After we landed in San Francisco, I had a 2-task agenda: 1.) Fresh food [that's lemon slices on my sushi - oh, yum] 2). Visit the Athleta store
That's soul-smiling freshness right there.
Enjoying iced coffee/post Athleta store visit glow. (sidenote: Girlfriend needs some sun...sheesh! I'm so pale, you wouldn't even know I'm Italian.)
Walking around San Fran, Alcatraz is off in the distance.
The pier and the famous sealions honking in the background.
These hold the pier together, I guess.
Andy gets excited about crabs, which are in season this time of year in NoCal.
And now for the wine country portion of the photos...
On the patio at Kendall-Jackson enjoying - no, make that relishing - in the food and wine pairings with Nancy and Brian.
I was all sorts of Pavlovian, so the following photos are quick snaps followed by long savoring bites (not pictured). Above is a Johnny Cake with Trout Roe and Sour Cream and a pumpkin and crab soup.
Ah, the pork belly slider with syrah bbq sauce....get in my belly!
Vineyard-made carmel corn...oh god, so good.
Nancy and Brian, our pals and hosts in Sonoma. Brian works for Kendall-Jackson and indulged us with some of his industry knowledge and connections. :)
Stop the car! We spied this fun little sketch on the side of a random barn between winery visits.
Fist pump for some seriously good Sonoma Valley wines.
If I must.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAX0EBeZmUM Click the link above to see this short video clip of the Bella wine caves. Pretty cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltW2Omyf8t8 Turns out, both Andy and I thought this place was video-worthy.
Cool atmosphere and really good wines, the whole tasting menu at Bella Vineyards in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley was full of keepers.
The Dry Creek General Store is what all general stores should be: amazing sandwiches (perhaps the best we've ever had), cheese, wine, savory things in jars...sigh. Not a Twinkie or a Dorito to be found here. Amen!
This sandwich was so good, it's scary.
Yes, please.
That's a vineyard map and the start of our day as we make our way over the mountain separating Sonoma and Napa Valleys.
Our bike tour through the Stag's Leap District of Napa Valley. This is the off season, mind you, so the vines are bare. We just tasted some killer Cab at Chimney Rocks's tasting room (in the background).
Pretty happy with ourselves on our private porch at our quirky French-style B&B. We nabbed this for a steal at the last moment - hooray for traveling in the off-season!
Complimentary wine and cheese on the porch before we head out to dinner.
Day 2 in Napa Valley. St. Supery = pure magic to our palettes. No one else could even touch the balance and consistency of each wine we tried here (even the whites!). Although it's not tasting room etiquette, each pour made me want to stahl so I could have a few more minutes with the wine in my glass!
On the set of a Restoration Hardware photo shoot. Just kidding - this is Frog's Leap where we did a sitdown tasting, overlooking their vineyards with their dog at our feet. Yeah, we enjoyed this just a little bit.
To increase the size of Ali's smile, just add cheese - it works every time!
Everything at Frog's Leap is organic: this tasting experience, the vineyard and even down to the reclaimed woods all around us.
Completely content.
Abby, the vineyard dog at Frog's Leap, made us feel right at home. Later, we went outside to play fetch with her on the stunning grounds.
This roadside stand in Napa filled our bellies and provided abundant wine absorbency, which in turn, afforded us a very full day of tasting in Napa. Good strategy, eh?
A quick glimpse into the truck of our car.
Mondavi, because you just have to.
Lemons!
Robert Mondavi was one of dudes that put Napa on the map. Thank you, sir.
Redwood at the entrance of Sequoia Grove tasting room, which - by the way - yum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUPIzrmnSk4 The start of another evening in the foodie paradise of Yountville. We were lucky enough to score reservations at Thomas Keller's Bouchon this night.
For a change of pace, we did a wine blending session at Ravenswood.
While I may make this look like a questionable activity, it was on the up-and-up! We created our own personal blends of zinfandel, carminere and petite syrah.
We would syphon measured amounts of each varietal, note the percentages of each, taste and then evaluate to tweak our recipe. We each got a bottle of our blend, which lives in our cellar now...we'll have a taste-off to see who is the master blender. ;)
A common position for me - it's like my salute to the sun.
Corking our blends. (It wasn't really that difficult).
After our blending session, we tasted from these barrels.
Typically silly.
The claw, Sonoma-style.
Peter, our wine blending host. We had a good time with him.
Ridge Vineyards in Sonoma Valley. For us, Mecca.
We tasted at these wineries. Top half is Sonoma Valley and bottom half is Napa Valley.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=209478299034018801010.00049bf2d906928712907&ll=38.552461,-122.805176&spn=0.507981,1.137085&z=10 For wineries, accommodations and restaurants we visited as well as notes on our recommendations.
