Quit Your Wine-ing! Part 3

In Part 2 of the blogs about our recent NorCal trip, we traveled from San Francisco to Napa and drank some great wine!  Time to do more of that!

Ready for bubbles!

We all slept well at the Old World Inn in Napa, and once we woke up and got moving, Chris and I headed to downtown (we drove the car this time instead of walking - it was cold) to grab some coffee and chai at the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company.  

Practicing his cha cha moves

The VIP doggie guest checking into the Napa River Inn that day

Back at our Inn, we met Mom in the main lobby/dining room area for a delicious full breakfast, included with our nightly room charge.

Decorations in the Cabernet House sitting area

Everything was great, but those muffins were incredible

Before too long, it was time to head to our first tasting location of the day, Mumm Napa.  Chris and I visited Napa many years ago, tasting at several wineries; Mumm was one of our stops that day, and it was a great experience, so we wanted to ensure we came by on this trip as well.  We ended up there just a bit early, so we wandered the parking lot and took some pictures:

Before too long, the front gates opened, and we grabbed a seat inside to start our tasting.  Mumm makes sparkling wines, and we enjoyed two different flights (for Chris and I) and a single glass of a really interesting mix of red varietals (Mom).

Our first sipper - a glass of sparkling pinot gris

Mumm pours all of your wines at once, so you can sip back and forth on all of them,

and they each come with a special coaster, so you don't forget which is which

Mumm was once again fantastic - great wine, friendly people, and a relaxing experience - and we hit up the gift shop before heading to our next stop, lunch at Mustard's. Mustard's has been around for almost 40 years now, and it's an area institution; we ate there on our first Napa trip, and Chris even remembers having a meal at Mustard's with his Mom and Grandmother while he was in his early teens.  It was again delicious!

Indeed, that is way too many wines - there was a full back page, too!

Post-lunch, we spent some time wandering around downtown Yountville, just a few minutes away from Mustard's.  We saw the famous French Laundry restaurant (the outside - we didn't sell a kidney or anything so we could afford to eat there) and did some light browsing in a few nearby shops.  The weather was lovely, so we strolled the streets, looking at the local street art, which was all for sale.  In front of the library/city building complex, we found tons of tiny holiday trees; it seems each city department decorated one, and proceeds from bids on them were going to charities in the area.

The V Marketplace - it was originally a winery

The Parks Department tiny tree

Mom outside the Bouchon Bakery

Our second tasting stop for the day was at Frog's Leap Winery, just up the road.  Frog's Leap had a great selection of offerings, and their setting was incredible - they have their own small farm onsite, complete with veggie gardens, fruit trees, a chicken coop, and all of the winery dogs you can handle.

We were seated on their outside patio - their heaters kept us nice and comfy

A wine tasting set up for a different group

Grapevines as far as the eye can see!

Siri, one of the winery doggos

Some of the residents of the chicken coop

We picked up bottles of the Frog's Leap zinfandel and rose, as well as some hot sauce and jam made from the fruits/veggies grown on site.  Wishing the fine folks there adieu, we drove less than a mile to our final spot of the day, Honig Vineyard and Winery.  In picking our wineries for this trip, we wanted to find three places that offered a good variety of wines and experiences, as well as being spots that wouldn't bankrupt us, either for tasting fees or bottle prices (it has gotten expensive to taste in Napa - some places have tasting fees of upwards of $100!  Bananas!).  Mumm was a great choice for sparklers, Frog's Leap had a little bit of everything, and Honig specialized in cabernet sauvignons.  It was really interesting to taste their cabs across the years, at several different price points, to see how weather, terroir, and aging strategies (neutral versus new oak; French versus American versus Hungarian oak; etc.) impacted the wine and to find out what we each preferred.

Go Team Olsen!

Since Honig was our last spot of the day, we headed back to the Old World Inn to relax before dinner and start some early packing - we'd be going back to San Francisco the next day.  Just before our 7pm reservation, we drove back into downtown and the parking lot we'd visited earlier in the day (for coffee time); our dinner spot for this evening was at Angele, and it was truly exceptional.  I don't have a single picture, as we were busy cramming all of the delicious food and drink into our pie-holes the entire evening.  Angele offers a slight spin on French classics, and everything was incredible - Chris' onion soup and moules frites, my escargot and beouf bourguignon, Mom's lentils and duck, and all of our cocktails and wine options.  We left extremely happy - and extremely full - and trundled back to the Inn for another restful slumber.

On the next blog, it's back to the City by the Bay for one more night, with a stop in Sausalito!

Later!

Amy