Yes, that’s not a typo. We visited 7 wineries. Maybe it was the addition of Ken. Maybe it was the 5 mile run that I did in the morning. We may never know. In honor of that event, I will be changing my blogging format to go over those 7.

1. Robert Mondavi
Because I joined the Simi wine club last Tuesday, it meant that we could go to both Mondavi and Franciscan for free and enjoy all the privileges of membership. Su and I had been here before in previous years and it’s safe to say we weren’t impressed. So we were completely surprised how not bad/good the wines were. We even got a free tasting glass to boot. The host was a nice guy who gave us a lot of information about wine and even let us know about all the extra tasting rooms that members could appreciate. So after leaving the main tasting room, we made our way to the club tasting room. After already tasting 7 wines, I managed to try a few more. We ended up leaving with two half bottles of the dessert wine(2000 Sauvignon Blanc Botrytis) that was sweet and yummy. The classiest thing about the company is that even though they couldn’t find my name in the wine membership database(not enough lag time), they seemed to take it in stride and assume I was telling the truth.

2. Rubicon
Rubicon has the distinction to have made a fantastic zinfandel a couple of years ago. That sole fact has kept me returning in the hopes of a repeat. Sadly, their wines are not very good and at $25 per person, it kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The guy serving us was very long-winded and really didn’t have a dialog as much as a monologue. We left without a purchase.

3. Franciscan
Su and Ken picked specific tasting flights while I used my power to dabble into many different wines. Again, I had a lot of wine, but I think the price point didn’t justify the flavor of the wines (or vice-versa).

3.5. Rutherford Grill
I mention our lunch spot for two reasons. I had a glass of wine. We convinced Ken that it was an awesome lunch spot after he tried the Prime Rib French Dip.

4. Chateau Montelena
After watching Bottle Shock, I wanted to go try both wineries that kicked the French butt all those years ago. The red winery was Stags Leap Wine Cellars. The white wine was this place. I’m a former member of the SLWC but I quit because though their wine is good, it’s crazy expensive for a blind club. We drove far north into the valley to get to CM. Pretty nice looking place. Though the Chateau was the filming location for the movie, it appeared that a lot of development took place since then. Anyway, all of the wines were good. The chardonnay is more the French style so not my thing, but we did buy a half case of wine. 2 2007 Potter Valley Riesling, 1 2006 Montelena Estate Zinfandel, 2 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and 1 2005 Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

5. Lava Vine
We had planned to go to Rombauer next, but this place was a recommendation and on the way so we stopped for a tasting. And I’m very glad we did. The hostess was great and so were the wines. It was a very small production place, but they seemed to know what they were doing. Apparently, the winemaker is the same as some very expensive place. We bought 2 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 1 2008 Napa Valley Viognier. Ken was so impressed he became a member which meant our purchases were discounted. Everybody wins.

6. Rombauer
Weirdly enough, we had the same host as last year. This guy used to be a car salesman. One year later, his wine knowledge didn’t seem to improve. We need to figure out how to get a better host. Anyway, we tried a lot of wine there but nothing new blew me away. The chardonnay was still the creamiest of all others on this trip so that was good, but the reds were oh so disappointing. They also have good dessert wines (chards and ports) so I asked to try them. The dude only let us try the chard (which doesn’t really make sense to me). At the end, we ordered the following to be shipped: 3 zinfandel ports (based on last years reputation since we couldn’t taste ’em), 1 Late Harvest Joy (chard dessert), and 2 2007 Carneros Chardonnay.

7. Louis Martini
For some reason, we were still in the mood for tasting and I remember that this place had good old vine zinfandels. I asked the guy about it and he said they were sold out of last year’s vintage and the new one hadn’t been released. That made me sad, but we got to try some of their other wines. Nothing really stood out with the exception of their dessert wine, of which I got a bottle. They sell them big (750ml) which I wish more places would follow.

After the 7th winery, we crashed back at the hotel for a bit. I caught up on my WWDC news (although the stupid Wifi connection in the hotel wouldn’t let me watch the keynote). If interested, I wrote about the WWDC news in other posts.

We had dinner at Bottega (by Michael Chiarello, same guy where we tasted the wine last week). The food was ok, but not mind-blowing like other places. We were all sort of turned off by the lack of a proper Italian dessert like a tiramisu (or anything that we would actually order). It didn’t help that the waiter was a bit flaky. At least we didn’t buy any expensive wine (Ken and I were wined out for the day and had beer, so Su had to make do with by-the-glass options). Suffice it to say that it is highly unlikely we will be returning there.

And that wraps up the 7 (count ’em 7) winery visits in 1 day.

As I have fallen a bit behind in my blogging, I’m going to create a combo write-up this morning about the weekend.

On Saturday, Su and I started the day with a terrible breakfast at Pacific Blues. The lady at the visitor center said they had a “good breakfast” but it really sucked. We should have stuck with our first inclination to go have something interesting at the Bouchon Bakery.

Following that mistake, we made the long drive to a park just NE of Calistoga. I’m not sure about the name but the trail was named for Robert Louis Stevenson as he lived in a cabin about a mile into the hike. The guide book described the hike as “first mile is amazing, next 4 miles are monotonous”. Wow, was that ever true. Basically, the first mile was a proper trail whereas the rest was basically a maintenance road for the radio towers on all of the peaks. That being said, the weather was great and the views were lucid and awesome. The biggest problem was that the signage was incredibly poor. Near the top, we weren’t sure exactly where to go and after a few peaks that we think were not the real peak, we had to turn back due to a lack of water. On the way down, we ran into a guy who set us straight on the way to go so we’ll be ready for next year.

We headed back to the hotel and chilled out the couple hours before dinner. That night we had reservations at Ad Hoc at 6pm so dinner wasn’t too far away. I finished my book so at least I accomplished *something* on the trip.

Anyway, dinner was amazing. The restaurant has a basic 4 course meal served family style. Without a doubt, I think this was the best meal that we have had in Napa. First course was a lobster salad which we paired (by ourselves) with some Schramsberg rosé. Then came the lamb course. The waiter suggested a half bottle of this Cab called Modicum that wasn’t on their list and said it was awesome. He couldn’t be more right. It was great by itself and complemented the lamb perfectly. We then had this amazing cheese course with almonds and berries. I unfortunately ran out of wine here, but dessert was soon delivered. Our tiramisu arrived and was paired with some tasty Madeira port. To reiterate, best dinner (yet).

That wrapped up Saturday. Sunday morning we decided to skip breakfast entirely and make our up north to the Bothe park. We have visited this park each year for some basic and consistent hiking. We did a short hike and aside from a minor navigation mistake by yours truly it was a great way to start the day.

We were back in our hotel by 11am or so. After showering we decided to grab some lunch somewhere. After hearing again from the locals how good Taylor’s Refresher was, we went to their new location in downtown Napa to give it a try. We did try it a couple of years ago and were not impressed. Unfortunately, history was to repeat itself. My burger was overcooked and dry and Su’s salad looked like some crazy blend of cole slaw and chicken (without the mayo). Ah well, that’s what we get for listening to people rather than following our experience.

We did hit a late afternoon wine tasting in town at the Hill Family tasting room. The host/hostess were a very nice husband/wife team that told us about the wine and poured us lots of wine. We ended up leaving with a 2002 Merlot and a 2005 Cab.

We had dinner reservations for Redd at 8pm so we had a few hours to kill. I finally tried out the pool which was very nice and even convinced Su to join me poolside. It was a nice break before eating.

To diminish the amount of wine to send and to keep our dinner costs down, we decided to bring wine to dinner (and even do a little pre-dinner drinking). Our aperitif was the 90 year old vine zinfandel from Sausal that we picked up on Monday. Unfortunately, something just wasn’t quite right about it. It didn’t have the nose or the flavor that we tasted and we had to pronounce it dead after sampling. I don’t feel too bad about it as it only costs $20 but I was sad that it didn’t deliver.

For dinner we chose two bottles (because Ken had arrived and would be joining us). The first was the Schafer Relentless. It was everything I remember. Unfortunately the second bottle (Simi Petite Syrah) was not. Not sure if the trip from Sonoma killed it (and the Sausal), but it was off. Thankfully, we were able to have the sommelier help us order another petite syrah from Switchback and we were back in the swing of things. Dinner was delicious (I won’t go through all the details) but I think Ad Hoc was still better.

And so ended the weekend.

Given all the heavy wines we have been drinking, we decided to lighten it up and head down to the Carneros region(which is famous for Chardonnays and Pinot-Noirs). We’ve never been to a winery in that area before so it was going to be a day of many firsts.

First on the list was Artesa. As we were driving there, I was thinking that nobody was going to be there as it was a bit out of the way. Boy was I wrong. The place was very crowded, especially with limos and wine tour buses. To accommodate the crowds (or because of them), the place was fairly huge and had the added benefit of some artist(s) in residence. I’m not quite in the position to post pictures, but there was some crazy stuff (eg a rocket covered in plastic squares of different colors). Weird, wacky stuff. What impressed me was some of the water features built into the place. I’m not sure of the influence, but the water going down the stairs to a fountain was neat.

Anyway, as tends to be case, the fancier the place, the worse the wine. The wine wasn’t terrible, but in my opinion all that rigamarole was there to attract customers and take their mind off of the wine. They had this dessert wine that smelled great, but the back end of it was like a wall of bad taste. I think they did some kind of flower infusion. My face cringed every time I tried it. I think the wine hostess was probably offended, but not really my problem. I did end up getting a bottle of their 2005 Merlot Reserve which had a good nose and a wonderful burst of chocolate in the flavor. My philosophy is to get something if it is unique and good (although sometimes good is enough).

Next on the list was going to be Bouchaine, but we ended up stopping at Folio (which is on the way). Folio is owned by Michael Mondavi and generally looks like a winery (relative to Artesa). What you don’t realize at first is that it is actually a vendor for many producers of wine. This is both a good and bad thing. It’s good in that you can try the best wines from many producers. But it’s also bad because you have to figure out what those are and your odds aren’t as good. If all of them were good, they probably wouldn’t be lumped into a single selling establishment. We had to pick 6 wines out of the massive list (technically 5 as the port counted as 2). We were initially welcomed by this guy but for some reason he had to go do something and was replaced by this old lady named Cocoa. She didn’t seem to know much about the flavor of the wine, but was very excited to bring Su and I (and the other folks at the tasting bar) outside to show some off the vineyard. Thankfully, the guy returned and we could begin our tasting with some information about the wine. Unfortunately, the wine was just so-so with the notable exception of the port. It was an old vine zinfandel dubbed Medusa. It had a basic port nose, but the finish was this wall of pepper that was both surprising and unique. Good enough too, so I bought a bottle. And just in time as a huge bus of wine tourists arrived. I was starting to see a pattern: large number of tourists == so-so wine.

So we continued driving to Bouchaine and had a another stopover at Domaine Carneros. After all, it’s all about the journey, right? They tend to specialize in sparkling wine but also had some pinots and merlots to try. The place was huge and had lots of people in it, so I was wary. Su and I walked inside to discover that though they have tasting bars, it was all table service. In my 3+ years of wine tasting I have never had that experience. I thought it was a nice touch. I think the negative of the table service is that you don’t get the running commentary to the wine. The waiter was knowledgeable enough but his time was divided between 5+ tables. Su and I both opted for the red wine tasting (which was 2 pinots and a merlot). We both weren’t in the mood for sparkling wine and I’ll blame the weather which was fairly depressingly overcast. Suffice it to say that we didn’t buy any wine as it was ok but not really unique.

We finally made our way to Bouchaine. Apparently, we were the first customers of the day which was kind of odd since it was about 1 in the afternoon. This can be a good or a bad thing. It’s good in that they will be fairly attentive. It’s bad in that they might not open any wine (that hasn’t already been opened) unless they think more people are going to show up. For good or bad, we were the beginning of several groups of tasters that made their way into this place(which was fairly far from the expressway). The white wines were so-so but the reds were working so we bought a 2006 carneros pinot and a 2007 “Rocking H” Syrah. He also let us try last years dessert wine (which was only available for tasting as it was sold out). It’s a bizarre selling strategy because he wouldn’t let me buy futures on this years wine (available in a few months). Anyway, it was chardonnay based (2007 Bouche D’Or) and it was amazing. I completely understand why it sold out.

So that made our quota of 4 wineries for the day and it was time for lunch at Mustard’s. We started with this calamari salad. The calamari was breaded and cooked perfectly and the salad was, well, salad. For my main course, I chose this big pork chop with mustard, cabbage and mashed potatoes. Su had one of the specials: bacon wrapped scallops. I think I came out ahead in the food situation, but we both thought the food was yummy. To drink with the lunch I tried some Nickle & Nickle wine and it was ok. Probably not enough for us to go through the effort and actually make a tasting appointment.

After lots of food and wine, it was back to the hotel where we basically crashed for two hours. Since we had such a late lunch, dinner wasn’t really an option. We chilled out (with a mix of reading and tv) for the rest of the day.

We yet again had more threat of rain in the morning only to be followed up by a wonderful day. Not sure why the weather people aren’t good at their jobs, but the silver lining is that we keep having great weather. Especially for running. Given her break from running the day before, Su was amenable to try and do the 3 mile loop that I had inadvertently missed. I’m not saying she didn’t stop a couple of times, but it was a very good effort for someone who (let’s be honest) hates to run.

Given the fullness of yesterday, our plan was to skip breakfast so that we would be even hungrier as the day went on. I really wondered if I was going to be able to have any wine at the first winery? Fear not, I rose to the challenge as we began drinking at Chimney Rock. The privilege of membership allowed us to try anything on the list (and even items not on the list) for the price of free. The host was a guy named Tom who was easy going and made decent conversation. We discovered that the 2003 Cab didn’t match up with the 2003 Cab that Chris had. Something about the way Chris stored that bottle (heat, light, vibration) did something to that bottle that made it awesome. I didn’t think the 2003 in the winery was as good. #1 on my list was the 2004 Elevage which we bought a case of a few years ago. Since we only have a vertical selection of Elevage left, we decided to pick up some more bottles. At the current price point, I can only say that I wish I had bought 2 cases back in the day. Anyway, 3 bottles of 2004 Elevage, 1 of the 2004 Cab Reserve, and 2 of the 2000 Cab Reserve is what we ordered along with the benefit of free shipping.

As a side note, we have seen the Vinturi decanter everywhere. Chimney Rock in particular had lots of decanting glassware which yet again reminded us that we don’t have a proper one. Anyway, we can always spend that money later on.

We were on our way to a winery called Laird (or Lard with an i in Su speak) but due to some mistakes from the navigator we ended up going to Alpha Omega instead. Laird was chosen as a new (probably inexpensive) winery so that we could take a break after Chimney Rock. Since I’m a member of Alpha Omega, I wanted to make sure that we got the full treatment (all of the proper free stuff) and wasn’t sure we could do it following a big tasting.

As we drove on into the winery parking lot, we marveled that the place was still under construction. True, we were there around September last year, but it’s not like Napa has much of a winter that they couldn’t have finished. I made the same comment to the host and he seemed agreeably frustrated. At least they stayed open during that period. A place that Ken wanted to go to (351?) said they were remodeling their tasting room and would be closed for the summer.

Anyway, they had a mix of whites and reds available for tasting. It is my unfortunate (depending on your perspective) luck to have had a Rombauer Chardonnay and I have yet to find an equivalent in my extensive wine drinking experience. Their Sauvignon Blanc was nice, but didn’t really wow me. Su (as most folks would know) skipped the whites and went straight on to reds land. I only got to sample one red before the host dude said that they had a barrel tasting of their 2007 Cab. Given our very positive tasting from the Regusci bottle hot off the presses, we were pretty excited. To quote the Regusci dude, 2007 is going to be a great year. Alpha Omega’s version didn’t disappoint. Maybe their wine maker is just great or maybe because they bought those grapes generally it worked out for them to be correlated to the market. Either way, the wine was so good we bought 6 future bottles to be delivered in the late fall/early winter time frame. Thankfully, this wasn’t the end of the good wine there. We picked up two bottles of their 2007 syrah (which was also just plain yummy). They had some very tasty wine called Era Napa Valley 2006, but we didn’t think it was price-worthy ($128 member price per bottle). All in all, a good visit.

After two reasonably long visits (and since we did skip breakfast), Su and I decided it was time for our inaugral visit to the Rutherford Grill. I lost track of the exact count last year, but it was around 3-4 times mixed between lunch and dinner. I don’t know how this place does it, but every meal is savory, delicious, and just plain awesome. Our lunch didn’t disappoint. I re-visited the French Dip and Su had an Ahi Tuna Burger. The smells these guys generate are way better than the spray-on flame-broiled flavor from the likes of Burger King (not really surprising). Anyway, the experience was better when the waitress changed my glass of wine after I picked a bad one (not corked, I just didn’t like it) for free. I call that service with a smile.

After lunch, as we didn’t want to repeat the 6 winery marathon that occurred before, we chose to see an afternoon show of the new movie Up. Reviews seemed solid and it would be a good break in the day. The movie was good and I have to admire the marketing genius of the producer to create a movie that appeals to so many folks: old people, kids, dog lovers, parents (who have to bring the kids when the grand parents won’t), and Su and I (classification?). A little bit surprising was the very poignant sad beginning, but I guess how can you know if you’re up if you’ve never been down?

Around this time, our car was basically running on fumes so we tried to find a gas station. There is a station in Yountville that has some very old pumps, but when we stopped by, the blinds were closed and didn’t look very hospitable. We ended up refueling in Napa (where the cinema is located) where I annoyingly had to pay $0.45 for the privilege of using an ATM card because they didn’t take credit. We asked the hotel staff later about gas options and she said that the spooky one in Yountville is completely automated. Apparently, the paying machine was off to the side because there was no way that pump was doing anything automatically unless it was reprising a Flintstones role and had some animal inside doing the real work.

Anyway, we headed back to the hotel and decided to explore more of the local shops in what I guess was sort of a very fancy mall. There is a decently sized wine store and a bunch of art galleries but on the whole nothing really interesting (really, a statement about shopping in general). The trip was salvaged by another wine tasting in the last shop we went stopped in. Apparently, there are a lot of these little wine tasting rooms that aren’t technically wineries. We found a couple nice bottles, but decided not to buy at the time. For reference, the top 3 were: Eileen 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Giana 2004 Zinfandel, BuonCristianini 2005 Syrah. The first two were made by Michael Chiarello (apparently famous).

We chilled out until dinner (me outside, Su inside) and I made great progress in my book. We were going to Tra Vigne and had a reservation at 7:30. Given that we didn’t feel like driving back (and hence worrying about how much we drink for dinner), we decided to call a taxi. We have had some success with that option(once it worked well, the other time we ended up nixing the cab after a long wait and driving). We knew it would take about 10-15 to get there and we figured it would take about 15 min for a cab to arrive. We called the desk at 7 and asked them to get us a taxi to the restaurant. We migrated to the lobby about 10 minutes later. At about 7:20, we asked for a status. The receptionist promptly called and they said “they got behind, but will be there in 5 minutes”. Well, we waited 5-10 minutes, called again, and then waited some more. We really didn’t want to drive and the taxi driver must have known it. By the time it was 7:45 (we had called the restaurant at 7:30 and told them we would be 20 minutes late), we decided to kaibash the cab and drive ourselves. What really erks me about the whole situation is that if they had given us a reasonable time frame, we could have made a better decision earlier rather than being dragged along with this “5 minutes/almost there” status.

Anyway, we got there and the place wasn’t full so I think not too big a deal on the tardiness. Even though we were both feeling full, we opted for two appetizers and two entries and a bottle of wine. I will say that the apps were great(fresh mozzerella and prosciutto pizza), but we didn’t get half way through with them before we asked those to be boxed. For main plates, Su had the rabbit ragu and I the short ribs(supposed to be the house signature dish). Personally, I thought the apps were better. We’ll see (or most likely Su will see) if our leftovers are just as good the next day.

It was a long day for us as neither of us crashed before 10pm, but at least we had a little adventure. We’ll see if the rain stays away tomorrow (fingers crossed).

I’m up early again in my never-ending quest to work out and earn my wine and food appetite. Unfortunately, Su is feeling a little bit under the weather and opts to stay home. I head out for what should have been a simple 3 mile loop from the hotel. Let’s just say that I zigged when I should have zagged and ended up doing a 4 mile run that really wasn’t near the original loop. That being said, it was perfect running weather with a nice refreshing breeze after some early morning rain. Coming into our not-so-wonderful hotel room felt like I was walking into a sauna. The room just had this hot moist air sensation that we just can’t seem to get rid of. We opened windows, turned on fans, did a live animal sacrifice…

So as we’re getting ready, I ask Su what’s on tap for today and she says we begin with another 1.5 hour tour. I wouldn’t say my heart sank, but I wasn’t exactly too optimistic after our previous venture. Lucky for us both, Shafer turned out to be fantastic. Wine generally speaks for itself, but it is also important to have a good guide. I thought the dude did a great job, and the last two reds were just plain yummy. To be fair, I expected the last one to be good as it costs a whopping $215 (2004 Hillside Select). They even let us try the port which was pretty good, but not worth $85 for a half bottle. We left with 3 bottles of the 2005 Relentless (Syrah/Petit Sirah) and 1 of the Hillside Select. Yeah, a bit pricey but we think it tastes pretty darn tasty.

Next on the trip was a stop to Regusci. We tried them two years ago and they were delicious. Last year wasn’t bad but didn’t have the grandeur of the first year. This year, the host was very entertaining. I’m not sure if he was British/Aussie/other, but he kept using the term “This is good shit”. He also referred to me as a wet wine drinker which is probably more apt for Mr. Potts as it means someone who drinks any wine that’s wet. This was also the time where we met our second set of wine dogs (I forgot to mention the Shafer set). Generally speaking (and with our somewhat-limited experience), I think that wine dogs tend to be big animals. Unlike some big dogs I know, they are fairly easy going and don’t tend to jump on you all the time. That being said, they still do want some attention (as far as I can tell, it’s not to mooch wine as they don’t appear to drink). But I digress. We were able to try some of the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon that literally came off of the bottling line that morning. Even though I asked very nicely (because it was *so* good), we were not able to buy any of that particular wine. Fear not, we were not going to leave empty handed, because they had some other very good wines for sale. We left with 1 bottle of 2005 Patriarch, 2 bottles of 2005 Angelo’s Vineyard, and 3 of their 2006 merlot.

At this point, we were feeling a little hungry, so we made our way over to the Oakville Grocery to get some sandwiches for lunch. After wolfing them down, we were ready to tackle a few more wineries. Given that we already had two great visits, we decided to throw the dart at the winery board and pick some potentially less demanding ones.

So from the Grocery, the first no appointment required place was Sequoia Grove. What catches your eye immediately as you walk in is the row of increasing bottle sizes on display. Their smallest was a magnum leading up to a ginormous bottle that didn’t even have a name but I believe held 27L(3 cases) of wine. Apparently wineries make those for charity auctions. In fact, the Napa Valley auction is this Saturday where I’m sure more of those ridiculous bottles will be on display. Unfortunately, the fancy bottle was the best thing in this winery. The wine wasn’t very good. All in all, a good choice for post lunch as it let us get our palette back in action while giving our wallets a rest.

We then proceeded to Provenance (which we had tried last year). The host was wearing this shirt made by Julie Andrews from the Sound of Music (although instead of curtains, all that was available was a red and white picnic table cover). He was nice enough, and the wine was so-so. I did a taste test of 3 different merlots and found one to my liking. We left with a bottle of the 2005 Las Amigas.

As we don’t really like to pay for a tasting, we then went to BV (Bealieu Vineyards) which had a big banner visible from 29 that said “Complimentary Tasting”. We weren’t expecting anything good and our expectations were spot on. There were 3 old dudes behind the counter and we got served by one of them who was the spitting image of Dennis Farina.

For those keeping track, that was the 5th winery that we tried, so that about did it for the tasting. But as we(ok just me) are gluttons, we parked the car back at the hotel and went to the local Yountville tasting room Hope & Grace which apparently is the same winemaker as Regusci. The wine was nice and we picked up a 2005 Malbec and a 2006 Pinot Noir. In hind sight, I think that buying wine at the 6th winery is probably not a good idea as our taste buds might be compromised. We’ll know further when we actually drink the purchases.

Anyway, we crashed for a bit while we waited for our 7:30 reservation at Bistro Jeanty. Last year, we had a delicious meal and this year was no different. The waiter gave us a great Zinfandel recommendation and the meal was wonderful.

And so ends the first full day in Napa 2009.

Day began very early. I got up around 3am and started blogging about the day before. I was able to catch a few zzz’s in between but basically had an early jump on things. Unfortunately, the TV was busted and the front desk couldn’t do anything about it, so we couldn’t keep up-to-date on the French Open. We took advantage of the jogging course. I couldn’t believe it, but Su actually did 3 fast laps of the .5 mile loop. Anyone who knows Su knows that is a mighty feat. I wasn’t feeling very good as I had an Atkins shake before the run and my stomach was a bit topsy-turvy. But that didn’t keep me from having some breakfast. Since the food sounded good, I opted for the specialty omelette. Pretty hard to argue with Gouda cheese, hash browns and chicken sausage all combined (even with some veges).

Anyway, enough of the fluff….to the wine!

We decided to start the day at Chalk Hill Winery. This place was pretty clever in their advertising. If you check out the web site here, you will see that they have directions that are not to scale. This is because if you realized how far out of the way it was, you probably wouldn’t have driven there. That being said, the place was pretty beautiful. They own a *lot* of land so they can pretty much do what they please(eg dedicate land to horse dancing). Unfortunately, the beauty of the place didn’t translate into the wine. Or stated differently, I don’t think that the wine was as good as the price suggested. For example, their dessert wine was $120 for a half bottle and I thought not as good as $20 competitors. We did pick up two bottles of Syrah to salvage the trip.

Then it was up north to Geyserville to make a return visit (first time was 2 years ago) to the Meeker Winery. Meeker is one of the producers that doesn’t grow any grapes. They just buy the fruit from vendors and do the mixing. I’m not sure if the lack of an estate is what keeps their costs down, but all of their wine costs a lot less than say Chalk Hill. And the best part is that they taste great. We went through a lot of wines and I was able to convince Su to let me get 1.5 cases. At this point (only the 2nd of many more days), we already have ordered more than we can store. What does this mean? Wine Party! Or maybe another bigger stronger chiller!

We headed south to Simi (another return visit). The wine hostess was the same as last time. She was an Australian lady from Melbourne. After joking if she has an animosity to Kiwis, she said there is more of a rivalry against Sydney. Sorry Paul, I guess this means she’s off the market. Wines here were good and thankfully not as pricey as Chalk Hill. I ended up joining the wine club (hard to resist the 20% discount) and we picked up a half case to send ourselves. The hostess was very nice and gave us a styro shipping box (case-size) for free. She also confirmed the awesomeness of our next destination.

And that would be the Bear Republic Brewery. Located in the heart of Healdsburg, I have to say that though I had to actually pay for the beer (compared to Lagunitas), it was tasty along with the bacon(yum) covered cheeseburger (recommended by the wine hostess). Unfortunately, we only had time for a beer each as we had to make our way to Napa (not to mention we were both feeling quite full).

Unfortunately, the fullness kept us out of other Sonoma wineries even though we had time before the closing. And double unfortunately, the drive was long and in the hottest sunniest part of the day. Fear not, we arrived in Yountville around 4:45 and began to chill-out. Stomach fullness continued into the evening, so no dinner for us even though we are in the heart of awesome restaurants in Napa.

Tomorrow is another day. Fresh, with no food in it…yet.

After a good nights sleep, Su and I got up relatively late(7am) and put on our workout gear. With surprising little prodding I convinced Su to go for a jog. It’s really quite odd that Su likes (or at least is more amenable) to go running on vacation than other times. Anyway, they (Vintner’s Inn) have a nice 2 mile jogging path that goes around some vineyards. The temperature was cool and it was a great morning for a run. You may be thinking Dave, why would you run on your vacation? Short answer is that we do consume quite a bit of calories between eating and drinking and this is but a small price to pay for all the yummy stuff.

Anyway, we had a lot of time to kill that morning because the appointment at Jordan wasn’t until 11 (even factoring in a half hour + 15 min wait time). Most wineries open their tasting room at 10 so not too bad considering.

I haven’t really had much Jordan wine so I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised with both their Chardonnay and this aged dessert wine. Funnily enough they are known for their Cabs but those really didn’t blow me away at all (Su agreed). What did amaze me was the length of the tour and how much they were trying to sell the image of the winery. I kept thinking when will the drinking part of the tasting actually begin?

When it came to the decision time, Su and I stuck to our guns about buying later. After all, we only have about 30 free slots in our wine chillers so space was precious.

The next winery was Sausal. I wanted to turn in when I saw their sign: olde vine Zinfandel. For those who don’t know, older vines yield less but give much greater flavor. A lot of the bigger producers will change their vines after 20-30 years. This place had ages between 50 and 130 (vines not people). There is a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ about the flavor of the old vine zin that I love and Su hates but we always find some middle ground. We decided to buy 2 bottles (90 and 100 year vines) to try out before buying more. Yeah I know I said we would wait but the price was reasonable and I really like Zins.

Next on the list was a recommendation from one of Su’s co-workers called Hanna. Let me cut to the chase and say we bought a lot of wine from them(3 cases). Just about everything the lady poured (and she poured a lot) was just plain fantastic. Maybe the alcohol was getting to me but it really was delicious. Suffice it to say that I am now a member of 7 wine clubs.

We spent enough time at Hanna that we had to skedaddle to head south to Petaluma for the 3pm brewery tour at Lagunitas. Due to traffic we were a little late, but since we were the only ones the lady didn’t seem to mind. In what I think is a non traditional tour we started at the bar. I drank everything at the bar and parts of several bottles. A beer called Little Sumpin’ took the prize in my book. Su is not much of a beer drinker but I give her credit for trying everything and agreeing that my top beer had a certain something (pun intended). The tour was interesting in two ways: 1) I felt like I was at the beginning of Lavergne and Shirley with all the bottles moving around in the assembly line 2) these two 6ft5 guys showed up later than us for the tour. They missed the bar time but were allowed to each bring a free bottle (750 ml) of their choice on the tour. I was also carrying beer so you can imagine I wasn’t driving to our next destination.

Due to traffic and a desire to not have a big drive post dinner and the fact that we only had a small continental breakfast we decided on a early dinner and going to eat at a different place (although it also began with Willi’s). Dinner was unfortunately kind of bland and uninteresting. And I drank too much which had me asleep way too early. But hey, this means I can blog at 3am and not mind the iPhone keyboard too much.

So the trip began with a flight delay. What was amusing/annoying was the reason for the delay. They claimed that there was too much fog in San Francisco so the flow rate into the airport was reduced. I get that. So we take off with a half hour delay. But then we arrive early! Very confusing.

Anyway, we then have the joy–nay, the privilege–to wait in line to pay for the rental car that we already paid via the Internet. Perhaps it’s the economy or maybe the status quo but it seems as though all of the salespeople were wearing suits in the hope that they can sell you more stuff that you would have bought already if you wanted it. I would go so far to say that the guy we had gave us the hard sell to NOT get an economy car because it didn’t have power locks or windows. Su and I both thought do they even make cars without power anything anymore? Suffice it to say that after we didn’t upgrade the guy who showed us to the car(also wearing a suit) tried to scare us to get the insurance fee protection (this isn’t insurance) which we also refused.

We met up with Don for an early dinner at Monks Kettle which is a great restaurant with 20 draft beers in the Mission district. Area looks a bit dodgy but hard to argue with the fare. Summary: pepper crusted bacon is awesome.

So as we stopped to figure out directions we turned on the hazard lights. Little did we know that we wouldn’t be able to turn them off(thank you automobile industry). Not wanting to spend the rest of the trip with the constant clicking and flashing we made our way back to the airport to get a new car. We traded our chevy ? for a Nissan versa. Jury is still out on whether or not we traded down.

And I almost forgot the best part. On the way back to the airport we were pulled over by the police because of the lights. At least we got a discount from Enterprise for the hassle.

Drive to Sonoma from that point was largely uninteresting other than Google Maps giving us the wrong directions for the last turn.

Su and I are getting ready for a trip to Napa and Sonoma Valley by making space in the wine fridges. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Starting Sunday night, I will be doing daily write-ups of our activities and all the specifics of the wines we like and dislike. Stay tuned.