Wine Country with Great Friends

Part of our San Francisco trip was spent in wine country (duh!) We were lucky to be traveling with a rock star — Gracie. Between her industry discount and St. Michele contacts, we got discounts galore. All hail Gracie!

We started the day off getting breakfast at the Oakville Grocery. I had a delicious berry scone.

We sat outside enjoying the sunny weather and looking at the Opus One vineyards. Soon after, we made a quick stop at Opus One so that the Diva could pick up some wine — we did not have any interest in a $30 tasting, however.

While driving, we saw a sign for a chocolate and wine tasting at Rutherford Hill Winery – needless to say, I quickly turned into the parking lot. The “chocolate tasting” wasn’t the best (a nibble of chocolate with one of the reds), but Sean and I did enjoy the muscato enough to buy a couple of bottles.

Next up, Conn Creek Winery where Gracie knew the pourers in the tasting room. Amy was really good and knew her stuff — plus she extended the employee discount to all of us. We bought some really delicious reds and learned a ton about the immediate growing region in Napa.

We could have stayed at Conn Creek all day, I think, but we had to get on the road to El Dorado…Kitchen. El Dorado Kitchen is in Sonoma and we had a very enjoyable lunch that included truffle fries and, for me, mussels in a beurre blanc sauce. No dessert though because we had to go cheese tasting at the Sonoma Jack store!

From there, we headed to Gloria Ferrer for a fabulous bottle of bubbly on the terrace, Cline where we got a great deal on some rose, and Domaine Carneros for a sparkling wine flight which was fantastic. Oh yeah, in between there somewhere we *had* to make a pit stop at Angelos for beef jerky.

Finally, our VIP was lucky enough to get us a table at Chez Storms where we enjoyed pizza, conversation, and, of course, more wine. Our day in wine country was full but still relaxing and enjoyable. I might never take a trip to wine country without Gracie ever again!