Wine country weekend
February 11, 2014
Once in a blue moon’s blue moon, we have a perfect weekend. It takes all kinds of variables coming together, half of which are rare birds: lovely weather, good friends, delicious (and affordable!) food, time and most of all, energy. This was one of them.
I kicked myself for forgetting to use a 2 for 1 tasting coupon but otherwise the weekend was amazing.
We haven’t been to Napa in more than 5 years, despite being just a relatively reasonable drive away, so we relied on the advice of friends and a fair amount of research. I always forget that it’s not a 2.5 hour drive, more like 1.5 which is nothing by LA standards. By SF standards, it feels like a half day commitment.
Our friends who said that no one should cram more than 2 vineyards into a visit really knew what they were talking about. Taking your time, packing a delicious charcuterie picnic lunch, and moseying from Vineyard 1 to Vineyard 2, and relaxing at each is really the best recipe.
There’s truly something to be said for exploring your own backyard!
:: What’s a local attraction you’ve enjoyed? Close to your home, I mean.
Ooh, Adelle theme! Let me know how you find it – recently changed over to a new one and was pleased to find I started getting pingbacks/trackbacks again, not sure if that was the old theme’s fault or what.
Close to Auckland… i generally like Matakana, and Tawharanui (I think 1-1.5 hours away, which used to seem like a ton but after having travelled our perspective of distances has definitely changed)
Mostly I love it but I wish I had the option of placing widgets along the bottom like I had with other themes. I hadn’t even considered the theme could prevent pingbacks/trackbacks! I guess I should look into that.
Taking notes for future travel to see y’all š
Happy to hear you had a good weekend, you deserve it! What was the other vineyard you went to besides Peju? We’ll be going to Napa next month and I could always use some recommendations.
I haven’t gone yet but I think I would enjoy the Charles M. Schulz Museum (https://schulzmuseum.org/). If you and PiC are interested, it’s relatively close.
Thanks! We went to Mumm Napa and Cakebread. I loved trying bubbles but Cakebread’s definitely a great value: 6 pours for $15. And we got a guided tour.
I haven’t done the Schulz Museum, yet! We’ll have to try it.
ohhhh glorioski! Wine country…how I miss it!
Well. All of San Francisco: how I miss it… š
The Heard Museum here is having a Georgia O’Keefe exhibit, sent over from New Mexico. I’ll probably visit that before it moves on. Wheeee!
Actually, the museum occupies a beautiful old historic house, just gorgeous; it’s museum of Native American ethnography and arts, & it displays wonderful and interesting objects.
Unfortunately, you can’t drink any of them…
You know, it’s getting to be a good time to visit SF… š I love visiting good culture w/something drinkable. <3
Close to home? *scratches head* I guess the closest would be Niagara Falls. That’s pretty spectacular in any season (although summer is infinitely better than winter as it’s hot and not freezing cold).
Napa Valley is on my to visit list one day. I don’t really drink wine but I’d love to visit it someday.
Now that’s awesome – I still haven’t seen Niagara Falls and would love to one day.
I <3 napa, biggest perk of moving i think. And the food scene there is AMAZING.
How did you like Peju? Where else did you go? T is super into cabs, so we've been to a few cab heavy places. Always looking for new favorites though…
Oh that food scene. I felt like I could afford wine tasting (but not buying much wine except 1 gift), but not so much to eat out there because they’re just beyond my pay range!
This time we also did Mumm Napa and Cakebread, I highly recommend Cakebread. They do great reds including a cab. I don’t like red myself but I can appreciate that they have good ones š as designated by a fellow wine taster.