3rd Annual Napa trip

For the 3rd December in a row, we journeyed to Napa Valley.  (here's why).  Mornings were foggy but the afternoons were sunny... not bad for this time of year.   Unfortunately, one of the couple that was going meet us there got sick, so we were on our own.

Courtyard at Clos Pegase

We grabbed lunch in Napa (the city) at the Fatted Calf,  and had soup and a sandwich (the are really a butcher, but have a special every day). We started our winery visits at Clos Pegase, one of our long time favorites (and a good place to start, since we had not bothered with reservations).  We re-joined their wine club which we had to stop when we moved to Arizona, fortunately the shipping laws have changed so we can once again get club shipments.   They also took care of making us a reservation that afternoon at Failla, a winery we passed on the way there. We had had (and really liked) their Pinot's, but  had never visited.  Failla was definitely the new find for this trip.  They are a small producer, mostly Pinot Noir's and a Chardonnay. Most of the fruit is sourced from the the Russian River or Sonoma, which is a bit cooler and better suited to these grapes.  They ferment in open containers (!), and then into French oak.   We tasted several different Pinot's ... they were all good.. and only one is available outside the winery.   Last, we visited Salvestrin, which is conveniently were we stayed (again).    Dinner was at Cook, a small restaurant in St. Helena.  Roy had some really awesome pasta, with roasted pork.  I had cioppino... lots of good seafood, but it was pretty spicy, which was OK but not wine friendly.

On Saturday, after a good and huge breakfast at the B&B, we wandered around St Helena a bit.  Then we went to Casa Nuestra, an even smaller winery.  They did some interesting stuff ... we bought a few bottles, I'm reserving judgement until we tasted them a bit more. Lunch was at Greystone, in addition to the temptations appetizer, I had the onion soup which had a fun meringue / souffle top.  Roy had the butternut squash soup.  That afternoon we visited Bremer Family Winery, one of our absolute favorites.  We liked everything we tasted!   After that, we were pretty much winery-ed out... and had enough wine coming to fill the wine fridge.   Dinner was at Martini House.  I had chicken pot pie and Roy has pot roast... nothing like comfort food done sous-vide!

There was another great breakfast Sunday morning, then we were back to airport to come home.  And now, the wine starts to arrive... did I mention that before?  Not like in the summer where you need to have the wine held before shipping.  Another great reason to go this time of year!