Wonderful Wine Wednesday

Over Labor Day weekend my dear friend Kami and I had the pleasure of visiting the Sonoma and Napa valleys. It was a beautiful, fun, relaxing and educational trip. So before I forget about all the details let me share them with you! {I began writing this over a month ago...I think I've finally completed it! Sorry for the length of it...I wanted notes in order to plan my next trip!}

At Talty Vineyards

Grapes at Trefethen

We left Phoenix on Friday midday and arrived in Sacramento that afternoon. We opted for SAC over San Francisco because we thought it would be better traffic and less chances for flight delays due to fog. We got a smoking deal on a rental car and headed to our B&B in Sonoma.

Our friend Kayla (Kami has known her forever and I have since college) drove up from SF - it took her over 3 hours which totally solidified our good decision making about flying in to SAC - and joined us for dinner. We originally thought we would go to The Fig Cafe & Wine Bar in Glen Ellen {based on our menu review of it} but we called and they were closed for a private party so we headed to the square and tried to get in at The Girl & the Fig {the "mother" restaurant of the one in GE} - probably the busiest restaurant in Sonoma - instead of waiting for a table for over an hour we sat in the bar/lounge and enjoyed great food and company. We ordered a bottle of wine and started with some cheese and meats - I branched out and tried the goat and lamb's milk cheeses - still not my favorite but I was impressed I tried them. I did try a caperberry {if a caper bud is not picked it flowers and produces a fruit that is the caperberry and then they are often served pickled} for the first time and surprisingly enjoyed it. I ordered the steak & frites {6-ounce prime flat iron steak, frites, point reyes blue cheese butter.} Let me tell you that blue cheese butter was DIVINE. Kayla had the Duck Confit - I thought it tasted delish and Kami had the scallops.We ended with Profiteroles {tahitian vanilla bean ice cream-filled cream puffs, bittersweet chocolate sauce} not my favorite but good nonetheless. We were so fortunate to actually get there when we did and get the seat in the lounge because it was Friday night of Labor Day weekend...it was BUSY.

Me, Kayla, Kami

My steak and frites with blue cheese butter - yum!

Kami's scallops

Kayla's duck confit - YUM

Saturday morning we had breakfast at our B&B, Sonoma Chalet, it was a rustic, clean and nice little place but the breakfast was pastry and fruit based and I need some meat in the morning! Still, it was delicious and we visited with some other guests. 

Fog out our bedroom window

After that we headed out in our car to go see Napa since we would be hitting up Sonoma on Sunday in our guided tour. Our first stop was Trefethen one of the largest vineyards in acres in the whole Napa Valley. We were some of the first people there so we got a great visit in with our pourer and were able to share a flight of wine {it was 10:30 in the morning so I wasn't really feeling up to drinking yet...}. We thoroughly enjoyed several wines but refrained from buying any since we were at our first stop and didn't know what the weekend had in store for us. {Note-for my next trip I loved the Riesling, Chardonnay and Dragon's Tooth Red wine}

At Trefethen they recommended going up the Silverado Trail to go north up Napa and since we planned on eating lunch at Mustard's Grill it was the perfect scenic route and then we crossed over for lunch. My MIL highly recommended eating at Mustard's and getting the pork chop. Then, every person we told we were going to Mustard's confirmed our good decision making and highly recommended it as well. Let's just say we were not disappointed.

We arrived just after it opened at 11. Almost every table was taken and the ones that weren't had reservations. Again, we were the first to sit at the bar and we were fortunate because it soon filled up after us. This was the recurring theme of the weekend, we got to many places "just in time" and went north or south on the right roads to get just the right traffic. It worked out wonderfully. We originally were supposed to be a girls trip of 7 or 8 of us and it ended up only being Kami and I which was perfect because we now know for eating we will have to have reservations in advance of our trip and if we have 4 or 6+ people we will most likely need reservations for tastings. It was definitely a learning trip for our next trip but we enjoyed every bit of it!!

Anyway, back to Mustard's Grill. Basically, it was a life-changing food experience. I enjoyed sitting at the bar, the bartender was great and had my iced tea filled all the time, the food was divine. So much so, that afterwards Kami said, "I feel like I should write your MIL a thank you note for telling us to eat there." I had the Famous Mongolian Pork Chop, {sweet & sour red cabbage, housemade mustard and mashed taters} while Kami had the burger and we shared a side of 3-cheese Mac & Cheese. It was absolutely, positively my favorite meal of the trip. The Mac&Cheese makes me salivate as I think of it now. Creamy, cheesy, crunchy bread crumbs. I will eat there again. The end.

The best pork chop of my life.

The best mac n cheese of my life.

Next, we again headed north on the Silverado Trail and eventually crossed over and came back down south. We stopped at Domaine Carneros Winery, it was too beautiful not to. It was the largest most commercial place we stopped at and enjoyed some sparkling wines there. 

Our last stop of the day was at Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen. We got there at 3:30 and a tour was just loading up but was sold out. They offered us the smaller more private tour that had just left, we opted for it and met up with the other six people out on the property. We got a full tour of the property, grapes, cave and more. We tasted a delicious Sauvigon Blanc out in the vineyard then in the Cave {where the store and ferment their wines - literally it's a man-made cave underground} we tasted a few reds and learned more about their wines. After touring the crushing area {we were there 1 week prior to crush} we ended up in the normal tasting room to try a couple more. That is where I tasted my very first Port with a little chocolate and became a believer and fan of Port.

In their cave!

Tasting in the cave. It's blurry because I rushed to take it before people sat and messed up the table!

Imagery is a sister vineyard to Benziger and we enjoyed it at our dinner at Red Grape that evening.

Dinner was at The Red Grape in downtown Sonoma. It's a pizza place with a pretty casual atmosphere. The restaurant itself isn't anything to write home about but the patio outside is lovely. We enjoyed pizza, local wine {of course} and some dessert. Afterwards I was ready to call it a night however, Kami was just getting started. I obliged to walk down the plaza to a bar or somewhere...we heard live music and approached a nice restaurant with a piano player and singer.

This was quite the party. We brought the average age down considerably. We sat down and started enjoying the tunes. That is when Gerri came by and invited us to get out on the dance floor. She is a 74 {I think} year old ball of fire. She is a local, retired journalist for Business Week and pretty much knows everyone and if she doesn't she will meet you. Her dancing is something I cannot put into words. But if you would like I will impersonate on demand...

Sunday we had a full day planned with our tour guide/driver: Wine Country Journeys. They suggested to eat a decent breakfast since we were not eating lunch until after three vineyards...thus we drove in to town {5 minutes} and ate breakfast at El Dorado Corner Cafe in the El Dorado Hotel. It was absolutely delicious.

My duck confit hash with poached eggs!

Valley Breakfast for Kami

After breakfast we had some time to kill so we walked around downtown Sonoma a bit.

Mission San Francisco Solano

Cute succulents

An interesting cactus of sorts at the Mission

First stop of the day was at Kachina Vineyards. There we tried a chardonnay, a cabernet and a zinfandel port. The wine was great, the prices were too so I bought a port and chardonnay. My first purchases of the trip. This is why I loved our guide, Jerry, he explained things I wouldn't have known. They have these great boxes you can buy from the grower and put up to 12 bottles in and then check as a bag at the airport. And since we were flying the one and only Southwest we thought we would share a box.

Kachina is owned by husband and wife duo Greg and Nancy, they produce a very small amount of cases per year and only sell directly to their customers and some local places no distributors for them. They are off the grid and 100% solar powered. Cute place, I recommend making the reservation to see them...they are appointment only.

Next up we headed to Talty Vineyards where we were served by Grower/Owner Michael Talty. He specializes in zinfandel grapes...not white zin people the real stuff. I honestly, really enjoyed the wine but did not purchase any. Kami bought some though. I go through a debate in my mind and I opted not to, but not because I didn't enjoy them.

Our third stop of the day was my absolute favorite of the entire trip. I wish I would have wrote about this sooner because as I write this over a month later my memory fades a bit...anyway let me introduce J. Rickards Vineyards aka Darn Fine Barn Wine.

Beautiful flowers overlooking the grapes

That's Jim. And to the right is Jerry our WCJ tour guide.

Let me just tell you right here and now, if you ever get to the Alexander Valley go see Jim. He's awesome. The end. He is a former cattle rancher turned "wine grower" his children made awesome coasters that have a pop out mustache that say, "It takes a mighty fine moustache to grow wine like Jim." We literally were there for a couple hours. Yes, he poured all those wines above. Yes, I loved them all. Yes, I joined the wine club! We spent a lot of time in the grapes tasting them and learning about the whole growing process.

It was at J. Rickards that we knew we needed to purchase another box to pack our wine home in...I did buy two bottles for my sweet MIL for watching my angel baby. He has some grapes that are 100 years old and he grafted another vineyard from them so he calls them the mother daughter wine and I of course got her those. And I bought myself a set...and the good news is I just received my first wine club shipment last week and that pair was in it! I'm excited for my 3 wines 4 times a year. His prices were reasonable but the wine is worth it as well. I highly highly highly recommend visiting Jim.

While at Jim's he suggested that for every pour of wine we have to drink about a bottle of water. This is no problem for me because I am straight up addicted to H2o. I visited all of the bathrooms - some more than once - but I never even got a buzz from all of the tasting that day. And if I didn't like a wine, I dumped it. They said it doesn't hurt their feelings and I'm not shy so it worked out. I will confess I don't think I dumped any at J. Rickards...

Next up for lunch we hit up Big John's Market. It pretty much has more cheese than I've ever seen in my life. I can't believe I didn't used to like cheese. I'm so happy I do now. I ordered a panini and then we ate a picnic lunch at our next stop, Amista.

Finally, our fourth and final stop of the day was at Amista Vineyards. I'm not sure if it was because it was our final stop or if I didn't love the wines as much but I was done. I did like a couple of their Syrahs so I bought one. The owners weren't there that day but it was a fun stop nonetheless. 

We finished the day eating dinner at Centre du Vin in the Ledson Hotel, where we danced the night away {until 10pm} the night before. Unfortunately, they were severely understaffed and we got the most horrible waiter on the planet Earth but our food was tasty. I of course took advantage of duck confit being on every.single.menu and my love of bacon/BLT's and had the BLTD...d=duck confit. Yummy.

We flew home each with a box of 8 wines checked and planning our next stay in wine country! I highly recommend Wine Country Journeys. They are a husband and wife business and really treat you well. I'm looking forward to going back with a group of us next time!