The (almost) live (almost) free Labor Day Napa vacation. About This Page:

[minemoz1]

A little background. My brother, Dave, and his friend Bob have been going to Napa on labor day for the last 7 years. I have always wanted to go, but my DH did not as he does not like wine. Last year, for my 40th birthday, my brother gave me this trip as my gift. I asked my friend Stephanie to go with me as our 'girls' weekend trip as long as she didn't mind hanging out with Dave and Bob. Stephanie jumped at the chance to go as her DH also does not like wine. So we waited 9 months...

Day 1- Departure

Both Dave and I had to work 1/2 a day. I arrived home and finished packing. I called Stephanie as she was supposed to meet me outside @ 1 and I got her voicemail. Hmmm. Ring her doorbell, no answer. Call cell again sounding a little panicked. She comes out, explaining she was using the facilities, and we load up the car and head pick up Dave and Bob. Then, it is on to Midway.

Our flight was pretty uneventful, except for the stupid lady that put a plant in the overhead compartment that leaked water from the pot all over the place. We landed in Oakland on time aroun 7:30 pm. We pick up our rental car, a minvan, from a local car rental place. It took forever and when we got the car it was dirty and had a definite funk to it . Febreeze is a definite must. We stop at Target for food and a cooler and we arrive in Napa shortly before 10:00.

Our hotel is nice, the Best Western Premier. We check in and try to find somewhere to eat. The front desk person recommends Downtown Joes as most other places are closed. We find our way there, have some very good bar food and wine. We get back to the hotel by 12 and crash.

[lauriep]

Sounds like a really fun trip! I don't drink wine, but I love Napa. Looking forward to your updates.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start!

[shnewell]

Ooooooh, how fun!! I've only been to Napa once and we long to return.

I can't believe someone put a potted plant in the overhead. Guess you didn't know you'd need your raincoat for the flight!

Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

[minemoz1]

Day 2- Hummingbirds, caves, dogs and wine.

The day started early with a trip to Oakville Market for lunch later. Several sandwiches and salads later we were on our way to our first tasting at Larkmead. Upon arriving at the winery, we are greeted by beautiful gardens and several hummingbirds. Their was another group with us which made it more fun. The host was very entertaining and informative. The wine was yummy.


We said goodbye to larkmead and the hummingbirds and headed to Storybook, a small winery known for their zinfindel. The owners' daughter greeted us and walked us up to the vines. We sampled a few grapes while we heard the history of the vineyard. The tasting was in the caves.



It was now time for lunch, so we went to Chateau Montelena, but found out you cant picnic without a permit. We found a state park and paid the $8 to picnic there. We were entertained by the blue jays and enjoyed or sandwiches, salads and a bottle of wine

Chateau Montelena grounds


Next up- Our private tasting at the wine makers house. -Am I still drinking? -Falling asleep in my steak.

[Tere WDW]

It sounds like a fantastic trip! I look forward to reading more.

[mcc0313]

Sounds like a great trip so far

[lauriep]

What a nice day. I'd have been snoring after half that amount of wine! The wineries are so beautiful.

[shnewell]

Sounds like a great day so far! We've never been to any of the wineries with caves and want to check that out on our next trip.

I'm also making a mental note that a permit is required to picnic at Chateau Montelena. How do you get a permit?

[minemoz1]

I am glad you are enjoying my report. I will write more when I return home as I'm typing this on my phone and it takes forever. I also have lots of pictures to download so check back after labor day.

As for the picnic permit, I think you would need to call the winery.

[minemoz1]

Day 2 part 2.

We left the state park and headed for our next winery, Brohman, only we could not find it. it turns out it was the wine makers private residence. Bob's friend knows the family and arranged our tasting of the three wines they make, a sauvingon blanc, Shyraz and Cab. We were seated on the patio and had a wonderful tasting/drinking cheese pairing while their dogs barked at the patio door to come out the wines were fantastic and we all purchased bottles to be shipped back when cooler. We finished off almost 2 of the 3 bottles. I was very happy. We also got to meet the dogs as they were let out. As you can see in this last picture, my friend was a little goofy.



We still were not done with our appointments for the day and drove to Joseph Phelps. The views from the patio were breathtaking and so were the wines. By this time it was 4:30 and I was really quite tipsy. I took some lovely photos and we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner.



This is one of my favorite photos from the trip


Dinner was at Brix and was really good. Dave and Bob ordered a bottle of chard and brought a bottle of red along. I was done drinking for the day as was Stephanie, so we just had a few sips. By the end of dinner, I was extremely tired. I wanted to put my head down on the table. I ended up going to the car before they were done with the bill. My head barely hit the pillow and I was out like a light.

Coming up day 3-friday, Cain,Pride, Keenan, Shafer, Beringer. Barrel tasting, meeting the Shafers, a fabulous lesson, and why does your wine smell like pooh?

[shnewell]

Wow, how cool! I've heard Brix is great. I can understand why you stopped drinking wine by that point! On our trip to Napa, we went to 4 or 5 wineries the first day, which meant something like 17 different wines that we sampled. We had dinner at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville (highly recommend!) but I was so miserable that I could barely eat, much less drink more wine! The waiter was afraid that I hadn't enjoyed my food. I had to explain that it was delicious but there was simply now way I could eat more after all the wine. Surely, they see that a lot!

[minemoz1]

Day 3- Our second day of drinking.

We were off to Cain, Pride and Keenan this morning on Spring Mountain. Cain is a smaller winery that only makes a few styles of wine, mostly reds. We head up the mountain on a very narrow 2 lane road complete with crazy cyclists. We wonder why anyone would knowingly bike up and down a hill that will have crazy drunk people driving on it throughout the day.

Cain is not on any GPS, so we were given directions and promptly missed the turn off. We turn around and head back down the mountain and barely make the hairpin turn to get to the road. The term, road, should be used loosely here. It was only large enough for 1 car at a time. Thank goodness we were there first thing in the am. I have no idea what we would have done if a car was coming in the opposite direction.

We finally make it to Cain, which is located at the top of the mountain. The winery is small and the tour takes 10 minutes. We are then seated in a lovely room with gorgeous woodwork and trayed ceiling. We are waiting for 2 people who are supposed to be in our tasting. They finally show up just as we were about to taste the first wine. They hired a driver and he got lost too.

Cain winery


The wines, to me, were OK, nothing spectacular. Nothing that I would pay the $100 they were asking for. We were only supposed to taste 5 wines, however, Bob mentioned that he loved Shyraz, so out came their version. The host was explaining that the wine is very berry with an "earthy" nose. When I went to smell the wine, "earthy" meant cow patty or horse barn. I am not kidding you. Stephanie said it smelled like dirty diaper. It was disgusting but the wine tasted ok :P Stephanie didn't even bother to taste it. She couldn't get past the smell. Of course, the wine gods, are ohhing and ahhing about how fabulous it is. yuck.

As we were leaving Cain, we noticed that the couple that was in our group, left their backpack. They mentioned that they had a 11:15 tasting at Pride Mountain up the way, which was also where we were going, so we grabbed the pack and took it with us. On the way down the scary 1 lane road, there was a car in front of us going about 10mph. My brother starts tailgating and I start yelling at him. Bob thanks me for saying something as it's usually just him yelling at Dave.

We make our way back up the mountain to Pride. I was really anticipating this tasting as Dave opened one of his bottles for me when we went up to the cabin and I LOVED it. Pride was very crowded but we found the couple from Cain and give them their backpack. They are very appreciative but just sent their driver back to Cain. Oh well.

They begin the tasting in the tasting room and then you head to the caves, where you taste the rest. They don't use a lot of new oak barrels in their wines and the fruit taste is very strong. As we were tasting in the caves, one of the employees walks by and says "Hello" to Bob, personally. I guess they come here way too often We also get a special treat. As Dave and Bob are on the reserve list, we get to taste the next reserve cabernet that is still in the tanks and will be bottled in a few weeks. YUMMY! We take some pictures and buy lots of wine.



We have one more winery on the mountain before we head back down to Napa. We stop at Keenan and taste more Chard, Cabernet and Merlot with some cheese and crackers. It was good, but not as good as Pride, plus my credit card was smoking from the last purchase. The rest of the group purchased wine and we headed back down the mountain for lunch...or did we????

Day 3 - Part 2 To lunch or not to lunch?? Meet the Shafers. Our private tasting at Beringer that ROCKED!

[ilovedisney247]

What a wonderful time! I can't wait to read the rest, as I am quite a wine junkie!

[lauriep]

Sounds amazing!