Sunday, December 6, 2009

Napa Trip Part 2: Taking it All In

Our day started with Champagne and ended with the Muppets. All in all a great day. Part of the Hotel package my mom got us included complimentary tastings and a lunch at 5 different wineries. We only managed to make it to 4 of the 5 wineries and had a blast visiting new wineries. Yesterday we hit up Mumm, V Sattui, Robert Mondavi, and Artesa. We started our day of tasting at Mumm, where we given 2 flutes of sparkling wine and 2 samples of their sparkling wines sold only at the winery. We had just enough sips to pick a sparkling wine for New Years Eve.

Can you believe the pours at 11:30 in the morning!? Lots of drunk old people were our entertainment at Mumm, as well an Ansel Adams gallery.
Our glasses when we were done tasting, I felt kind of bad wasting so much but that was all we needed that early in the day. Check out the view, it was gorgeous! We picked out a New Years sparkler and headed out for a drive up the Silverado Trail.

Next up was more tasting and a picnic lunch at V. Sattui where we were given a complimentary tasting of 5 wines. We had sips of each but were not that impressed, we started to speed up our tasting when a man cruised up next to us and started talking to us about how he was on the hunt to pick up drunk women.....um next. We did pick up a Syrah that we both enjoyed. The winery and deli itself was gorgeous. And the weather was perfect for an outdoor picnic. Along with our complimentary tasting at V Sattui we were also given $20 to spend on food. Casey ordered a salami sandwich and we picked up cheese and acme bread and managed to spend $19.95! The cashier was quite impressed. We ended up having a nice a little spread in the gorgeous Napa sun.
Next up was Robert Mondavi where we found nothing we liked, and only ended up tasting 2 of the 5 wines we were poured, as part of our complimentary testing. And we immediately poured out what we were given. I'm sure the reserve tasting would have yielded a more successful trip at Robert Mondavi.
I thought this time line was really cool, we also enjoyed looking at their collection of historic wine pieces. it made up for the bad wine selection.
And finally Artesa, which was just plain gorgeous. I love Carneros Valley, the landscape views are breathtaking.

Isn't the Husband cute? =)
Lots more sips. Casey sipped mostly on water, while I picked out a wine to purchase.

It was after 4:00 by now and the long shadows were creeping in.
I thought the bathroom mirror was SO cute!
Finally we arrived back at our fireplace room hotel. We dropped off our things and headed off to dinner. It was such a treat to have a hotel in Napa, we only live about 40 minutes away so it was only the second time we stayed there over night, usually we just make a day trip out of it.
I found some pyrex that I had to take a picture of for Linda! She has me obsessed!

The Hotel was decorated so cute for Christmas!
One of the many Christmas Trees at the hotel.
I loved the gold feathers on this tree.
Dinner was amazing I had a beet salad and Casey the Surf and Turf. And of course more wine....When in Napa....This Petite Syrah, while very delicious, was making me tired. When we came back to our hotel Casey let me pick out a movie and I picked Julie and Julia, which was the perfect movie to watch while in Napa. Meryl Streep was amazing, she's such a chameleon!
Me snuggled up watching the movie.
I managed to stay up and watch the opening on SNL. They cracked me up as the Muppets!!! LOVE the guys this season on SNL. They just seem like they have a blast together.
All in all a great day!
Our wine haul for the trip:

13 comments:

  1. Champagne and muppets- literally all you need in life!
    Also, those gold feathers are REALLY cool and unique!

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  2. I love the muppets!! B and I watched their Christmas special the other night lol! Too bad I missed the SNL clip!! You guys looked like you had an awesome trip! Jealous!

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  3. Aaw I'm so jealous! your Napa trip looks amazing. Have you been to Castillo Di Amorosa? If not, I highly recommend the tour/tasting there! Where did you get the champagne? I'm going to Chandon next weekend and am SO excited!

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  4. Aren't they Lele?? I love them!

    Brittany I think you need to come visit me!!


    Lynn I have never been to Castillo Di Amorosa but I LOVE CHANDON! So fun and so pretty! HAVE FUN!

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  5. Great pictures and yes- your husband is a doll! I am so jealous, your trip looks like so much fun. I've never been to Napa Valley (or to Cali, really) so it's something Husband and I have been planning to do now...it's just getting the plans made and going.

    Also, my mom totally has that Pyrex set. I grew up staring at the at the oogly veggies as the dishes would spin around in the microwave holding whatever casserole my mom decided to "creatively" try. *twitches*

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  6. LOL Chloe!! Let me know if you ever get around to making those plans, I could definitely help you out with planning and recommendations I am pretty well versed on the whole state =)

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  7. Sounds like SUCH a fun trip! What a nice gift from your Mom. Now you have me really jealous - that bubbly looks super tasty.

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  8. It looks like you guys had a great time! Josh and I are considering San Francisco + Napa for our summer vacation. I might need you to give me some recs!

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  10. Mmmmm, Artessa....YUM! It all looks heavenly!

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  11. Do it Jen!! I could defiantly recommend some things! =)


    Dee I think you need to come out this way as well!

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  12. LOL! you taking a pic of being snuggled up in bed cracked me up! Glad you've had a fantabulous trip! Well deserved after all that hard work!

    - Steph

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  13. This looks like such a perfect day, I am totally jealous!! Someday the little fish will make it out there :)
    AND I am pretty sure my mom STILL has that pyrex in one of her cabinets!

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