Our Adventure in Napa Valley, Maybe Infused with a Little Wine

Welcome back! I'm sorry it's been a while, but our stay at Torrey Pines mostly revolves around me at the spa, so I've been a very busy girl! #firstworldproblems 

So our next day trip is to Napa Valley on July 5th. It really has been both of our dreams to come to Napa Valley. We spent much of last summer visiting random Italian and French vineyards, so although we are well-versed in Bordeaux, Chablis, and Chianti wines...we really don't know American wines. I mean, how well can you really know a wine if you don't actually go to the vineyard, see how it's made, experience different years, then discuss the differences with the winemaker himself? It gives you such a deeper appreciation of the wine, and we never tire of these adventures. 

Our first view of Napa Valley!!! You can see the grapes growing on both sides of the road, and the mountains on both sides! AMAZING!

In front of the Opus One entrance.

We began our day at Opus One winery. If you haven't heard of it, here is a quick bio. The winery was founded as a joint thing between Baron Rothschild and Robert Mondavi. (The only reason I know who these people are is because when Timothy and I first started dating, I broke one of his Robert Mondavi wine glasses, and had to buy new ones.) Their wine is a Bordeaux-style blend, and the winery only serves one wine per day.

I would describe Bordeaux as full-bodied, complex, layered wine. The Opus One had an extremely long finish (up to 20 minutes for me). Each sip was bursting with fruit, with a serious side of smokey. It tasted like an extremely ripe black cherry, teetering on maybe too sweet, until you come to that finish, when it tastes like you just inhaled second-hand smoke.

It must be noted that everyone has a different palate. Timothy usually disagrees with my descriptions of wine, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. :) 

Anyway, for the whopping price of $40/glass, you can try a glass from Opus One winery. It was exciting and certainly a great experience. After we were finished, I wanted another. But wait, we had 5 more wineries to visit that day...

After Opus One, we were prettyyyy hungry. Of course, we had a list of places we HAD to visit. TImothy is a HUGE fan of THomas Keller, so much so that my parents bought him all of Keller's cookbooks last Christmas. During our time in California, we are visiting all of his restaurants in Yountville.

So we make it to Addendum, a THomas Keller restaurant. Really, it's a little shack in the back of his other restaurant, Ad Hoc. The building reminded me of a snowball stand: you walk up, order, and wait.  There are two things on the menu at Addendum: Fried chicken and BBQ. I ordered the chicken, TImothy the BBQ. We sat at picnic tables, waiting for our nomnoms to be brought out. 

After about 15 minutes, I ate the most delicious fried chicken of my life. The batter was super light, the chicken extremely moist, and the outside crunch was to-die for. The chicken came with potato salad (fantastic) and literally, the best cornbread ever. I don't know how they did it, but the cornbread was super moist the entire way through, and really, really buttery. ...I can't even handle it. 

Another Thomas Keller restaurant! 

So after lunch, we had about an hour until our Beaulieu reservation. We strolled around Yountville, and found this adorable little wine shop. And SURPRISE! They had tastings. 

This is really only notable because on our first glass during the tasting, the guy said, "Now, no one has ever guessed what two grapes we used for the wine. Taste it, think about it, and let me know." So we did. I told Timothy, "It takes like a muscat grape, but it smells like a chardonnay." Timothy, of course, did not agree with my assessment, and named two grapes that I can't even pronounce. The guy came back, and BOOM! It was a blend of muscat grapes and chardonnay. Easily the proudest moment of my life. 

Super cute little wine shop, with tasting!

Our next stop was Beaulieu winery, which was okay. We took a tour with a group, and one couple brought their child. As noted, I'm really not that good with kids. I don't have that maternal instinct yet, and I don't know how to properly talk to children. It just adds to my overall awkward life. 

After Beaulieu, we made it to Silver Oak. On Timothy's birthday last year, I bought him this great bottle of Silver Oak, so this has a special place in my heart. And the best part? Silver Oak pours you whole glasses during the $20/person "tasting." And it was 5 glasses, plus 1 to "finish with." *Swoon!*

Timothy, at Silver Oak!

The most amazing Bordeaux blend!

I, of course, fell in love with this amazing Bordeaux Blend, which was wine #3. Now maybe, it was the 2 full glasses of wine at Silver Oak, plus the 5 before at the other wineries, but this wine was DELICIOUS. I had to have a bottle immediately. (See to the right)

Our day ended with a quick walk around Yountville and Napa, where we took a few more pictures!

My main squeeze!

Reservations on Saturday!

It was a longg day in Napa Valley. We were tired, I had a littttttttttle too much wine, and it was getting late. After a quick 30 minute drive, we were back in Walnut Creek.

Stay tuned for a great blog post on our stay at Torrey Pines!