A rosé by any other name

I don't know wine. To me, a good vintage is one that's in the clearance aisle at the supermarket. Beer is my beverage of choice.

On Monday, though, I played wine connoisseur. At two wineries in Napa, California, I gave several varieties a visual inspection, swirled them around to "unlock their bouquet," aired them out a bit, and finally threw them at my palate. I did what some people — a lot of people, actually — do every day.

I liked the experience. Though I didn't understand the science of winemaking or half of my sommeliers' gibberish about "notes of this" or "hints of that," I liked what I tasted. Then again, I expected to. When you taste the wine in one of world's greatest wine regions, you are bound to find something good.

I visited Northern California this week as my wife Cheryl's administrative assistant. She attended an education conference. I edited her blog and enjoyed the ride. A fair trade. As a part of our experience, we took an e-bike tour of the Napa Valley, home to five hundred wineries.

Our guide, Don, a transplant from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was a font of information on all things Napa Valley. He educated two couples on everything from the region's geography and climate to its history and rise as a wine-making capital following a 1976 wine competition in Paris, an event chronicled in the 2008 comedy-drama Bottle Shock.

As for the bike ride, it was nice as well. Starting and ending in Yountville, home of the French Laundry restaurant, it covered about eighteen miles on sidestreets, paved paths, and even highways. Along the way, we passed not only vineyards and wineries but also lush farmland, olive orchards, and eucalyptus groves. E-bikes, in case you have not tried them, are a kick. They are exercise for the rest of us.

I hope to take a few more of these trips in between writing and editing novels. Doing is living, as they say, and I plan to do a lot more.