The vineyard reservations were booked in May. The commemorative water bottles were designed
and fabricated even earlier. Wifey and I
(OK…mostly Wifey) have been planning this day for MONTHS.
When it finally arrived, we were more than ready to go. So we picked up the Mom, Hollie, Matthew, and
Mike at their San Francisco abode, headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge,
and made a beeline for Napa.
Our first stop was a “mule ride” (er…tour) and tasting at The Terraces at Quarry Vineyards. We did two tastings; balsamic first then
wine. We sampled the vinegars in a small
stone building amongst the wines. It was
one of the day’s favorite memories.
Atlas was a late addition to the photo (lower-left of picture).
I don’t recall exactly but I believe we tasted 10-, 15-, and
20-year-old balsamic vinegar. Each was
infused with something different and they were fantastic. The process of aging was truly fascinating
too. After the vinegar, we ducked into
the air-conditioned tasting room and sampled a few wines. If I’m not mistaken, the wines from The
Terrace’s were everyone’s favorite…except Matthew who dislikes all wines. Abigail, our host, promptly came to his
rescue and delivered a growler of Russian River.
Our second stop was at Gott’s
Roadside for lunch. Just a quick
stop though, we had a picnic table reserved at the Rutherford
Hill winery where we could enjoy the scenery as we gorged on burgers and
fries.
After lunch we were whisked off to Ali and my favorite
winery by our most attractive chauffer. Vine Cliff was the
vineyard highlight of our first trip to Napa in 2010 and we were excited to
show-off our little treasure to the fam.
By the time we arrived, temps were in excess of 105 degrees. Blah.
Fortunately, the wine caves were a more comfortable 55. Still, the day was getting long. After the tasting at Wine Cliff, we rushed
back to San Francisco and grabbed pizza and pastries
from our favorite two North Beach restaurants Tony’s and Mara’s.
I hope everyone else enjoyed the day as much as Wifey and I
did. We were beyond happy to show you
around SF and felt fortunate to get everyone in one place at the same time. Many thanks to my wonderful wife for, once
again, making the perfect plan.