Wine Part II

Here is the much anticipated recap of the last few days of our trip in Napa Valley (see previous post for the first 5 days).

Wednesday Night: We did indeed eat at Rutherford Grille. I had the best steak I have ever had and Morgan had a wonderful French Dip sandwich. We also brought a bottle of Merlot from Goosecross that we had purchased that afternoon and had it without paying a corkage fee (other than the food, that is one of the biggest pros for this restaurant).

Thursday: After another 'cooked to order' breakfast, we headed to the wineries. When we had checked into the hotel, Reynaldo (the General Manager at the Embassy Suites) had left us a bottle of wine (again, thanks to the Embassy Suites Uncles) to welcome us. It was from a winery by the name of Turnbull. So, we felt we should check this place out. The wine was okay and the winery was unimpressive, but we felt obligated. Next we went to Rubicon (formerly Niebaum-Coppola). This winery is owned by the famous Francis Ford Coppola who keeps his permanent residence on the back of the property. Although the entrance fee was steep ($25/person) it was my favorite stop of the entire trip. They do a very good history tour of the property including the caves and some Godfather memorabilia. The tasting included 5 very good wines and the entire property is exactly like what you think a wine Chateau should be. Thanks to the Umphletts (Lorinda and David) we knew to ask about the bocce ball set. It took them a few minutes to find it (apparently we were the first people to ask about it in months), but when they finally did, we had a blast playing bocce while drinking some really good wine. After Rubicon, we headed to Lake Berryessa and had another 'Tourist Lunch'. Then we went to Mumm to try the Sparkling Wine (aka. Champagne but since it isn't from Champagne they call it Sparkling Wine). Most of the wineries close at 4:30 or 5, but we had heard about Peju which stays open until 6, so we headed there for our final stop of the day. It was crowded (I think other people had the same idea about going there last as we did) but we tasted some interesting wine that was presented to us by a white man in his 60's who was either rapping (yes, like a gangsta) or reciting Monty Python movie quotes while telling us about the wines. Needless to say it was the most interesting delivery of wine tasting that we recieved the entire trip. Dinner tonight was from Joy Luck Chinese delivery which we ate as we watched 'The O.C.' in our suite.

Friday: Well, the chinese didn't sit too well with Morgan, so we got a slow start Friday morning. We finally made it to Calistoga around lunch time where we ate lunch at a little restaurant called Checkers (not the fast-food place) and we had a peperoni pizza. We then headed to Sterling Winery which is on top of a mountain and you have to ride an aerial tram (which is worth the price of admission alone) to get to the winery. Once there you do a self guided tour to an amazing terrace that overlooks the entire valley. I enjoyed the tasting, but Morgan turned a little green at her first sip. Good thing this was the only winery planned for today. After we came down from the mountain, it was time to be pampered. Morgan had been dying to have a couples 'spa day' so we booked a couples mud bath treatment at Golden Haven Hot Springs. We enjoyed a mud bath, Hot Mineral Spring Shower, Hot Mineral Spring Jacuzzi, and it completed with a blanket wrap. Morgan says her favorite part of the trip was seeing my face when I started to get into the Mud Bath (yes, I was very terrified). After the couples spa day, we headed back to the Embassy Suites for complimentary drinks and then got ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was at Mustards where I had an amazing Prime Rib and Morgan had very good pork chops. It was all followed up by some amazing dessert that I can't remember what it was except that it had lots of rich chocolate in it. Yum Yum.

Saturday: We headed to the Airport, turned in the rental car, scarfed down lunch, ran to the plane (carrying 11 bottles of wine), and arrived at the ATL airport around 9 PM. Kevin picked us up and we headed home to our dirty house (which we spent all day Sunday cleaning). Dinner tonight was Taco Bell (thank goodness the boycott is over) and then we tried to go to sleep around midnight (which was like going to bed at 9 PM Napa time).

So that was our trip. I will post some pics.