We finally had to admit it:  our  beautiful old lady was starting to show her age.

At 108 years old any of us would. Well, actually MOST of us would be long dead. But not Napa’s most photographed landmark mansion, the Beazley House.

Time and weather had taken their inevitable toll.

Our contractor, Rick Leonard, said he was afraid the old girl might have more than just superficial age spots. Layers of paint were cracked and pealing like make up on an old hooker’s face. But that wasn’t the worst of it, she was starting to sag. Dry rot was mentioned, which is like cancer  to a building.

you’d sag too if…

A closer inspection reveled the culprit: minor dry rot, but a major change needed to the two pillars holding up the balcony.

Seems the old adage that “they don’t build’em like they used to” SHOULD be followed by a “THANK GOODNESS!”  Stripped of their shingles, the “pillars” turned out to be made up of 1 by 6 inch boards formed into a box! The “header” that the balcony rested on was a measly 2 by 12 inch board…semi rotten.  All this said, the old girl had only subsided 1/2 of an inch.  And she had endured three major earthquakes in her 108 years.

Needless to say, we placed 6 by 6 inch posts in the “box pillars”and a hefty 4 by 12 inch header supporting the balcony. All were steel strapped into place.

Next came the “fun” parts: stripping off the rusty metal roof and the balcony’s rotted posts, rails and balustrades. The fun was supplied by AZEK, a company which makes a miracle product out of extruded PVC. When you’ve got a product that doesn’t require sealing, priming, sanding and painting like AZEK’s trim, balustrades and boards, THAT’S fun! And it LASTS even BETTER than the virgin redwood it’s replacing.

Nailing the AZEK trim to the new railing system.

Rick Leonard applies paint to the new posts.

New cedar shingles went onto the recently replaced porch posts and cement composite shingles were nailed to the balcony posts. AZEK rails, balustrades and trim completed the final touches.

All that’s left is to paint the new cedar shingles, hang a new downspout and remove the scaffolding.

During difficult economic times it’s hard to keep up with our old lady’s care, but we are reminded that we are not so much her owners as a link in the long chain of her continued existence. Our English cousins have shown us that if we care, we can keep our historic properties alive for centuries, not just generations.

Gives an old girl a whole new out look on her NEXT 100 years!

When Carol and I first came to the Napa Valley in 1975 it wasn’t for the wine.

In fact what we thought went with red wine was 7up. We called them “wine coolers.”

Which red wine wasn’t important, it was Cribaria or as likely Gallo Hearty Burgundy.  The agent which made the drink palatable was the 7up. Lot’s of 7up.

Our generation had been raised on Coca Cola, so when we began to drink alcohol, Rum or Vodka were the firewater of choice. An unfortunate encounter with  too much orange juice and vodka put me off “screw drivers” forever.

Beazley House now has a full wine list.

Our wine education began, as nearly all things have, due to our dear Beazley House guests. It is not a heroic story full of the nobility of the hunt, but rather more like those lesser beasts who finish up after the lions have had their fill.

A group of  business guests took over the inn and ordered “the best Napa Valley wine we could buy for $15 a bottle.” In 1981 $15 a bottle was an extravagant sum. WE had never spent such a fortune on a single bottle, but we had just been introduced to Clos du Val vineyards. THEY had a Frenchman producing fine wines who supported Chamber Music Napa Valley.  We knew their wines were good, real good. So we bought 8 bottles at just under the $15 per bottle limit and placed them in our rooms.

The next morning, after the guests had left, lo and behold ONE guest had left behind just under half his bottle, uncorked and lonely. He had appeared healthy,”like he’d had all his shots”, as we say in our family, so we tried the now nicely aired cabernet.

Instantly we tasted liquid ENLIGHTENMENT! So THIS is what good wine tastes like!  No more would we wonder why wine lovers purred over perfect reds.

We've come a long way in 30 years...you'll be able to drink up our experience.

We had begun our evolutionary  journey out of the primordial swamp of bad wine toward the promised land: Napa Valley.  We were saved.

Today we introduce our guests to the best wines Napa Valley has to offer at Vintner-poured wine tastings each Friday and Saturday night. What fun to watch the faces of the new guests as they discover how GOOD really fine wine can taste.

Frequently the wines will be from small vintners offering very limited production. These are the hidden gems known only to locals and wine snobs.  They won’t be found anywhere else but our inn and their winery.  All of them will be places our guests will enjoy visiting the next day.

And our wine tastings are always accompanied by hors d’ oeuvres which compliment the wines.  A complete experience.