This Is How We (Lunch) Napa!

The second day that Dio and I were in Napa, our morning began at the new Arrow&Branch Winery. In fact, that was the very first time we’d been to the winery in person. But more on that in a future post!

During that morning tour of A&B, we met their winemaker, Jennifer Williams. Jen also co-owns a small, boutique producer called Zeitgeist Cellars with her husband, Mark Porembski. It’s literally a two-person operation. They run it and make the wines together as a team. We’d heard of Jen before but had never met her in person. So, when we spoke that morning, I mentioned we were meeting her husband later that day for lunch, to have a very intimate tasting of Zeitgeist wines.

She told us a bit about their products, and mentioned one wine they are known for is a white called Trousseau Gris, which is super-rare. I’d never heard of it, and she wasn’t sure if it was something Mark would be sharing with us. That piqued our curiosity, and from the moment she dropped this little bombshell, I was quietly hoping we’d wind up with an opportunity to try this very little-known varietal.

A bit of background on how Mark and Jen met: their paths crossed during a chance encounter in Napa Valley. As Mark told us during our lunch, he was working at a winery, and a random guest on the facility’s tour of the facility asked if he had plans that evening, as she was going to a wedding and could use a date. He accepted her invitation and went with this stranger to another stranger’s wedding! That’s where he met Jen, who was there with someone else. They spoke a bit and learned they were both very into wine.

The next job Mark took was at the same winery where Jen worked, and he admitted to us he took that position at least partially in hopes they would get to know each other better. Before long, they both realized they were at a crossroads. He wanted to move away from the world of corporate science, and she wanted to shift from the restaurant industry into winemaking. Eventually there came a time when both were romantically unattached, and, recognizing the spark between them, began dating.

Fast forward to the present day. They are married, have kids and collaboratively run a niche winery that exemplifies their dedication to quality, sustainability, and innovation. They chose the German word “Zeitgeist” because it means "the spirit of the times." It reflects their desire to produce wines that capture the essence of their era. Despite being about as under-the-radar as a respected winery can be, Zeitgeist has quickly become something of a beacon of excellence in the world of viticulture and has won awards for its output.

Their flagship wines — an elegant Chardonnay and a bold Cabernet Sauvignon — quickly gained a reputation for both exceptional quality and distinctive character. Jen and Mark are also staunch advocates for environmentally friendly practices, and they employ organic farming methods and use renewable energy sources in their production process.

If it seems like I am going really deep into the background of this winery, it’s because I came away from our time with Jen and Mark with great respect for their approach to their business, and for the really wonderful wines they are making — and I truly want more people to know about their efforts and give their wines a try.

Now, here’s the thing: Zeitgeist is a really small company. Like I said, it’s just Jen and Mark. The larger wineries in Napa — the ones that have been there forever and have plenty of land and buildings and whatnot — usually do tastings in their own designated tasting area, or at their vineyard. Smaller wineries sometimes use shared tasting rooms or custom crush facilities which are set up just for that and are rented out by different firms as needed. But some producers are so tiny they don’t have a set place to taste their product at all. That’s the situation with Zeitgeist. So, to taste their work, we all had to meet at a nearby restaurant for lunch. That’s where things got even more interesting.

You see, when our friend Michael Ploetz (A&B’s Director of Hospitality and Sales) set this whole thing up, he arranged for this to take place a 20-minute drive north of A&B at an eatery called The Charter Oak, in St. Helena, Ca. It opened in 2017 and is owned by the James Beard Foundation Award-winning Chef Christopher Kostow. He’s perhaps best known as the visionary behind The Restaurant at Meadowood. That internationally famous establishment was awarded no less than three Michelin Stars in its seven-year lifespan but tragically burned down in the massive Glass Fire of 2020 which destroyed so many Napa homes and businesses.

The Charter Oak is just down the street from where The Restaurant at Meadowood was, in an old historic school building from the early 20th century. It sources its fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs from the same nearby garden previously used by The Restaurant at Meadowood. So, the incredible quality of those ingredients is the same. But whereas his earlier restaurant was super fancy, The Charter Oak was designed to be more casual. Someplace to just grab a quick lunch, you know? But, with the same high level of standards of preparation and service.

When Michael selected this location for our private wine tasting and lunch, he had no idea The Charter Oak is not only one of our favorite restaurants in Napa, it's one of our favorite restaurants anywhere in the world! Dio and I have been there several times before this, and if possible, we aim for that every time we’re in Napa.

What are the odds?

When I tell you this place is amazing, please believe me. Even as simple a dish as a veggie plate is mind-blowing at The Charter Oak. I’ve never tasted anything so crisp, fresh and full of taste. A few years ago, we were stunned by that exact appetizer and asked our server how a simple radish could be so delicious. He replied that it was likely because it had only been picked that morning, just down the street. So, yeah, it doesn’t get more “farm-to-table” than that.

We could not have been more pleased with Michael’s choice of restaurant. Plus, we were thrilled to introduce our friends Rami and Keiko to it.

Dio and I met Mark in the parking lot, as we all arrived at approximately the same time. Rami and Keiko arrived soon thereafter. It couldn’t have been a more casual situation. He was literally walking into the place with his cooler bag full of wine. We introduced ourselves and then coincidentally were seated at the very same table Dio and I had sat at when we were there last, back in February of 2023.

We went ahead and ordered that same raw veggie plate, which is now Dio’s favorite.

The place seemed to get quite busy just after we were seated, so our server disappeared for a while. Usually, they would open your wines (even if you brought them yourself), but after a few minutes of waiting, Mark just decided to go ahead and begin the tasting. He had his own corkscrew, after all. To our most pleasant surprise, the first wine he opened was that same Trousseau Gris Jen had mentioned. I could tell he was excited to share something with us he assumed we’d never heard of before, but I had to break it to him that we’d run into his wife earlier in the day and she’d gushed about that very varietal. I’d been left with the impression this was perhaps some sort of Italian or French varietal. But Mark explained it’s actually from right there in Napa.

It turns out there’s a fairly fascinating history to this wine — particularly when it’s sourced from California’s Fanucchi Wood Road Vineyard, as theirs was. That vineyard, in the heart of the Russian River Valley, has become a notable producer of this intriguing grape. The Trousseau Gris is a mutation of the Trousseau Noir grape, which originates from the Jura region of France. That original variant is renowned for its red wines, while the extremely aromatic Trousseau Gris has only been around since the 19th century, and is known for its distinctive pale, almost pinkish color. The cool climate found at the Fanucchi Wood Road Vineyard is especially favorable for growing this particular grape, and the wines produced from it exhibit flavors of ripe pear and honeydew melon, along with subtle floral notes, and plenty of acidity.

According to Mark, most vineyards pull out these grapes and instead grow fruit more suited to Cabernet Sauvignon because they can make much more money selling that type of mainstream red wine. As a result, there are very few acres of this varietal grown in the entire world. It’s not just super rare, it’s a wonderfully easy drinking white wine. Think: Porch Pounder! It’s perfect for a hot summer day. It almost defies description, if you know what I mean. It’s just a really lovely wine you can enjoy without thinking about it too much.

As Mark poured this for us and explained the grapes’ history, I was struck by how cool it was and how lucky we all were to be having lunch at an amazing restaurant in Napa, alongside a highly respected winemaker who’s pouring us exceedingly rare wine that he made himself.

I mean, I’ve had that experience before in Atlanta. But we were surrounded by a large group of people, at a staged and planned event. This was a really small, very casual lunch with a handful of folks. He just brought a cooler filled with wine and shared it with us. It was the first time I have had that type of experience in Napa, and I hope it won’t be the last!

He then poured another wine next to it, which was a more typical white. That was a 2022 Zeitgeist Chenin Blanc. It also paired very well with the vegetables but was much less acidic than the Trousseau Gris.

Around this time our server reappeared, and we ordered our main courses. I opted for the cheeseburger and fries, and if that seems like a slightly boring choice, allow me to say their burger is probably the greatest burger I’ve had in my entire life. Seriously. I’m not kidding. It’s just a smash burger that doesn’t have a lot of stuff on it. Just meat, cheese and bread — which some folks swear is all you really need.

While I don’t know what exactly they do to this burger, I’ve never had anything that tasted quite like it. There’s a kind of “gamey” quality to the flavor that is incredibly unique and delicious. I’ve since learned The Charter Oak’s ethos is based around a very specific type of wood-fired cooking, and many of their dishes are cooked using that method. So, I’m sure that must have something to do with it.

I’ll mention one thing I’ve noticed about myself when it comes to dining out: When I find a restaurant I like and a dish of theirs I like, I tend to order that same thing every time I’m there. For example, take Baldino’s (which is a no-frills kind of submarine sandwich chain here in Georgia). Whenever I go there, I get a #21. That’s a grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato, served hot right off the grill. Now, I might like something else on the menu better than that, but my fear is that if I branch out and try something different, there’s a decent chance I am going to be disappointed. Then I will have wasted a meal. So, I stick with what I know I can rely on.

I’m that way with the cheeseburger at The Charter Oak. However, I was telling someone about this one day, and they offered a brilliant “insider tip,” and now I’ll share that with you: They suggested I order the burger as an appetizer for the whole table and ask that the kitchen cut it up into several small pieces. Then, everyone can have some, I can still get my burger fix, and that frees me up to try something new and different for my entrée. Genius, I tell you!

At this point, it was time to really dig into the rest of the wines Mark had brought along. After those first two whites, we sampled three different reds — two Cabernet Sauvignon (one from Oakville Station) and a Cabernet Franc from Sleeping Lady Vineyard. If you’re interested in my tasting notes on all of these bottles, click HERE for my notes on CellarTracker.

The ‘19 Zeitgeist Sleeping Lady Cabernet Franc was my favorite of all of those, so I purchased some of that for my cellar. And, since I wound up really falling for the Trousseau Gris, I took advantage of a rare opportunity and got half a case of that as well. It won’t be delivered until the fall, so I’ll be looking forward to having more access to such a special varietal.

All things considered; this was easily one of the best lunches I’ve had in a great while. The food, the wines, meeting Mark, and sharing this unique experience with Rami and Keiko made it all so worthwhile.

Eventually Mark asked us what else we were doing while in the area. I gave him a rundown of what we had in store for the following couple of days and mentioned that while it was our fifth trip to the area, it was Rami and Keiko’s first time there. So, they were getting to take advantage of all the things we’d learned about the region on our prior visits. Instead of just driving around as most first-timers do, looking for any open wineries or vineyards advertising, you know, the “walk-in’s welcome!,” signs - we had everything carefully planned out in advance and were basically “doing it right.” I even threw in that little hashtag that I’ve started using on my Instagram account: “This is how we Napa…”

I mean, we’re at one of our favorite restaurants, having lunch — and drinking amazing, under-the-radar wine with the guy who made it. It was a notable experience, and that was not lost on the winemaker.

Mark looked at Rami and Keiko and said something to the effect of, “Wow, you guys are getting a very elevated Napa experience.”

How could such a lovely time be made even better, you ask?

Well, they brought the check, and I noticed there were no corkage fees of any kind added to our bill. We’d opened five bottles of wine without a penny of additional charges! I don’t know if that’s because Mark was the one who opened the wines, or because they were so busy and did not notice. I’m pretty sure they normally charge a corkage fee, but hey, who am I to complain?

Before we left to head to our next scheduled tasting (more on that in a future post), we got some great photos of Dio, Mark and me.

And then, a shot of all of us together on The Charter Oak’s beautiful patio.

All in all, a truly wonderful and memorable time that we were lucky to share with each other.