Napa Valley and San Francisco

After Katie and Ron left, John and I had our first "just us" vacation since maybe our honeymoon!  I know that sounds crazy because we travel quite a bit, but we are always visiting friends, visiting family etc...  It was really nice to start the new year being together in a beautiful place.

Monday we spent the day going to a few different wineries, one new and two of my old favorites.  We first stopped at Chappellet, which is up in the mountains overlooking a lake.  We heard about them through a bartender in New York and it was worth the stop (once we found them!).  We went for their cabs, but turns out they have a really interesting white and Merlot as well.  After that, we went down the mountain to Fleury, which is always fun.  They are in an old warehouse space that they have turned into separate tasting rooms.  The wines have fun names (ie, the F in Red and Rocket Juice) and are wonderful.

Our space for tasting, very cozy and you probably can't tell, but asian accents

Definitely a motto to live by and a good thought for the beginning of a new year

It was a warehouse, so it was a bit chilly, hence being bundled!

Our next stop was Larkmead, definitely a favorite of mine that John had not yet been too.  Although their selection was not as great as it has been in the past (I'm assuming demand has gone up and they only make a small quantity of wine), it's always relaxing sitting on their porch enjoying the view!

Our last stop that day was the Solage, one of my favorite hotels!  We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite with a private patio - I have to post a few pictures of the room.  If you're ever in Calistoga and looking for a place to stay, it's truly an oasis!

Yes, that is a private hot tub you see in the background there! 

Not only is the room wonderful, but the gym, spa and restaurant are all great as well!  Both nights we were here, we ate at the Solbar - again, if you are in the area, stop for breakfast, lunch or dinner - I promise you won't be disappointed!

Tuesday we headed over to Sonoma County to meet John's friend Shane.  Shane is a wine maker at Kosta Browne and also makes his own label.  Kosta Browne makes Pinot Noir, actually, this year they were awarded wine of the year by the Wine Spectator, a pretty big accomplishment for Shane, I would say!  Shane's own label is mainly Syrah and the best I've ever had.  We were lucky enough to do a barrel tasting here, trying the same wine in different barrels and really learning some of the nuances that go into wine making.

There's Shane, tube in one hand, glass in the other and he still can climb the barrels without a problem!

After our barrel tasting, we went to lunch at a cute little place.  It was so nice to be able to finally meet Shane and for John to catch up with him.

Later that day, we decided to take a drive down to Provenance, a wine that both John and I enjoy.  It's bigger than all of the others we had been too, but it was late in the day, so it was fairly empty.

Big tasting room!

The view from their window, so pretty!!

The next day, we walked around St Helena, such a darling town, for a bit and then headed to see Donny at Trespass.  We spent about an hour with him, it's extremely relaxing sitting in the middle of his vineyard with the sun shining down on us.  John loved the setting, Donny and his wine - it was the perfect ending to our Napa Valley wine tasting adventure!

These are old pictures of his vineyard, I guess we were too involved in conversation to take pictures this go around! 

On our way to San Francisco, we stopped in downtown Napa for lunch at Morimoto.  I had been wanting to try it and was not disappointed.  The space was very modern and cool and the food tasty.

The Mary Moto is made with pureed heirloom tomatoes, wasabi, orange vodka, spices and garnished with pickled jalapeno's.  It was surprisingly refreshing! 

And this I had to photograph - it's a tuna pizza.....sounds weird, I know, but was delicious.
A grilled flour tortilla topped with ahi sashimi, tomato, olive, jalapeno and wasabi dressing.

San Francisco was great!  It's such a neat city with so much to offer.  We didn't get out to Golden Gate Park, I guess we'll save that for the next time, but we did spend a day in Sausalito popping in and out of galleries, took a walk through the Ferry Building, the Wharf, Union Square and North Beach.  We really just relaxed and enjoyed each others company.

This bridge always amazes me!

Staying at the Fairmont, a trip to the Tonga Room was a must!  So cheesy! So fun!

From the ferry with the city in the background, the cloud cover makes this look fake.

What a wonderful way to start the new year, we are so lucky!