Monday, October 23, 2006

Napa

Continuation of Short Break post.....

The following day, after fighting morning traffic, we drove up through Napa Valley. Another gorgeous day. We stopped for a few wine tastings and had lunch at the Rutherford Grill. I found some dessert wine at the Beaulieu Vineyard winery that I absolutely loved. Its a Muscat wine that is about 18% alcohol and loaded with sugar. WK about died,, he doesn't really care for sweet stuff. Even being the sugar fiend that I am, I can only stand about a tablespoon full, but it's yummy. I'm trying to think of desserts I could use it in... BV winery also had the best Cabernet. We were told Rutherford had the best Cab and explained the importance of about 30 different variables on the outcome of the wine. We politely nodded in agreement, having no clue what they were talking about, but not wanting to look like poor uneducated commoners. However, at the end of the day we agreed that theirs did taste the best. The scenery was stunning. The leaves on the vines were changing colors and the fields of green and yellow were accented by touches of bright red and orange. We stopped at the Andretti winery, and ended up at Domain Chandon for a tour and tasting. Poor WK, he was such a trooper - the whole place was pink. They were releasing a new Rose' wine and hosting a breast cancer charity event that night. So it looked like something pink had exploded. They were handing out roses, and the paths were strewn with rose petals. All the staff were in pink, and pink balloon bouquets were everywhere. The actual winery was on a hillside and the architecture was really cool. They had designed it to blend with the landscape, and the building was modeled after wine barrels. Chandon primarily produces sparkling wines (it's not champagne unless it comes from Champagne, France we were informed) so the designer made the interior lights look like bubbles rising to the ceiling.

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