wine country afternoon

There are a few wineries we've been to plenty of times and don't necessarily need to do a tasting every time we are there. We just want to go there to enjoy the ambiance, purchase a bottle and camp out on their patio for the entire afternoon (I'm sure the winery head honchos would love to hear that we like to "camp out" but when you buy a bottle, I don't feel bad just chilling on their grounds.  

In Napa, we like to go to Beringer and buy a bottle of their Cab Franc (probably one of our most favorite bottles of all time) and hang out on the porch just off the reserve room.  There is something unbelievably relaxing about spending a day not running from one winery to the next but just enjoying the area.

In Sonoma, we like to go to St. Francis, we found a quiet table on the patio, complete with shade and unobstructed view of the vineyard - can't beat that!

This particular day, we needed to eat our picnic lunch right around the time that we were driving past St. Francis.  The beauty of the place is that you can eat your own food on their grounds.  Purchasing a bottle of wine to go with your picnic, if not blatantly stated on the picnic tables is usually assumed, for this particular day we enjoyed the 2008 cab.  You might remember we dig the  07 St. Francis cab so much that we bought the entire stock from the liquor store one day
at the beginning of the year. 

Entire stock = 2 cases...we weren't the only people to know this is a excellent bottle at a steal of a price.  This is also the sole reason why I don't blog about new wines anymore, we just drink this one, sadly for us but lucky for you, we are nearing in on the end of our stash and soon enough will need to branch out and purchase some new wines to try.  

Barkley was totally digging it...you might sense a theme here. Our dog is just about as much of a fan of weekends in wine country as Mike and I are. Lucky little dog.  

just not cutting it anymore: $5 bottles of wine

Houston, I'm in trouble. Yep, trouble.  You know what happens when you start to recognize good wine vs. not - so - good wine?  You really get a taste for the good stuff. And with the good stuff, means gone are the days of enjoying a $5 bottle of wine.  Which is a bit of a bummer. Because although I may like wine (a lot), I also like to be thrifty.  One might say, I like to save money like a squirrel likes to pack away nuts all winter. Only I don't store my dinero in my cheeks.  So, it makes me sad that this bottle will no long put a smile on my face the way it used to. 

The good news is that we haven't gone from $5 bottle of wine taste straight on up to a $35 bottle of wine (although those are really good! Check out Sequoia Grove 2007 Cabernet...our favorite in that price point.)  We have however jumped up to the $11 bottle (on sale with our grocery store discount card) per wine category with the St. Francis 07 Cab.  It's really a top notch bottle of wine for the price. [Read more about it here.] And while you may be wondering why I haven't been featuring any new wines lately, it is because of this bottle.  Our wine frig is brimming with bottles of the St. Francis 07 Cab.  Recently, I saw that our grocery store was starting to sell the '08 Cab instead, so I pushed the  front bottle off to the side, and found 5 bottles remaining of the '07, snatched them up quickly and away I went to check out.  It's that good, people.

bargain basement: wine

Ladies and Gentlemen: We have found a winner. This wine is oaky and fruity, with enough bold spicy notes to let you know that you are drinking a cab.  This wine is fantastic.  We bought it from the liquor store for $20 and thought that was a deal and we bought 2 bottles.  Then, we found it at the grocery store for $12.99 and we bought a case. 

One of the bottles that came home with us even had a tag on it that described this wine better than I ever could, which makes sense because this description came right from St. Francis (no not the patron saint of animals, but the Sonoma County winery, which is just as cool.)

(Side note: in 4th grade we had to dress up as saints for Halloween

- it was a catholic school -

and I chose St. Francis,

I stuck on a robe and my mom safety

pinned all my stuffed animals to me.

Still cracks me up. )

Back to the wine:

St. Francis describes the wine as "full bodied, rich mouth feel, generous tannins, black currant, plum, blueberry, spicy oak, and vanilla with a hint of spice and smooth finish."

St. Francis

St. Francis holds a special place in my heart. The man, the actual saint, that is. In fourth grade for Halloween, we had to dress up as a saint. I choose St. Francis and my mom pinned all of my stuff animals on a robe and there I went to my Catholic School's halloween party thinking I was the coolest kid in the world...or so I thought. I know now that my geekiness all stems from those formible years.

Anyways, back to the wine. So over New Year's weekend, we stopped by St. Francis winery to check things out. St. Francis has earned a spot at the top of our favorites because of its mellow atmosphere and beautiful scenery. We didn't try any of the wine that day but the next time we go to Sonoma County, we will be stopping there, both for a tasting and to enjoy the view again. By the way, the shopping in the tasting room is also top notch. See the "Handcrafted in Sonoma Valley" board above? That's just one of many really sweet pieces that originated from old barrels and the like. Gotta love me some recycled goods! It has a place near and dear to my heart.