I Suck at Bocce (But Just Look at This
Beautiful Bocce Court!)



As we continue with our tour of the small, family owned wineries of the Napa Valley, I bring you... the Summers Estate bocce court. Bocce is an Italian game that involves rolling bowling-type balls at a target ball, which is much smaller. In France, they play a similar game that I actually like better, pétanque (sometimes called boules). Pétanque figures in Peter Mayles' A Year in Province.

Ultimately, both games are excuses to stand around, engage in at-times quite intense competition, but not exert a whole lot of energy, and of course do a bit of drinkin'. I am in the process of setting up my yard for hard-fought pétanque matches right now. I expect to become zee badass of pétanque. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to play any bocce in Napa, which is perhaps just as well, as I suck.

Anyway, while the French game involves tossing the balls, bocce is more about rolling them. To do this properly, you need a nice court, preferably a long one, made of groomed, crushed stone. Summers Estate has one, and as you'll see from the video above, it's a beaut. They even have a little sign and a covered seating area adjacent to the court; the sign reads "Napa Valley Bocce Club," which is quote a land grab for a small winery (ambition!).

My understanding is that bocce is big in Napa because of the large Italian immigrant population that came here in the 19th and 20th centuries and eventually pioneered the premium wine industry. But whatever, it looks like a great way to relax a bit after a long day of winemaking/vineyard management/tasting.

More on Summers tomorrow: they have a cool dude in the tasting room who does a bit of cooking, they are known far and wide for championing an offbeat grape called Charbono, and their winemaker is a real success story.