Ceja vineyards

Mr. Insomniac was perusing the 2 for 1 wine tasting card that our hotel gave us when he spotted Ceja vineyards in the Carneros region. He recognized it as the family vineyard that belonged to his college roommate Manny at UCLA. Mr. Insomniac remembered going to the family home where they used to sell grapes and now, 15 years later, they have a thriving winery.

We made it a point to stop by and say hello. Ariel, a very engaging and excitable young man was our host and when Mr. Insomniac mentioned how he knew Manny (who as it turned out, was his uncle) he lit up.

Ceja vineyards and winery is one of the few in the country that is owned by Mexican Americans and has a remarkable story. The founders Pedro and Armando (Manny's dad) Ceja immigrated to Northern California as children and spent their childhood picking grapes along their parents and other brothers and sisters.

In 1983 the family pulled their money together and bought 15 acres. Seventeen years later, they were producing grapes on 113 acres and in 1999, they began producing wines. Several awards later, their wines are in some of the countries top restaurants (the French Laundry among them).

It remains a family business. Pedro's son Ariel was working the tastings, his sister heads up the east coast distribution of their business, other Cejas are in school studying viticulture and marketing. Manny appears to remain the sole exception - he lives in Ohio working as an engineer, a fact that I don't understand in the slightest. Napa? Ohio? lol

Salsa music drifted in from overhead as we sat and enjoyed our wines. The tasting room was unassuming with large windows that looked out onto a courtyard and allowed sunlight to stream inside.

Apparently, at Ceja's wine tasting salon in downtown Napa, they have salsa lessons and dancing on Saturday nights, so all you salseras bring your dancing shoes. I considered going, but after my meal at Redd's, I was so stuffed I could barely move, let alone do fancy hand flourishes... lol

Ceja produces about 10 wines, many of which are very reasonably priced. Restaurants love them because they can mark them up like crazy. We ended getting a couple bottles of their red blend Vino de Casa ($20/each) which was well-balanced and fruit forward. (from the website: "aromas and flavors of cherries, dark fruit, cocoa and toasted vanilla delight the senses!"). We also got a bottle of their dessert wine which I surprisingly enjoyed. Normally I find dessert wines cloyingly sweet, but this one has a nice citrus bite to it that was extremely pleasing.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable time. Ariel snapped this photo of his coworker. Nice!

Ariel's working on his own offshoot of the business - an online cooking show. You can see the beta version on Salud!Napa.