Napa Valley Wine Country Tour

You know we are dedicated wine drinkers when we had to wake up at 6AM for our wine tour. We went across the street for a $10 “Deluxe” conti that consisted of toast, muffins, and fruit. The only deluxe part about it, was that we had a laminated menu. We then hailed a cab to the departure location of our tour bus. The tour began by going through the various regions of San Francisco on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. We saw the beautiful Victorian house, the house from Mrs. Doubtfire, and a few other historical buildings. It is extremely foggy in SF in the summer months, while on the Golden Gate Bridge, you couldn’t see anything on either side of you.

We went to four vineyards: V. Sattui Winery, Domaine Chandon, Andretti Winery, and Rutherford Ranch Winery. V. Sattui was our favorite because we got to try about 15 different wines, rather than the five or six at the other vineyards and our wine tender didn’t not charge us for the tasting fee. V.Sattui also had a cute gourmet market where we were able to taste six different cheeses. We even tried and purchased the Swiss Gruyere and an artichoke cream cheese that Rachel Ray raved about on her visit to this vineyard on her show: “$40 a Day.” At Domaine Chandon, which specialized in sparking wines, we got a tour of the winery. We saw the giant vats, and they explained the difference between sparkling wine and still wine and how each are made. At the last vineyard we bought two bottles for ourselves to enjoy that night. While on the bus home, the older couple behind us was all giggly and we found out it was legal to drink on the bus, so we opened up a bottle and started drinking. We also learned a new acronym from this older couple, LDS. Long Distance Shot. When the couple is apart, they call each other to take LDSs. We then took the fairy back over to San Fran, where we were not allowed to drink our own wine, but there was a fully stocked ferry bar. While on the ferry, we saw San Quentin and Alcatraz.

Domaine Chandon Wine Vats

Per our tour guides recommendation, we decided to do dinner at one of the four restaurants that would not charge a corkage fee so we could enjoy our second bottle of wine: Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro. It was absolutely, delicious. We decided to splurge and split desserts and after dinner drinks! They were also delicious. Jackie really, really enjoyed the espresso martini, so much she asked the bartender how to make it.

Disclaimer: this entry makes us sound like heavy drinkers, but I will remind you,

1. this responsibly drinking occurred over a 12 hour period, therefore our hourly drink consumption was not very high
2. we did not operate heavy machinery, and
3. we drank numerous bottles of water throughout the day to stay hydrated.