The Miss Elaine-ous Life

random acts of life, family and photos

Napa/San Jose Trip Part 2

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On day two we woke up to a day full of aniticipation and I for one was most excited to find out what more all these grapes I’d seen the day before could do for my palette.

Our first stop for the day was the Robert Mondavi wine tour which began promptly at 10 a.m. but don’t worry, we didn’t actually taste any wine until around 11:30 or so. ‘Cause y’all were worried, right? HA!

The tour began among the vines and we basically saw what happens from grape to bottle. This winery is just gorgeous and our tour guide was a pretty animated guy who kept things interesting.

View from the parking lot

View through that beautiful archway

Jennifer and I in the rose garden

The vast vineyards

Jen & Heather by the French oak barrels that hold 300 gallons of vino.

At the tasting

Now let me take a pause here for a moment to say that I wish I could post all the pictures I took. It’s really hard to choose.

After R.M. we stopped by the St. Supery winery, which I’d learned about at a wine tasting the previous week (I was just gearin’ up for the trip). It was a quick stop with some good wine. But we needed lunch.

Lunch was at Tra Vigne per a suggestion from a gentleman that Tim used to work with. I don’t know if Robert will ever read this but if he does let me just say “THANK YOU!” It was divine. We all basically had the same thing. It was a “light” pizza with blue cheese and figs. TO. DIE. FOR. and an appetizer of “just made this morning” fresh mozarella with crusty bread and balsamic. Apparently we like cheese. Here are views of the courtyard and my pizza.



After lunch we moved on to Peju. The building and the grounds here were beautiful. The wine on the other hand…. Not so much. But I did buy some chocolate sauce with Merlot here, that I sampled first. So wine alone not good but mixed with chocolate, pretty darn good. Some photos of pretty Peju.

We continued on our quest for wine and wound up at Franciscan. It was here that I decided to check on the family and found out that Little G was still sick. He had thrown up on Wednesday morning (before I left on Thursday) but seemed fine the rest of the day. Turns out he wasn’t. He continued to have stomach “issues” (if you know what I mean) and STILL isn’t up to par. Tim sounded tired and I was sad that I couldn’t be there for my little guy while he was sickly but there wasn’t much I could do at that point. Does it sound bad that I kept on drinking because at this point I REALLY needed one!

I walked in with tears in my eyes but the girls assured me that the boys would be fine. Tim hung up telling me to have a good time and that they would be fine. So, since everyone seemed fine we pressed on. I don’t look that sad though, do I?

Once we left there we drove over to Groth. Tim and I have enjoyed a few bottles of this wine during our relationship and let’s just say it’s kind of “speical occasion” wine for us. (which simply means it’s $$$).

At Groth we met Lena and SO wish she could have come along with us to the next place. She was awesome. Cheers Lena! (unfortunately I don’t have a pic of her…)


After Groth we made our last official Napa “wine” stop and it was a hum-dinger! (that’s Southern for awesome!). Domaine Chandon did not disappoint! I venture to say that we were a little “tipsy” when we left (please note that no drinking and driving happened on this trip – Jen was the driver the majority of the time and she was assurdly the most sober…) This place is actually known more for their sparkling wine and this is where I bought the only bottle I brought home, which I plan for Tim and I to drink on our anniversary next week!

We had an extremely entertaining “pourer” whose name escapes me (girls can you help me out here?) and the picture I have of him is dark but he was a hoot and made the experience even that much better!


I will close with a picture of the gardens behind 25 Brix, our dinner spot. And yes, another wonderful meal, this time of scallops and lentils and yumminess (I know it may not sound that good but it was!)


After dinner we drove to San Jose, where we would spend the next two nights. Many of you reading probably don’t know that I was born in San Jose… more on that tomorrow. And if you’ve hung on through this entire post I thank you. Most of the record of this trip is so that my friends and I can remember what a wonderful time this was but I love being able to share it on my blog…

elaine

Comments

  1. yum!!!

    love wine country… I’m not far away, so of course I think it’s fun place to visit!

    glad you could get away for some “me time”… it’s good for you. (trying not to be jealous)

  4. I always loved Mondavi because when you pull up, it looks just like the label on the bottle 🙂 Your trip looked like SO much fun! I wish I lived closer to CA….

  5. I’ll admit that anything with blue cheese and figs sounds a bit doubtfully, gastronimically speaking. But I’ll take your word for it. And then wash it down with all that wine.

  16. Mmmm, drooling. I have heard that fig and blue cheese is an amazing combination…yummo!

    And now I need a glass of wine…

  19. That was like a walk down memory lane for me. We were there on our honeymoon and hit all but one of those locations.
    It truly is a breathtakingly beautiful area. We loved the general feel, ability to relax and of course the wine.

  20. So glad you’re having a good time–and sorry your little guy is not feeling well–

    The pictures are great and you all look like you’re having a good time!

    Blessings!

  23. What gorgeous pictures. It is always bittersweet to read about wine country when you are pregnant. I had to hold back the urge to pour a glass. Just kidding, Happy POW!