Wine, wine, whine!
Whew, four days of vacation in Napa/Sonoma/Calistoga is just exhausting. Oh, right, and Yenta #3 got married! Yay!
Thursday we flew to Oakland and drove up to St. Helena (that's Hel-EEH-nah), where we were staying with family friends (N&S) in their rented villa. (It really is a villa -- the house has 4 bedrooms with full baths, and an extra apartment over the garage... a huge kitchen, big living room, and a pool... and is surrounded by grape vines!) The weather was beautiful - average mid-80's during the day, and down below 60 at night. brrr!
What we did not know was that our illustrious lame duck President was attending a fundraiser in St. Helena on Thursday evening! We were treated to a line of California Highway Patrol cars up and down Route 29. We later learned that the wealthy Republicans who paid up to $7500 per person were forced to eat sandwiches, because giving them cutlery might have posed a danger to Dubya. Honestly, when you can't even trust your big donors not to stab you with their forks, what is the world coming to?
This trip was a blur of great wine, amazing meals, gorgeous scenery, and windy mountain roads
between wineries. Here's a picture of the "view" from my chaise lounge on Friday morning before we went to lunch.
Speaking of amazing meals, we had dinner on Thursday at Mustards Grill with N&S. The seared ahi appetizer was to die for. The soup was so rich and creamy I wasn't even going to taste it, for fear that it might kill me! Between the four of us we drank a bottle of red and a bottle of white (N brings his own bottle of red whenever he goes out... and it's always really good! He's trying to teach me to like red, but I think I have issues with the tannin.) We ordered a half-order of their onion rings, which were really more like onion strings, and very tasty. A whole order would have been deadly. ;) In the middle of dinner, we watched all of the black SUVs and CHP cars drive away... the President was gone. Phew! When we got back, I laid in bed and was so full I couldn't move. ugh.
Friday was sort of a lazy day. We waited for (N&S's son) Drew to arrive from SF and then went to lunch at Martini House. They are famous for their kobe beef burgers, and let me tell you, there's good reason for that! We sat outside at a lovely table on the patio (with ceiling fan) and had more than our share of amuse bouche (2 kinds of tiny mushroom tart, a polenta round with a slice of sausage and red peppers, and ... something else.) If I had known there were going to be that many amuses, I wouldn't have ordered the *lovely* ahi tuna and cucumber appetizer - or maybe N and I would have split one burger! Another bottle of red, and bottle of white. The white wine was Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc, and it was outstanding. I had the burger (without the cheese). I couldn't even eat the whole thing! (P didn't mind sharing...) ;)
After lunch, we walked around "downtown" St. Helena. There are some cute shops and beautiful art galleries, and we definitely needed to walk off lunch! From there, we took Drew's recommendation and went to the Napa Wine Company in Oakville, aka Cult Wine Central. Instead of offering tastes of wines from just one winery, this company provides grapes to up 80 wineries, helps them with production, and provides a beautiful tasting room for their small batches of very good wines. 
We tasted a flight of white and a flight of red. YUM.
After a short nap and a dip in the pool, we had dinner at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen. I'd been hearing about Cindy's since mom took a group out there for dinner during a conference. Cindy's is owned by the same folks as Mustards, so we knew we were in for a nice meal. We sat outside on the patio, and had a funny, good-natured waitress. Unfortunately, the ahi there wasn't as fantastic as it had been earlier in the day, but I just couldn't stuff myself any more! We did have dessert - chocolate pot du creme - but after that, I was done!
Saturday morning I decided I'd eaten/drunk way too much without doing any exercise, so I put on my duds and my iPod, and went for a walk. Turns out I walked 3.3 miles - I even jogged a little! and I took my camera along, so I could take a few pics of the area. Here's a grape vine full of ripe fruit -- the next morning, they were all gone!
When the sun came out and burned off the mist, Saturday turned into a gorgeous day. We picked up some coffee at Oakville Grocery (getting our fill, since the one here at the Domain went out of business!) and went over to the BR Cohn winery in Sonoma -- P is a member of their wine club. We tasted some great wines (and bought some) and also visited their gourmet shop - they make wonderful olive oils, sauces, etc. I bought some of those, too. :)
After tasting all of those lovely wines, it was definitely time for lunch. We drove down to Sonoma to look at the Town Square and have lunch. In retrospect, the restaurant we chose was not the best... there were many other options that we discovered *after* lunch when we walked around. Oh well. We checked out some shops, and then decided to go to one of the other wineries that N had recommended, because of the art gallery.
Hess Collection is a beautiful (a little hard to find) winery back on the Napa side. We started with the tasting -- a flight of red and a flight of white, natch -- and then went to see the art collection. Three stories of very interesting and creative works, including giant woodcuts and a flaming typewriter. As the guide at the entrance said, tasting the wine first made the art much more interesting!
Back to the house for a nap, and then it was time for the wedding! We got all gussied up (didn't take a picture til the end of the night, dammit!) and drove up to Calistoga. The Hans Fahden winery was a beautiful setting. (Clearly they do a LOT of weddings there...) There was a gazebo area for drinks and hors d'ouvres, and then an outdoor setting for the chuppah. The ceremony was lovely. The rabbi did a great job, and I managed to keep from crying. :)
Here's a pic of Val walking down the aisle with her parents. She looked absolutely gorgeous. We all filed into the wine cave for dinner. (if you're looking at the photos from Hans Fahden, it was set up like #9.) Not having met the groom, I immediately made a beeline to the front of the room to see if he lived up to the hype. (he did!) I was going to make him an honorary Yenta (as we did for Josh when Judy got married) but decided against it since she hasn't met him yet either! We'll just have to embarrass him in DC next time we're all together.
It was nice to see some of the familiar faces from the old neighborhood and the '97 Inaugural Committee - and some of them even recognized me! It was a small crowd - only 100 people - but very lively. The band played in the room just outside the cave. P and I had a good time dancing and chatting with everyone, until the last song played at 10:30pm. And by then my feet hurt so much that I couldn't walk any more... The Carlos Santana shoes were cute and went with the outfit, but the straps were biting me! :(
And like that, the weekend was over. We stopped at Oakville (again!) on the way to the airport on Sunday, to get sandwiches and coffee, and then set off for Oakland. We had enough time to have a beer at the Pyramid Hefeweizen bar before the flight, and eat our much-better-than-airport-food sandwiches.
Photos from the weekend (I didn't take many!) are posted to Flickr, though they're a little out of order! It was a blast! I'm still exhausted!
Thursday we flew to Oakland and drove up to St. Helena (that's Hel-EEH-nah), where we were staying with family friends (N&S) in their rented villa. (It really is a villa -- the house has 4 bedrooms with full baths, and an extra apartment over the garage... a huge kitchen, big living room, and a pool... and is surrounded by grape vines!) The weather was beautiful - average mid-80's during the day, and down below 60 at night. brrr!
What we did not know was that our illustrious lame duck President was attending a fundraiser in St. Helena on Thursday evening! We were treated to a line of California Highway Patrol cars up and down Route 29. We later learned that the wealthy Republicans who paid up to $7500 per person were forced to eat sandwiches, because giving them cutlery might have posed a danger to Dubya. Honestly, when you can't even trust your big donors not to stab you with their forks, what is the world coming to?
This trip was a blur of great wine, amazing meals, gorgeous scenery, and windy mountain roads
between wineries. Here's a picture of the "view" from my chaise lounge on Friday morning before we went to lunch.Speaking of amazing meals, we had dinner on Thursday at Mustards Grill with N&S. The seared ahi appetizer was to die for. The soup was so rich and creamy I wasn't even going to taste it, for fear that it might kill me! Between the four of us we drank a bottle of red and a bottle of white (N brings his own bottle of red whenever he goes out... and it's always really good! He's trying to teach me to like red, but I think I have issues with the tannin.) We ordered a half-order of their onion rings, which were really more like onion strings, and very tasty. A whole order would have been deadly. ;) In the middle of dinner, we watched all of the black SUVs and CHP cars drive away... the President was gone. Phew! When we got back, I laid in bed and was so full I couldn't move. ugh.
Friday was sort of a lazy day. We waited for (N&S's son) Drew to arrive from SF and then went to lunch at Martini House. They are famous for their kobe beef burgers, and let me tell you, there's good reason for that! We sat outside at a lovely table on the patio (with ceiling fan) and had more than our share of amuse bouche (2 kinds of tiny mushroom tart, a polenta round with a slice of sausage and red peppers, and ... something else.) If I had known there were going to be that many amuses, I wouldn't have ordered the *lovely* ahi tuna and cucumber appetizer - or maybe N and I would have split one burger! Another bottle of red, and bottle of white. The white wine was Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc, and it was outstanding. I had the burger (without the cheese). I couldn't even eat the whole thing! (P didn't mind sharing...) ;)
After lunch, we walked around "downtown" St. Helena. There are some cute shops and beautiful art galleries, and we definitely needed to walk off lunch! From there, we took Drew's recommendation and went to the Napa Wine Company in Oakville, aka Cult Wine Central. Instead of offering tastes of wines from just one winery, this company provides grapes to up 80 wineries, helps them with production, and provides a beautiful tasting room for their small batches of very good wines. We tasted a flight of white and a flight of red. YUM.After a short nap and a dip in the pool, we had dinner at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen. I'd been hearing about Cindy's since mom took a group out there for dinner during a conference. Cindy's is owned by the same folks as Mustards, so we knew we were in for a nice meal. We sat outside on the patio, and had a funny, good-natured waitress. Unfortunately, the ahi there wasn't as fantastic as it had been earlier in the day, but I just couldn't stuff myself any more! We did have dessert - chocolate pot du creme - but after that, I was done!
Saturday morning I decided I'd eaten/drunk way too much without doing any exercise, so I put on my duds and my iPod, and went for a walk. Turns out I walked 3.3 miles - I even jogged a little! and I took my camera along, so I could take a few pics of the area. Here's a grape vine full of ripe fruit -- the next morning, they were all gone!
When the sun came out and burned off the mist, Saturday turned into a gorgeous day. We picked up some coffee at Oakville Grocery (getting our fill, since the one here at the Domain went out of business!) and went over to the BR Cohn winery in Sonoma -- P is a member of their wine club. We tasted some great wines (and bought some) and also visited their gourmet shop - they make wonderful olive oils, sauces, etc. I bought some of those, too. :)
After tasting all of those lovely wines, it was definitely time for lunch. We drove down to Sonoma to look at the Town Square and have lunch. In retrospect, the restaurant we chose was not the best... there were many other options that we discovered *after* lunch when we walked around. Oh well. We checked out some shops, and then decided to go to one of the other wineries that N had recommended, because of the art gallery.
Hess Collection is a beautiful (a little hard to find) winery back on the Napa side. We started with the tasting -- a flight of red and a flight of white, natch -- and then went to see the art collection. Three stories of very interesting and creative works, including giant woodcuts and a flaming typewriter. As the guide at the entrance said, tasting the wine first made the art much more interesting!
Back to the house for a nap, and then it was time for the wedding! We got all gussied up (didn't take a picture til the end of the night, dammit!) and drove up to Calistoga. The Hans Fahden winery was a beautiful setting. (Clearly they do a LOT of weddings there...) There was a gazebo area for drinks and hors d'ouvres, and then an outdoor setting for the chuppah. The ceremony was lovely. The rabbi did a great job, and I managed to keep from crying. :)Here's a pic of Val walking down the aisle with her parents. She looked absolutely gorgeous. We all filed into the wine cave for dinner. (if you're looking at the photos from Hans Fahden, it was set up like #9.) Not having met the groom, I immediately made a beeline to the front of the room to see if he lived up to the hype. (he did!) I was going to make him an honorary Yenta (as we did for Josh when Judy got married) but decided against it since she hasn't met him yet either! We'll just have to embarrass him in DC next time we're all together.
It was nice to see some of the familiar faces from the old neighborhood and the '97 Inaugural Committee - and some of them even recognized me! It was a small crowd - only 100 people - but very lively. The band played in the room just outside the cave. P and I had a good time dancing and chatting with everyone, until the last song played at 10:30pm. And by then my feet hurt so much that I couldn't walk any more... The Carlos Santana shoes were cute and went with the outfit, but the straps were biting me! :(
And like that, the weekend was over. We stopped at Oakville (again!) on the way to the airport on Sunday, to get sandwiches and coffee, and then set off for Oakland. We had enough time to have a beer at the Pyramid Hefeweizen bar before the flight, and eat our much-better-than-airport-food sandwiches.
Photos from the weekend (I didn't take many!) are posted to Flickr, though they're a little out of order! It was a blast! I'm still exhausted!
Comments
Mustard's is yummy. haven't been there in ages. It was opened by the same person/company that opened Fog City Diner in SF and Buckeye Roadhouse. Both are also really good.
Anyway, sounds like you had a great time.