Mike's birthday weekend in Napa

It's July, which means I would like to celebrate my birth every day of the entire month, so I better get Mike's birthday recap out of the way so that I can focus on myself. (#kiddingnotkidding) (#ilovemybirthdaysomuch).

Mike and I spent the weekend in Napa in March for his birthday. It was the first time we had ever stayed overnight in the valley.  We tasted at Caymus (awesome, I'd go back there in a nanosecond), lunch at Rutherford Hill (always a good time), Rutherford Ranch (quick stop for zin upon recommendation from our driver), Duckhorn (we love the Duckhorn family of wineries but our favorite is their sister winery, Paraduxx) and Rombauer (wine is good but there's no personal experience there, it's just a "pour and leave me alone" type of place, we like to learn while tasting. There was no learning.) 

So..... there you go. 

We also did Inglenook which is one of Francis Ford Coppola's wineries.  It was fun to see some movie paraphernalia. 

Duckhorn

Picnicking at Rutherford Hill Winery. We're not merlot people, typically, but their merlot is delicious.   Their picnic grounds are also unbelievable and a "must stop" for us every time we are in Napa. 

Roadside pitstop to take pictures.  These are merlot grapes (#icanread)

Inglenook - beautiful grounds, great tour, really really great wines.  The only trouble was that the other people on our tour could NOT have been more annoying. 

In my inability to put these pictures in order, here's another photo of Rutherford Hill winery with the Napa Valley behind us.  I mean seriously, we count out blessings every time we are in the valley that we only need to drive 40 minutes to get to one of the greatest places on earth.  It's awesome.

wine tasting with my mama

"Wine to me is passion.  It's family and friends.  It's warmth of heart and generosity of spirit.  Wine is art.  It's culture.  It's the essence of civilization and the art of living." 

~ Robert Mondavi, Autobiography, "Harvests of Joy"

[*]

I couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Mondavi.

winery: Hall, Napa Co.

My mom and I were up for one more stop on the day o' wine tasting, however we decided due to the fact that it was 109 degrees and we were sweating just standing still, the idea of tasting more wine kinda seemed like a chore (it's sad, but true.) We were driving south on Highway 29 and the traffic driving north into St. Helena was horrendous, so we knew that we had to choose a winery on the right hand side so as to not have to deal with crossing traffic upon entering and exiting.  Plus, I have always wanted to check out Hall (they have a sign boasting their "Crazy Good Cabernets" that has always peaked my interest). Luckily it met the requirement of being located on the right side of the road and we pulled in.  We wanted to find a shady spot to park the car, but apparently Hall loves their hybrids, all-electric cars, carpools, bicycles - you get my drift - there were more signs designated for all the different type of environmentally friendly cars I was a bit in awe.  My mom - the Prius driver before Prius driving was cool - I think, was pretty impressed with this.  

There is plenty of "normal" people parking too however, just not in the shade, not close up to the front doors, but my Volkswagen wagon found a happy spot to bask in the 109 degree heat. And we popped into the tasting room.  It was after sweating 5 pounds of water weight off just from walking from the car to the tasting room, that we decided it was too hot to taste the wine.  So we just wondered around and took pictures. Totally up my alley.  

winery: Luna, Napa Co.

My mom recently came out to visit me for a long weekend and her two requests of things she wanted to do were to go to wine country and shop in San Francisco. Done. and Done (the shopping pictures are on my phone however, so once I figure out how to get those off of there and onto my computer, I'll share those.)

Today it's all about Napa Co. Our first stop was Luna.  We were driving north up Silverado Trail and passed by Luna.  My mom yelled out - OH I love that one! So we made a u-turn and started our wine tasting at Luna.  Turns out that both of us were thinking that this winery was Luna di Luna, you know the one with the bright rainbow colored opaque bottles.  Well, it's not. Luna di Luna is out of Italy, and we were in Napa (you know, just in case you weren't clear).  We asked if Luna and Luna di Luna were all under the same wine family and alas, they are not. (It wasn't until just now that I looked up to see where Luna di Luna is out of.)  After we were let down by this fact, we tried some wine.  And, boy, we were pleasantly surprised.  (I love when that happens.) It was delicious. The tasting room was so homey - the ladies pouring the wines were busy, but not too busy to be pretentious snobs and not tell us anything about the wine (always important). We were encouraged to take a walk up to the tower that overlooks the Pinot (I think, sometimes I don't listen) grapes.  It was delightful. 

Luna's Sangiovese was superb. It goes for $25 per bottle and is seriously going to be a staple in our wine frig for summer enjoyment.  It was however 3 million degrees (OK, truly, it reached 109 degrees, which in my book is just about the same as 3 million degrees) the day that we went to the winery, so I didn't buy any wine that day, but I will be sure to make a stop next time. 

I would like my house to look like this - complete with a wine bar, people working behind the bar pouring wine and a dark wooden ceiling.  Yes, I think I just might move into to the Luna tasting room.  

 Luna's grounds were beautiful.  So quiet, so peaceful, so ready to try some more wine

olive tree overlooking the vineyard - as most olive trees do in Napa county.

entrance to Luna

For more information on Luna - go here.

winery: mumm

We've heard good things about Mumm.  Clearly everyone and their brother heard these same good things, since the day we went to try some Mumm wines, we were not alone.  (Clausterphobia might have been the word of the hour.)  So, we took a few pictures and continued on our journey of wine tasting happiness. Some other time, when it's not the middle of crush, we'll go back.  But until then, I'll leave you with what might just be my most favorite picture I've taken in wine country. 

silver oak

I know I've talked about Silver Oak before but I really like this place...it's a two-fer in my book.  Meaning, wonderful wine AND wonderful atmosphere.  Couldn't you just sit here with a glass of wine looking at a field of vines every day for the rest of your life?  I could.  Pretty sure that the folks at Silver Oak might (just might) get sick of me.

  I love it here.  And clearly, Barkley does too.  (She's got good taste.)

the hess collection

Hess Winery may be off the beaten path of the two main thoroughfares of Highway 29 or Silverado Trail in Napa County, but it's definitely worth a bit of a detour to admire their grounds, check out the two floors of modern art in their gallery, and of course enjoy a bit of wine.  Our favorite wine of the day was actually a very reasonable bottle (under $20 at the winery) of zinfandel named Artezin. 

 You may be wondering what I am standing next to...It's

I'm not sure if Mike was taking this picture to capture the happiness that Nik and I had for actually getting to spend a best friends weekend together...or if we were just a by-product of him admiring the wall of ivy. Either way, it might be one of my favorite pictures of the weekend.  I had so, so, so much fun having my bestest friend in the whole. wide. world in town for the weekend. :)

yountville

Every time we go wine tasting in Napa County, we drive past the town of Yountville.  We always comment that we should really check out the town.  Luckily, we had a quiet Saturday recently to do just that.   Yountville blew me away. Seriously. It is such a cute town, so rather than make you read anymore, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

enjoy!