Napa Valley
As many of you may know, Jordan takes a trip to Napa every year with work. Of course every year I am insanely jealous. Last year my friend Nicole and I went for our annual girls trip - I loved it so much and was beyond excited when we were offered a free hotel room for the weekend. So, as you can see - there was literally NO WAY we could pass this up.
I was even more excited when I read about how popular this time of year was. This is grape harvesting season, and therefore the most visited time in Napa. The leaves are changing and the weather is absolutely perfect!
We took an early flight to Sacramento, and arrived around noon. We headed straight for Sonoma to make the most of our short two days there.
We visited a tasting room, and had a quick lunch at the cheese factory.
As you can see it was an absolutely
beautiful
day.
While Jordan checked in at the hotel, I went outside to play with my low density filter.
That night we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Bouchon. After trying for a full day to get into French Laundry on the exact 30-day-out mark we were a little discouraged, but our meal at Bouchon totally made up for all that. It was a perfect dinner with amazing service, a beautiful atmosphere and of course the best company. We couldn't have asked for anything more.
After dinner we walked down the street to a dive bar and had a fun game of pool with some locals.
It was a really fun night, and we were home early
enough
for our day full of wineries and tours the next morning.
Downtown Napa (Jordan's run)
Pine Ridge
We started the tours out at Pine Ridge Vineyards. This was the only winery that we planned to have a guided tour through, and it was a good choice. Our tour guide "Buddy" was awesome, and the tour was quick but totally encompassing. We started in the vineyards, headed to the cellars, had a seated tasting in a really cool wine cave and then finished at the tasting room bar.
The wines were fabulous, and it was a perfect way to start out our day.
The day started pretty cold, which was actually kinda nice since it's not something we're used to at all in Katy, Texas. The other amazing part of the area was all the Fall colors. It was absolutely beautiful, and if you can get to Napa in October, I
highly
recommend it!
Darioush
Regusci
Domaine Carneros
Dinner at Bistro Don Giovanni
At the edge of the parking lot was a crop of Dariush's vines
It was such a wonderful trip. We met some great people and saw some beautiful things - and the best part? We got to do it together...
A
HUGE
thanks goes out to Amit and Arpita Bhandari, and the best babysitter ever - we are so grateful to have Becca to watch the kids and keep us worry free!