as the new winery's 'rock star' pedigreed winemaker, Mario Monticelli, the Trinchero family's vision of beyond premium wine making has come to near perfect fruition in a breathtaking environment of pristine, relatively private and peaceful surrounds.

Scrupulously sorted by hand, only the best whole berries of the winery's 13 acres of acclaimed Cabernet grapes make the cut for the luxury of slow processing, gentle fermentation and aging. Trinchero took home a coveted double gold at this year's San Francisco Chronicle wine awards. The Wine Spectator gave the winery's 2007 Meritage a 91 this June.

Wandering around the company's brand new wine education facility, tucked as discreetly private house behind the only slightly more formal tasting room, we were captivated by the layers of detail in careful design to bring the past and the future together. For in every room and striking space of the this luxurious (a sort of Restoration Hardware catalog on steroids) setting immaculately retouched vintage family scenes, notes, mementos and snatched quotes from letters or diaries had been carefully blended into a modern, California ranch style scene.

My favorite finds included a 1950s feathered hat collection in the ladies loo, along with snippets of the late Matriarch, Mary Trinchero's conversations with friends. Immense sofas with super-size faux fur and leather cushions, lighting fixtures from Italy and heritage treasures from closer to home framed several family-style living spaces for large and small groups of industry insiders and those intensely training for the inside track.

The kitchen had me drooling over its epic refrigeration, fine art and endless counter space, a train station clock, stove tops and ovens that would surely have had Mary Trinchero lost for words had she been around to see what has become of her family's small start-up Mom and Pop operation in the late 1940s.