Anniversary in Napa -- Day 3

As our anniversary treat, Ben and I decided to sleep in :) When we woke up, we had breakfast on the hotel terrace once again, enjoyed our coffee, read the paper, and headed over to Mumms for light and fun sparkling wine tasting. We got a table overlooking the vineyards, and enjoyed some fruit and nut pairings with our sparkling wine -- a nice way to start off the day.

We then went back to Mondavi to try some of their non-reserve Cab Sauvs and bought a bottle of their 2008 Carneros Cab Sauv and PNX Pinor Noir. Next stop was Mustard's Grill for lunch. We split the lamb burger for lunch, which we both enjoyed a lot. We then drove further North, stopping at Vie Sattui before exploring the town of St. Helena. Vie Sattui is owned by an Italian wine maker. The winery is beautiful (looks like a stone mansion) with gorgeous lawns with huge trees surrounding it. We did a tasting here, but it was very chaotic (being Saturday and a larger winery without an appointment). In St. Helena, we found a gelato/coffee shop where we relaxed and enjoyed some people watching. We then headed back to Napa along the Silverado Trail.

We had dinner reservation at Etoile -- a french restaurant within the Domain Chandon winery. When we got to the restaurant, they said it would be a few minutes until our table was ready. As we headed down to the table, there was a HUGE bouquet of beautiful roses on the table that Ben and arranged for me beforehand -- soooo sweet :) He then gave me the sweetest card ever that included two tickets (being our paper anniversary) to my favorite band --Death Cab for Cutie (yay!). We both chose the 4 course meal that consisted of tempura oysters, scallops in lobster sauce, prime rib with gnocchi, and dessert. All with the associated wine pairings. The food was very elevated, but still delicious.

What a great way to celebrate our first year of marrriage!

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Happy 1 year Anniversary to my best friend! I love you so much, and I truly can't believe we have already been married for 1 year. It feels like just a week ago that we were saying "I do" on that magical day in the Cator Woolford gardens._________

Napa Anniversary -- Day 2

Quick recap of dinner last night: Bouchon Bistro

Ben ordered the lobster bisque to start and for the entree, "steak frites" which came piled high with french fries. I ordered the mushroom cream soup to start (incredibly delicious) and had leg of lamb on a bed of veggies and chikpeas for my entree. We had the "bouchons" for dessert which were little brownie truffles. Overally, our meal was very good, but Bouchon might be a tad overrated for what it is. They do have an extensive oyster/mussel bar if that's your thing.

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For our second day in Napa, we ate breakfast on the terrace at the hotel again and headed over to the the wine train station (within in walking distance of our hotel--sweet!). The Wine Train had a brief tasting in the station before we left. They were also heavily advertizing their "lock of love" program where you buy a lock from them that symbolizes your love. You then lock in the chain linke fence on the 'bridge of love" and toss away the key -- symbolizing that your love is locked forever. LOL I thought it was really cheesy/funny, so Ben and I did not partake in this lock of love business.

Once we boarded the wine train, they started taking our orders for lunch. The wine train is beautiful on the inside -- definitely a luxury train. I felt like I was seated in a fancy banquet hall. Ben had let the staff know ahead of time that it was our anniversary, so they all wished us "happy anniversary," which was nice. For lunch, Ben had a salad to start (arugula, goat cheese, and walnuts) with fish for main course. I had the shrimp bisque (heavenly) to start and the beef tenderloin for my main course with the complimentary wine pairings. The meal was VERY good. We then moved to the back of the train for dessert and coffee (and an optional wine tasting). It was so relaxing to just sit back, enjoy the food/drink, and watch the beautiful Napa Scenery go by. I would highly recommend doing the wine train if you're ever in Napa.

Once we got back to the hotel from the wine train, we took a brief nap before heading over to Mondavi Winery for the "twilight tour." Robert Mondavi is one of the big guys in Napa. He owns A LOT of land and has contributed vastly to the wine production methods of the valley. He believed what was good for one winemaker was good for everyone because it would increase the worth of the Valley's wines -- very unusual business philosophy, but it seems to have worked! The winery tour was great, and we got to relax in the tasting room at the end with food pairing available to taste with the wines. We enjoyed the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon reserve very much (the price -- not so much, haha). So, we decided we wanted to taste a wider selection of their wines, so we decided to come back the following day as well when more would be available.

After the Mondavi tasting, we rode on the scenic Silverado Trail for a while before heading to dinner at Travigne. We sat on the patio overlooking the beautiful courtyard at Travigne, which really set a great atmosphere. We had their specialty, fresh mozarella, for our appetizer (incredible!). Ben had beef short ribs with polenta for his entree and I had rabbit papperdele. Ben's meal was delicious. I unfortunately got a bone in my first bite, which made my meal less enjoyable. I also started thinking about the pet bunnies I had in South Africa, which also made it little more difficult to eat rabbit. We both got really good desserts as well, so overall, we enjoyed Travigne.

View from Silverado Trail

Travigne

Ben's Meal -- Beef Short Ribs

Day 2 -- very relaxing!

Napa Valley, California -- 1 Year Anniversary: Day 1

Ben and I decided to spend our 1 year anniversary in Napa Valley, California.

We arrived late last night in San Francisco, and drove rental car (a Ford Mustang -- good choice on Ben's part) to our hotel in Napa. We pretty much just went straight to bed when we got to the hotel, since it was 3am GA time. It was pretty neat to drive through San Francisco and see a little bit of the city -- even if it was at night.

Today we started off having breakfast at the hotel. The hotel is overlooking the Napa River, and we decided to eat outdoors. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I love it.

We then took off for Yountville (about 15 min away) to go on the Napa Valley bike tour. Our tour guide was named Paul -- a 65 year old avid cyclist with a great sense of humor and a vast knowledge about Napa Valley and the wine making process. Other members of our group included another couple from Georgia in town for a wedding and an older lady from Las Vegas in town for a wedding as well.

We headed off towards our first destination -- Baldacci Vineyards -- with Paul explaining different aspect of the vineyards along the way. Baldacci Vineyards is a small scale, family-owned vineyard. There, Mike gave us a brief tour of the facility and the "caves" where the keep the barrels of wine. We got to taste several of their wines -- a chardonnay and two of their cabernet sauvignons. They were all pretty good.

Our next stop was Regusci Winery, my favorite winery of the day. The landscaping and architecture of the winery was gorgeous and I absolutely loved their wines. We tasted their chardonnay, zinfandel, merlot (fantastic), principle cabernet sauvignon (my favorite of the day), and angelo's cabernet sauvignon. Here we decided to buy a bottle of the Merlot to share with our parents when we get back to Georgia.

Our lunch stop was at Laird Winery where Robert was our taste guide. He was extremely knowledgable and so nice! He even gave us a complimentary pinot grigio to enjoy with out lunch. Here we tried a pinot grigio (2007 and 2008), chardonnay, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. Ben enjoyed the pinot grigio and the chardonnay, so we ended up getting some of their wines as well.

Our last stop of the bike tour was Hopper's Creek Winery. This was probably the most casual tasting of the day. The taste guide, Dan, was drinking a bud light as we walked in and provided us with entertaining stories of the winery and events in Napa. We tried a zinfandel, a merlot rose (very unique-- brought a bottle home to share), cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, and sauvignon blanc. The winery had a very pleasant porch overlooking the vineyard where we enjoyed a few of the wines.

After the bike wine tour, Ben and I headed north to Calistoga to Castello de Amorosa. It's basically an Italian castle built in Napa Valley by and Italian man named Dario who wanted to recreate his heritage in the form of a midieval castle. The castle was quite impressive to tour, and we also got to do a barrel tasting as well as a formal tasting of their wines. Their wines were pretty good, but nothing that wowed us. Their Rose was fairly pleasant, so we got bottle of that. The views around the castle were breathtaking, making the trip very worthwhile.

We are now heading to Bouchon Bistro for dinner, which should be delicious.

Overall, a great first day in Napa Valley!

(Only negative-- Ben and I forgot sunscreen for the bike tour and are now both sporting sexy farmer tan burns)