Day 1 – Napa
Left at 7AM on Virgin America for San Fran. Nice flight. Inflight satellite TV, guest chat, and games! Sat all the way in the back and took forever to get off the plane, claim our bags, and pick up the rental so left San Fran a little later than expected and got to Napa a little late. Missed our first lunch reservation at Ubuntu :(. Oh well next time. Had lunch at Oakville Grocery instead – classic Napa spot. Beautiful weather for an outdoor picnic. Had the ham and brie.
Light lunch at Oakville Grocery . . . 
Our travelmates - Randy and Daphne 
*Never had time to upload the rest of my pics. To see all our pics from the trip, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/munoz.arlene/NapaRussianRiverValleySonomaSanFranciscoTrip#
*Never had time to upload the rest of my pics. To see all our pics from the trip, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/munoz.arlene/NapaRussianRiverValleySonomaSanFranciscoTrip#
1:00 Sit down tasting at Caymus. Group of 10 including some Europeans. Older crowd. Serious enophiles. Loved the wines, didn’t care for the lecture. Tasting ran long (a little more than an hour) cause others asked lots of questions like where the grape picking machines were made and our host insulted the French! Nice tasting room though. We tried –
2:30 Drove down the Silverado Trail to Pine Ridge. Had their wines at Sonoma Restaurant in DC. Loved it. Joined the wine club. Sal recommended visiting the winery. Great pick. Sit down tasting with one other couple in the wine cave. Nice ambiance. Very romantic. Private, but not snobby. Host was great. Knowledgeable and interesting. Casual but special. Tasted 6 wines in the cave (3 from bottle, 3 from barrel) with an assortment of cheese and crackers plus two more in the tasting room. We were here for about an hour and a half. Tasting was complimentary for club members.
4:15 Drove up the street to Robert Sinesky. This was recommended by the guy from the Napa Wine Project. My criteria was walk in tasting close to Pine Ridge with quality wine. Didn’t disappoint. Walked in at 4:15. They close at 4:30 but the host still welcomed us warmly. Came with another group of 4 who happened to be her friends so she comped all of us since she couldn’t open up a new bottle for one of the vintages after “last call” and she didn’t have enough condiments for each of us. Nice tasting to end Day 1. Had three tastings here and ate every last thing she fed us but I couldn’t tell you much else since at this point I didn’t even remember tasting wine #2. ;) Fed the coi fish and took some pics. Headed off to the B&B.
5:00 Check in. Stayed at Maison Fleurie. This is our third Four Sisters Inn that we have stayed at. LOVE this chain. Not your typical Victorian floral B&B. Very cozy. Lovely beds, yummy breakfasts, and fabulous location. Stayed in one of the petit queen rooms. It had no TV and just enough room for us and our luggage but we didn’t mind since we knew we were just sleeping here. After check in, grabbed some complimentary wine and cheese from the B&B “happy hour” and headed up to the outdoor balcony where we chilled for a bit before getting ready for dinner. The B&B also has a pool and hot tub, but we didn’t use them.
6:30 Redd. Had the 5 course tasting menu. Ate here last time we were in Yountville and although there are so many great places to eat we could not pass up another opportunity to eat here cause it was the best meal of my life! Had enough wine for the day so I stuck with water but the boys got the wine pairing and Daphne was able to get a customized vegetarian tasting. Had the himachi, lobster risotto, lamb, corn fritters. Absolutely wonderful.
9:30 Walked the 300 feet back to the hotel. Called it an early night since we were still on East Coast time, had been up since 4:30AM, and were going on 2 hours of sleep.
Day 2 – Napa/Russian River Valley
5:30 Woke up. Jet lagged. Called Noah on the web cam. Such a good boy for Lolo and Lola! Mike went for an early morning run then we watched the hot air balloons fly away (maybe next time we’ll try it!). So pretty! And took a walk around Yountville (everything is only half a block from the B&B).
8:00 Met up with Randy and Daphne for a bike ride around the vineyards and town. Did a little off roading. I think I surprised everyone with my biking skills. I might not be athletic but I know how to ride a bike people! Bikes were complementary from the B&B.
9:00 Just in time for a yummy breakfast of quiche, home fries, fruit, cereal, and all the other usuals. Dining room was super cozy with two large love seats by a fireplace and other bistro style tables. Met some other guests but no one of interest. Signed the B&B guestbook. Packed up our stuff. Grabbed some complimentary sodas for the road. Took some pics, checked out, and we were off.
Drove through Yountville one last time (there was a line out the door at Bouchon Bakery! And took the scenic route back to 29. Stopped at the Napa Valley sign for some obligatory “we were here” pics and headed off to meet Abby and Kris at Russian River Valley. Driving through Napa Valley is such a great drive!
10:45 Got to Siduri a little early for our 11:00 appointment. Abs and Kris were running a little late so we didn’t start tasting until about 11:15 but it was worth the wait. Siduri was recommended by Food and Wine as one of Napa and Sonoma’s Best Winery Tours. There is nothing to tour here though. The tasting is in a warehouse type district. No rolling hills of grapes here. They get all their grapes from elsewhere. We had an appointment and much to our luck they had an open house the day before. For us, this meant we got to taste all the leftovers – 16 – yup SIXTEEN open vintages. The host was elderly, but she was chill. Very casual. Explained the wines nicely. Not pushy at all. Took pictures for us. Gave us some VERY good cheese which we devoured. We were here for about 2 hours! Split a case of Pinot with Randy and Daphne. Andy and Cat joined us too.
2:00 Had plans to grab sandwiches at the local Italian Deli Traverso’s but luckily our host at Siduri told us it was closed on Sunday’s and recommended we try Willow Market and Café in Graton. What a find! We sat at the counter and had a delicious lunch. They had a “Polenta” section of their menu which I had never heard of before. Very interesting so Mike ordered something from there and I ordered the smoked salmon sandwich. Cute restaurant/diner.
3:00 Time for more wine. Went to Martin Ray. Small quaint tasting room. Complimentary. Mike and Abs did the reserve tasting. I was almost done for the day.
4:00 Up the street was Joseph Swan. Cute barn like tasting room with huge door but got a rude welcoming when the host said we should have made an appointment for our size group. Anyway they carded us (except for Kris – hahaha!)!!! and still served us. They were doing a special tasting of library wines which apparently were not a big hit with the group. I tasted the current releases and then stopped there cause I was definitely done then.
5:00ish Drove around using the GPS in search of one last quick tasting but got lost in some “rural” wooded areas so we decided to just head to the B&B and check in. Driving through Russian River was interesting. Definitely more casual than Napa. Met the innkeeper, very nice guy and checked in. Cute B&B. Nice patio area where we opened up a bottle of wine, caught up, and hung out until dinner.
6:30 11 course – yes ELEVEN course dinner at Willi’s Wine Bar. This place is “tapas” style so we ordered what we liked and the waitress brought out enough for everyone to have a taste. EVERYTHING was fabulous. Plus we all had wine flights. Great time. Most memorable moment of the night – BONE MARROW! My favorite – Filet mignon sliders. Here’s what we ate – After the meal, the bill was actually quite less than I expected. Pleasant surprise for some great eats.
9:30 Spent the rest of the evening catching up and drinking on the patio. Great times with great friends.
Day 3 – Armstrong Redwood Reserve, Sonoma, San Francisco
7:00 Woke up early and drove 5 minutes to the Armstrong Redwood Reserve with Randy and Daphne. These are some of the tallest trees in the world. Had the option to do a hike but instead just walked about half a mile to the Parsons tree (1330 ft), took some fun pics, and headed back for some breakfast at the B&B. We definitely don’t have trees like this on the east coast!
9:00 Breakfast with the gang. Had some egg soufflé dish with cherries, blueberry scones with home made raspberry jam, fruit salad, and chicken apple sausage – SO GOOD! Then after some Bad Ass Coffee we were off to Sonoma!
11:30 Arrived at Chateau St. Jean. This was highly recommended on yelp.com and by our host at Pine Ridge. Now this is an estate. You drive up to the main house surrounded by the grapes and walk into a beautiful fragrant garden. The tasting room is also a gift shop with lots of fun wine-related products. You can do a $5 tasting at the tasting bar or you can do the $10 reserve tasting in another room. We decided to do the reserve and much to our luck, we had the option to sit on the patio for the tasting. It was an absolutely beautiful day. We had an awesome view and the wines were very good. We tasted 6 in all. Very nice staff who allowed us to take our time. We were here for about two hours.
2:30 Arrived 2 hours late for our lunch reservations at the Girl and the Fig in downtown Sonoma but luckily they still took us. The town of Sonoma was so cute! Definitely will have to spend more time here next visit. Girl and the Fig was supposed to be a light lunch but we left stuffed! Split a tower sampling of cheese and stuff and then split some mussels with Mike. Ate outside. Did I say it was a gorgeous day? After lunch had to say our final goodbyes to Abs and Kris L
4:30 Made the quick drive back down to San Francisco. Stopped by the scenic overlook for the Golden Gate Bridge to take more “we were here” pictures. Weather in San Fran was WAY different than Sonoma. It was super windy and a little chilly!
5:30 Ferry Building – Arrived with one thing in mind – OYSTERS! Hit up Hogs Island Oyster Company for their $1 oyster happy hour. The place was packed but were able to squeeze out a spot at one of the standup tables and killed 96 oysters in 15 minutes! Will came and had about 5 but other than that Randy, Mike, and I had a field day! So yummy. This was supposed to just be appetizers too! We were supposed to have dinner at Range in the Mission but instead decided to end our food fest cause we were stuffed and check out Will’s apartment in Nob Hill.
7:00 Nob Hill – Caught up with Will. Took some cool rooftop pics and headed off to the airport. Dropped off the rental at the airport, checked in, and caught the 10:35 red eye home and to see my baby. Slept the whole way J
Amazing trip. Can’t wait until our next one!
2:30 Drove down the Silverado Trail to Pine Ridge. Had their wines at Sonoma Restaurant in DC. Loved it. Joined the wine club. Sal recommended visiting the winery. Great pick. Sit down tasting with one other couple in the wine cave. Nice ambiance. Very romantic. Private, but not snobby. Host was great. Knowledgeable and interesting. Casual but special. Tasted 6 wines in the cave (3 from bottle, 3 from barrel) with an assortment of cheese and crackers plus two more in the tasting room. We were here for about an hour and a half. Tasting was complimentary for club members.
4:15 Drove up the street to Robert Sinesky. This was recommended by the guy from the Napa Wine Project. My criteria was walk in tasting close to Pine Ridge with quality wine. Didn’t disappoint. Walked in at 4:15. They close at 4:30 but the host still welcomed us warmly. Came with another group of 4 who happened to be her friends so she comped all of us since she couldn’t open up a new bottle for one of the vintages after “last call” and she didn’t have enough condiments for each of us. Nice tasting to end Day 1. Had three tastings here and ate every last thing she fed us but I couldn’t tell you much else since at this point I didn’t even remember tasting wine #2. ;) Fed the coi fish and took some pics. Headed off to the B&B.
5:00 Check in. Stayed at Maison Fleurie. This is our third Four Sisters Inn that we have stayed at. LOVE this chain. Not your typical Victorian floral B&B. Very cozy. Lovely beds, yummy breakfasts, and fabulous location. Stayed in one of the petit queen rooms. It had no TV and just enough room for us and our luggage but we didn’t mind since we knew we were just sleeping here. After check in, grabbed some complimentary wine and cheese from the B&B “happy hour” and headed up to the outdoor balcony where we chilled for a bit before getting ready for dinner. The B&B also has a pool and hot tub, but we didn’t use them.
6:30 Redd. Had the 5 course tasting menu. Ate here last time we were in Yountville and although there are so many great places to eat we could not pass up another opportunity to eat here cause it was the best meal of my life! Had enough wine for the day so I stuck with water but the boys got the wine pairing and Daphne was able to get a customized vegetarian tasting. Had the himachi, lobster risotto, lamb, corn fritters. Absolutely wonderful.
9:30 Walked the 300 feet back to the hotel. Called it an early night since we were still on East Coast time, had been up since 4:30AM, and were going on 2 hours of sleep.
Day 2 – Napa/Russian River Valley
5:30 Woke up. Jet lagged. Called Noah on the web cam. Such a good boy for Lolo and Lola! Mike went for an early morning run then we watched the hot air balloons fly away (maybe next time we’ll try it!). So pretty! And took a walk around Yountville (everything is only half a block from the B&B).
8:00 Met up with Randy and Daphne for a bike ride around the vineyards and town. Did a little off roading. I think I surprised everyone with my biking skills. I might not be athletic but I know how to ride a bike people! Bikes were complementary from the B&B.
9:00 Just in time for a yummy breakfast of quiche, home fries, fruit, cereal, and all the other usuals. Dining room was super cozy with two large love seats by a fireplace and other bistro style tables. Met some other guests but no one of interest. Signed the B&B guestbook. Packed up our stuff. Grabbed some complimentary sodas for the road. Took some pics, checked out, and we were off.
Drove through Yountville one last time (there was a line out the door at Bouchon Bakery! And took the scenic route back to 29. Stopped at the Napa Valley sign for some obligatory “we were here” pics and headed off to meet Abby and Kris at Russian River Valley. Driving through Napa Valley is such a great drive!
10:45 Got to Siduri a little early for our 11:00 appointment. Abs and Kris were running a little late so we didn’t start tasting until about 11:15 but it was worth the wait. Siduri was recommended by Food and Wine as one of Napa and Sonoma’s Best Winery Tours. There is nothing to tour here though. The tasting is in a warehouse type district. No rolling hills of grapes here. They get all their grapes from elsewhere. We had an appointment and much to our luck they had an open house the day before. For us, this meant we got to taste all the leftovers – 16 – yup SIXTEEN open vintages. The host was elderly, but she was chill. Very casual. Explained the wines nicely. Not pushy at all. Took pictures for us. Gave us some VERY good cheese which we devoured. We were here for about 2 hours! Split a case of Pinot with Randy and Daphne. Andy and Cat joined us too.
2:00 Had plans to grab sandwiches at the local Italian Deli Traverso’s but luckily our host at Siduri told us it was closed on Sunday’s and recommended we try Willow Market and Café in Graton. What a find! We sat at the counter and had a delicious lunch. They had a “Polenta” section of their menu which I had never heard of before. Very interesting so Mike ordered something from there and I ordered the smoked salmon sandwich. Cute restaurant/diner.
3:00 Time for more wine. Went to Martin Ray. Small quaint tasting room. Complimentary. Mike and Abs did the reserve tasting. I was almost done for the day.
4:00 Up the street was Joseph Swan. Cute barn like tasting room with huge door but got a rude welcoming when the host said we should have made an appointment for our size group. Anyway they carded us (except for Kris – hahaha!)!!! and still served us. They were doing a special tasting of library wines which apparently were not a big hit with the group. I tasted the current releases and then stopped there cause I was definitely done then.
5:00ish Drove around using the GPS in search of one last quick tasting but got lost in some “rural” wooded areas so we decided to just head to the B&B and check in. Driving through Russian River was interesting. Definitely more casual than Napa. Met the innkeeper, very nice guy and checked in. Cute B&B. Nice patio area where we opened up a bottle of wine, caught up, and hung out until dinner.
6:30 11 course – yes ELEVEN course dinner at Willi’s Wine Bar. This place is “tapas” style so we ordered what we liked and the waitress brought out enough for everyone to have a taste. EVERYTHING was fabulous. Plus we all had wine flights. Great time. Most memorable moment of the night – BONE MARROW! My favorite – Filet mignon sliders. Here’s what we ate – After the meal, the bill was actually quite less than I expected. Pleasant surprise for some great eats.
9:30 Spent the rest of the evening catching up and drinking on the patio. Great times with great friends.
Day 3 – Armstrong Redwood Reserve, Sonoma, San Francisco
7:00 Woke up early and drove 5 minutes to the Armstrong Redwood Reserve with Randy and Daphne. These are some of the tallest trees in the world. Had the option to do a hike but instead just walked about half a mile to the Parsons tree (1330 ft), took some fun pics, and headed back for some breakfast at the B&B. We definitely don’t have trees like this on the east coast!
9:00 Breakfast with the gang. Had some egg soufflé dish with cherries, blueberry scones with home made raspberry jam, fruit salad, and chicken apple sausage – SO GOOD! Then after some Bad Ass Coffee we were off to Sonoma!
11:30 Arrived at Chateau St. Jean. This was highly recommended on yelp.com and by our host at Pine Ridge. Now this is an estate. You drive up to the main house surrounded by the grapes and walk into a beautiful fragrant garden. The tasting room is also a gift shop with lots of fun wine-related products. You can do a $5 tasting at the tasting bar or you can do the $10 reserve tasting in another room. We decided to do the reserve and much to our luck, we had the option to sit on the patio for the tasting. It was an absolutely beautiful day. We had an awesome view and the wines were very good. We tasted 6 in all. Very nice staff who allowed us to take our time. We were here for about two hours.
2:30 Arrived 2 hours late for our lunch reservations at the Girl and the Fig in downtown Sonoma but luckily they still took us. The town of Sonoma was so cute! Definitely will have to spend more time here next visit. Girl and the Fig was supposed to be a light lunch but we left stuffed! Split a tower sampling of cheese and stuff and then split some mussels with Mike. Ate outside. Did I say it was a gorgeous day? After lunch had to say our final goodbyes to Abs and Kris L
4:30 Made the quick drive back down to San Francisco. Stopped by the scenic overlook for the Golden Gate Bridge to take more “we were here” pictures. Weather in San Fran was WAY different than Sonoma. It was super windy and a little chilly!
5:30 Ferry Building – Arrived with one thing in mind – OYSTERS! Hit up Hogs Island Oyster Company for their $1 oyster happy hour. The place was packed but were able to squeeze out a spot at one of the standup tables and killed 96 oysters in 15 minutes! Will came and had about 5 but other than that Randy, Mike, and I had a field day! So yummy. This was supposed to just be appetizers too! We were supposed to have dinner at Range in the Mission but instead decided to end our food fest cause we were stuffed and check out Will’s apartment in Nob Hill.
7:00 Nob Hill – Caught up with Will. Took some cool rooftop pics and headed off to the airport. Dropped off the rental at the airport, checked in, and caught the 10:35 red eye home and to see my baby. Slept the whole way J
Amazing trip. Can’t wait until our next one!
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