seriously, it was the best vacation ever. & for that i'm incredibly grateful. for the opportunity to go on my dream vacation, for my amazing husband for planning all of it, for incredible scenery & food & wine. speaking of wine... let me tell you all about that:
first stop on our winery tour - rombauer, of course!! my absolute favorite wine in the world is rombauer chardonnay. {yes yes, along with many many other women in their 20s & 30s &...} it's insanely delicious. super oaky, super rich. pretty much tastes like you're drinking liquid butter. delicious!!
this place is gorgeous. the view from the tasting room is absolutely breathtaking. truly the most beautiful i've seen in america. i hope you do get to experience it someday.
throughout our trip in napa, we tasted a lot of red wines. normally a white wine girl myself, it was a neat opportunity to try things i wouldn't usually choose on my own. as it turns out, there are some delicious zinfandels out there. quite a few, in fact. it was a good compromise between blake's pinot noir & my cabernet first picks. i encourage you to try some!
our next stop was at duckhorn vineyards - a gorgeous southern plantation in the middle of the valley. oh, it was so pretty.
we had the opportunity to sit on the wrap-around porch with a view of the vineyards & mountains and taste some delicious wines. duckhorn also had some great red wines & a very knowledgable educator. a fun afternoon.
our last stop of the day was blake's top choice - castello di amorosa! it's a real castle in the middle of napa valley.
ok ok, so the castle was built {well, it started to be built} only twenty years ago. but it's seriously a castle. it has medieval construction methods & materials. stones were shipped over from europe, bricks were hand-made, there is even a torture room! it's pretty darn impressive.
the entire winery tour was pretty great. the underground caves were absolutely gorgeous. & the wine was very good too.
blakey was also pretty darn excited to stop at the famous chateau montelena winery. have you ever seen the movie bottle shock? this is the winery that movie is about!
chateau montelena is pretty much what put california wine on the map. it is famous for winning the "judgement of paris" wine competition when only french wines were winning. pretty big deal. & pretty neat.
the wine tasting here was super fun. our wine educator fellow had recently graduated from the CIA {cullinary institute of america - a BIG deal in the culinary world} & was working as the head chef at the winery. i mentioned having been to pastry school... we talked food & culinary school & all that jazz. he eventually asked for a suggestion on what to make for dessert that night for an even at the winery! {my answer was that lavender & lemon was my favorite flavor combination of the season. maybe a tart or semi-freddo.} so he ended up giving us our wine tasting for free since i helped him out! heck yeah. i love my profession.
a seriously fantastic week. & believe it or not... there is still more to come!
i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.
love love,
kjp.
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