Wednesday, August 21, 2013

May All Your Pain....Be Champagne

We left Sausalito early in the morning and arrived in Napa just in time to have champagne for brunch! Our first stop was at Domaine Carneros and it ended up being my favorite!
The establishment was so beautiful! This place is different because they offer you a little menu where you can order cheese, caviar and charcuterie plates. Most wineries only have wine. I could have stayed here for hours sipping champagne and eating cheese. It's a must stop if you ever visit Napa!
This is my new favorite photo of me and Scott! I'm going to have to frame it in my house somewhere!!

We ate in Yountville which was my favorite little spot in the Napa area. We made it to a lot of wineries the first day. Mostly small ones because my Dad likes to get wine that you can't find in your local wine shop. After Domaine Carneros we went to Etude (awesome wine), Mumm, Pina, Cakebread, ZD, Robert Mondavi and Beringer. We passed by Menage a Trois and I suggested we pop in but Dad just laughed at me and kept driving. #winesnob
The next day we had an early appointment to meet with a winemaker at a smaller winery in the Russian River Valley called Small Vines. It was such an amazing experience! My Dad emails with them back and forth occasionally and they did a special tasting for us in the actual vineyard!!!!
We got to taste the grapes and they told us all about the process they go through to make their wine. It was SO interesting and one of my favorite parts of the trip! He's a sommelier which is super impressive to me. I want to be a sommelier. They were such a great couple and make amazing wine. It was a real pleasure to meet them. My Dad is trying to get them to come to Arkansas to do a wine club dinner so hopefully I'll see them again soon.
We stayed in the Russian River Valley that day and also visited Merry Edwards and Gary Farrell where we did a wine tour.
Later that evening we went to Rodney Strong to attend a Dave Koz jazz concert. Okay seriously, you can't go to Napa and not do a concert. We all had a blast!! It was so, so, so fun.
They had a couple of food trucks (and wine of course) and we sat there a couple of hours and listened to Dave Koz and the Summer Horns. I cannot rave enough about how fun this concert was! It was the perfect way to end our vacation!!

1 comment:

  1. I would've stopped at Menage a Trois with you, ha! It's one of my favorite cheap wines. It sounds like you guys had a blast. It's definitely on my list of places to visit!

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