One Writer's Paradise: Visiting San Francisco & Napa

Researching historical fiction can be tricky and time-consuming, but if you enjoy your subject, it can be a delightful indulgence.  This July, I had the unique opportunity to spend seven glorious days exploring San Francisco and Napa Valley, California, two locations where my debut novel, The Vintner’s Daughter, and its sequel, are set.

The Vintner’s Daughter, set in 1896, chronicles the struggle of a wine maker’s daughter to reclaim her family’s Loire Valley vineyard, and the life that was stolen from her.  The second half of the novel takes place in San Francisco and Napa.  The best way for me to climb inside my characters’ minds, and write about their daily lives, is to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste what they experienced—at the turn of the century.

As a write-at-home mom of three young children, I couldn’t just go gallivanting off for a weeklong holiday in the vineyards (although I considered it!).  Instead, we made it a family affair, with my husband, mother and three kids tagging along for what we now call “our best family vacation ever!”

To sate the kids’ need for Mickey, Shamu and Minions, we spent our first week with cousins in southern California, touring theme parks and reconnecting with family.  Then we headed north, through the rolling hills and farmland of the Central Coast, finally arriving in San Francisco.

Like every writer, I had my research agenda: visit historical buildings, archives, and vineyards to unearth what life was like living in San Francisco and Napa from 1890 to 1906.  However, it was the unexpected discoveries that made our trip unforgettable.

I had lived on Lombard Street in 1995, but it was wonderful to see the city again through the eyes of a tourist.  We rode the San Francisco cable cars, toured the city on a Big Bus, devoured banana splits at the (historic) Ghirardelli Chocolate Company Shop, and snapped photos of the Queen Anne and Italianate architecture of Haight-Ashbury.  Because a pivotal scene in my book takes place on what is now China Beach, I wanted to make sure I described every detail correctly.  At sunset, we stood on the half-moon, rocky shore of China Beach in Sea Cliff, enjoying the breathtaking sunset and view of the Marin headlands and Golden Gate Bridge.

When we arrived in Napa, the town was in the grip of a 98-degree heat wave.  Naturally, I had arranged to surprise my husband with a fifteen-mile Napa Valley Bike Tour (literally between-the-vines) for our sixteenth anniversary.  Despite the heat, it was phenomenal!  We toured three vineyards, enjoying tastings at Bouchaine, McKenzie-Mueller, and Etude, all within the Carneros wine region (where one of the vineyards in my novel is located).  The San Pablo Bay breeze, along with ample water and a gourmet picnic lunch supplied by our seasoned guides, Steve Stone and Paul Torre, kept us happy and hydrated.

We started our bike tour beneath towering eucalyptus trees, noted for their durability, peeling bark and soothing menthol vapor.   American grape farmers took care to plant their vines far from these trees, to prevent the vine roots from soaking up the eucalyptus oil, which infuses grapes and wine with a menthol taste.

Veraison, or the ripening of the grapes, had begun.  The small, green pinot noir grapes were taking on a purplish hue.  Near the end of August, the harvest would begin.  Sparkling wine grapes would be picked first, then the dry wine grapes, and lastly, in late September, the dessert wine grapes, which require high sugar levels.   Our guide, Steve Stone, explained the bulges on the vines (where the vines were grafted), the netting (to deter birds and rodents from eating the ripening grapes), and the circling red hawks (to frighten away large birds and rodents).

Most memorable was our bike ride to the southernmost edge of Carneros, atop the crest of a vineyard hill, which overlooked the reservoir, marshlands and the San Pablo Bay.  To our right, rose Mount Tamalpais, the sleeping princess, and in the distance, we could see the San Francisco skyline.  It was the very spot I’d imagined my novel’s heroine standing, and it existed!  It was a goose-bump moment that I will never forget.

The next day I strolled through the renovated downtown to the Napa County Historical Society, housed in the Goodman Library, bursting at the seams with maps, books, documents and photos of Napa through the years.  The research librarian, Alexandria “Alex” Brown, is a young, peppy native who effortlessly fielded my barrage of questions, and happily supplied me with stacks of 1895 maps, books, turn-of-the-century photos of Napa businesses, train stations and schools, and even photos of an old wine press she snapped at a recent visit to the Nichelini winery.  Her enthusiasm and knowledge gave me confidence in my research, and left me eager to continue writing.

On our next excursion, my mother and I enjoyed a private vineyard tour with Certified Wine Professional and Sommelier, Max Roher.  Max shuttled us in an air-conditioned SUV, with another family, to four Napa vineyards, which he’d carefully chosen to match our requests to tour small, historical family-owned vineyards.  We walked through rows of 113-year-old, untrellised Zinfandel vines, toured a turn-of-the-century farmhouse, and visited a 19th century French-style chateau winery built by Hamden W. McIntyre, the expert who designed many of California’s first gravity-flow wineries.  On each occasion, the vineyard owners or managers greeted us personally, taking time to explain how they craft their wines, and answer our questions while we swirled and sipped from our glasses.

Did you know that every bottle of wine we drink contains nearly three pounds of grapes?  The vulnerability of these grapes is striking: over the last century and a half, they’ve fallen victim to pests, rodents, frost, mildew, and Prohibition.  Still, the grape growers and wine makers persist in finding new methods to protect and improve the fruit.  It is a precise blend of hard labor, science and art, to perfect the wines that fill our glasses.  I am inspired and humbled by their efforts.  Cheers!

Kristen Harnisch's debut novel, The Vintner’s Daughter, is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2014.