New Years in Napa Valley!

John and I flew out to San Francisco and made the drive up to Napa to meet our friends Katie and Ron for New Years.  It is so beautiful up there any time of year and was a wonderful way to spend the last day of 2011 and ring in the new year!

On New Years Eve day, we went out wine tasting all day with a tour guide.  He took us to four very small and different wineries that all made different and tasty wine.  All of the wineries were family run and the people were so friendly.

Katie, Ron and John outside of the Vintage Inn in Yountville, getting ready for our adventure. 

Don't forget about me! 

Our first stop was Anomaly - even though it's winter, the vineyards still look beautiful!

This is his winery, inside, just some tanks - you would think there is nothing else to it, but downstairs is a cellar, tasting room and storage of the barrels.   

Katie and Ron enjoying the Cab!

John and I 

One day........

Our next stop was Chase, another family run operation just around the corner.   They make Zinfandel's , among others.

What a view!

With Rachel, who was pouring us wine in this amazing setting

Next we went to Kelham, definitely one of my favorites of the whole trip!  This is a family run place too, the sons are the winemakers and they are so nice and passionate about what they do.

Here we had lunch, amazing! and did our tasting.  Here's John with the bread....
As you can see, it's like we were sitting in their living room.  We were tasting vintages from 2001, 2002 and 2003 as the boys believe in aging their wine before they give tastings and have it available for sale.  Every wine we tasted was better than the next

Our last stop was David Fulton winery.  It was a bit random and by that point we were pretty wined out and trying to compare to Kelham was not fair, but....the petite syrah was still better than anything we buy at home.  

After a long day of wine tasting, we decided to light a fire, stay in and watch Dick Clark's New Years Eve show with some bubbles and snacks.  Although Katie and I were both asleep before midnight, it was still a fun day and night!
I love how our rooms had a wood burning (well, duraflame burning) fireplace! 

The next day, we got up and went to the Culinary Institute of America for lunch.  It's in a great old building, I wish I had gotten a shot of the outside.  The kitchen is all open and the inside space is pretty cool here....
Katie and her variety of beverages.  I was trying to capture the tiny martini.... 

Pretty flowers in the lobby!
That day we walked around Yountville, did a little window shopping and finished the night with a FABULOUS meal at Bottega.  It was one of the best I've ever had, I would highly recommend it!

Happy New Year to all of you!  We hope 2012 is filled with love, laughter and sunshine!