Airport pic - au revoir!
Friday morning we were up and at 'em early. We grabbed a cup of coffee, had the valet bring the Jetta 'round, and we were off to wine country. We made a pit-stop at the Golden Gate bridge. It was an overcast morning, and the fog across the bay was so pretty. And can we talk about what a cool experience it is to actually DRIVE across the GG?? So much fun!
We hopped back in the car and continued our journey to wine country. The drive out of the city is absolutely gorgeous. As we pulled into Sonoma, it will come as no surprise to most people who know Mr. M that our first stop was a Mom-and-Pop shop on the side of the road that sold homemade beef jerky. Yes, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that our first wine country purchase was not a cold glass of bubbly. However, our second purchase was indeed just that! After the beef jerky stop, we visited Gloria Ferrer. We did the tour here to see how making sparkling wine differs from making still wine. Very interesting and informative. The caves and vineyards were like a scene from a magazine- such a pretty first winery to visit.
Wine cave- during the right season, this place is chock full of barrels.
Bottling production line
After Gloria Ferrer, we headed to check into the resort where we would be staying for the next few days. By this point, it was lunch time and we were starving. Mr. M doesn't ask for much, but he did request that we make it a point to eat at an In-N-Out sometime during our trip. Luckily, there is one in Napa and we stopped by for a bite on our way to our next vineyard.
nom nom nom
Fully re-charged from lunch, our next stop was Domaine Carneros. They have such a beautiful chateau. Since it was a little chilly, we opted to sit by the warm fire inside, rather than on the terrace for our tasting.
Clint's red sampler
My sparkling sampler
Our last winery of the day was B.R. Cohn. We love this place- it has such a "homey" feel. It's pretty, but it's also so much fun. The manager of the Doobie Brothers owns the vineyards, so the DB gold records are on display in the main tasting area. The property includes the main tasting building, a gourmet foods shop (where they sell delicious olive oils), and a cigar bar. The front lawn displays sculptures of the owner's classic car collection. Inside the cigar shop, they only pour the "car wines". Like the sculptures, these wines are a tribute to the owner's classic cars. It's a very "manly" place so Clint this was Clint's favorite stop of the day.
Some of the Doobie Brothers' gold records
Last, but certainly not least, we ended our first full day with a mouthwatering dinner at Bottega. This was easily Clint's favorite meal of the trip- so so so good! Another reason Clint loved this place- it's also where he discovered his favorite beer. Yes, I'm one of those people who even likes to document what we ate, but I did not go so far as to actually take pictures of our food. Well, except for our dessert. Sorry! We started our meal with an appetizer of prosciutto that we wrapped around a pasta fritta and dipped into a whipped pomegranate sauce. I'm not the best when it comes to food descriptions- but trust me, it was DELICIOUS. And also very unique. Clint had the lamb with potatoes and pesto and raved about it. I tasted it, and I'll admit that his raves were warranted. I chose the roasted veal with wild arugula. Also- delicious. Finally, we completed the meal by sharing a beautifully-presented tiramasu.
Leaving our cottage for dinner.
Schwew! That wraps up my first recap post. I'm both exhausted and longing to hop on a plane...
See ya at the next recap post! Have a good Tuesday!
2 comments:
Seriously we have the same husband (well, almost my husband)! Stopping for jerky first had me laughing...if there's any kind of road side stand his truck is u-turned in 3 seconds flat. Got to love em! Excited to see the rest of the trip!
So much fun - wish I could've been there. Loving your outfit too. By the way, we need to go A-Day shopping. You busy this afternoon? :)
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