They’re still buzzing up in the Wine Country over House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s VIP ride — complete with flashing lights — to a swank St. Helena shoe boutique.

As local businessman Thomas “Paul” Smith first described in a letter to the hometown St. Helena Star, he was chatting with friends on Main Street on a recent Saturday afternoon when he spotted “a large, perfectly polished and gleaming black SUV” approaching from a side street.