This was a group event which Jill put together. There were 12 of us total and 4 cars. (It has been a few weeks so you will have to excuse me if I have for gotten some of the details.) We all woke up early and headed over to Jill's to get directions. Patrick was driving his car and John and I were passengers. The Man was committed to going to his ex-boss's son's birthday party so he could not go. I wonder what would have happened if he had gone.
We arrived at Jill's and got the map and directions and we took off a few minutes early because we were picking up Nicole. Nicole is a friend of one of the guys I work with, Mice, who we were blind-dating with John. She saw the John page I set up and said "Sure." To avoid the bad things that could happen on a one-on-one blind date we decided to invite her on a trip with 14 people she did not know and trap her in a car with us. Sounds good! She lives in Berkeley which is on the way to Napa so we headed up to Berkeley to pick her up. The route we took was somewhat busy but we did get to drive across a nifty bridge.
The directions to her house were good and we picked her up and headed up to the wine country. She was very familiar with the area and soon became our navigator (Patrick and I have no sense of direction). Our first stop was at the Hakusan Sake Garden. We arrived first, amazingly, and the rest of the gang was soon to follow. When the other cars arrived we pointed out people (we would have introduced her but they were busy discussing the trip up) to Nicole and then made our way inside.
All in front of the guest center were flowering trees with small white flowers which were terribly beautiful. Patrick was not tasting but the rest of us did. For many people this was their first time having sake. You really have to have a taste for sake or be having food to appreciate it. The last sample we had was a plum sake which most people liked because it was not so bitter.
I barely sipped my samples and gave the leftovers to Aaron. I was trying very hard to be nice to him since we had been on somewhat antagonistic terms since we met. It seemed to work and I am happy about it.
After the tasting we ate some of the grapes I brought since it was afternoon and we were all starving. Our next stop was going to be Mondavi for a tour so we headed off. The directions and the navigation were good and we arrived just about the same time. Mondavi was pretty busy and we needed to schedule a tour for such a large group. We put our name in for 4:00 and headed off to our next stop which would be a picnic lunch.
The picnic area at Rutherford Hill was our next destination. We all needed food so we were looking forward to stopping. We arrived and put out all the picnic stuff and made sandwiches and had chips and fruit. Jill did a terrific job getting everything together. Once we finished eating we were ready for some more wine tasting. The Guest center at Rutherford was amazing, with huge wooden pillars with a massive flowering vine curled all around it. The day had turned nice and clear and there was a slight breeze. The weather could not have been better. We finished our tasting, I bought a bottle of Merlot for the man and we were back in the BMW.
The next stop was to buy only so our car decided to skip it and we headed off to Raymond Vineyard. Since we arrived at the vineyard before the others we sat out in the sun and talked for a while. As it turned out Nicole had toured some of the same places in Asia John had so they chatted about that and Patrick and I watched the hawks fly around.
Eventually the rest of the crew arrived and we went in and had a tasting. If I was less of a wimp I would have bought some of the mustard sauces they had since they were so delicious but being the coward I am - I didn't. We had some soda and then hopped back in to the cars and drove off to the last winery, V. Sattui.
This was one of the largest and most crowded we had been to so far. Parking was a challenge but Patrick dropped us off and we wandered inside. On the way in I received a quick but nice shoulder rub from Nicole! She said I seemed a little stressed. Perhaps.
When we went inside we found out the winery not only had wine tasting but also a large deli with delicious looking meats, cheeses, breads, salads and spreads. I sort of walked around alone for a few minutes because the counter was very crowded. There was a Rose on the tasting list that I found interesting so I got a glass and found it totally delicious! When John was doing his tasting I asked him to pick up three bottles for me. I guess my palette is just attuned to the least classy wines. After the tasting Patrick and I wandered around for a while, talked to Tay and waited for the others to finish. There were 6 wines on the list so it took a while.
Patrick and I wandered some more and I noticed the deli had samples of duck pate. Ever since I went sailing with the man, Randel and Brian I have had a craving for pate. (Brian had brought some and it was the first I ever had) I am not sure if it is any better than potted meat but I like it. Patrick and I really do not like to talk to people in stores so we looked around and around for the duck and could not find any. I was looking one way and when I turned around Patrick was no where to be seen. I looked around for him and could not find him so I headed outside to wait for the crew. When Patrick came out he had duck pate for me! He is terrific.
The next winery had closed by this time so we decided to go to the Old Faithful of California which was on the other side of Calistoga. On the grounds of the geyser they have a family of fainting goats. We went inside, paid our admission and wandered the grounds a bit until the geyser went off. It was fairly impressive - shooting steam and water high up into the air. The goats did not faint but they did like John a great deal. He said that his family had raised goats. I suppose that means since he liked them they would like him.
We all wandered out and said our good-byes and got in our cars to head back home. We were going to have dinner in Berkeley with Nicole so we headed there. We reviewed our dining choices and were going to have Indian but since I had to work the next day I needed to be home at a reasonable time and there was a LONG line at the Indian place. We ended up at a small Italian place and had a tasty dinner. We dropped Nicole off and headed home. When we got home I went to sleep.
The next day I sent flowers to Jill for organizing the trip and an email to Nicole suggesting we get sushi some time. As far as trips go I consider this one to be very successful.