winery

We Went West, Young Man-All the Way to Napa

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My spouse needed a vacation and so one night, as we were drinking wine, he said to me, “Let’s go to Napa.” Who am I to say “no” to that? So we bought airline tickets, booked our hotel and reserved a car. And this weekend was the time to head out west.

Our view from Miner Family winery

Our trip was different than the last time we were in Napa. Last time, our kids were home. One went to Australia so we had our youngest daughter with us. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law both lived in San Francisco that time and they offered to watch her. It was a great opportunity to bond so we said “yes”.

This time, we were empty nesters. We still had our contact in the food and wine industry to steer us in the right direction. Last time we only asked for wine recommendations. This time we wanted great wine and great food. Our insider didn’t disappoint. She led us to a wonderful restaurant called “Torc“. I made reservations for our first night there.

Tagliatelle with white truffles

Oh. My. God. It was so good. We didn’t want the food to stop coming. I had white truffles for the first time in my life. I wish I had tried them earlier! We were so stuffed that we didn’t even ask for dessert. And everyone knows that you eat dessert on vacation!

The next day, we headed out for the main purpose to visit Napa-wine!

One of the lessons we learned from last time was to 1) pace yourself, and 2) you don’t need to have your own flight every time.

So with that knowledge, we shared flights of wine and also spit out wine after a taste. At first, it hurt our souls to do so but we knew we were in for the long haul. The concierge at our hotel warned us to not join the wine clubs but we couldn’t help ourselves. It’s easy to join when you buy a case of wine-they throw the wine club in for free!

stomping away

Another great thing we did while out there was stomping grapes. How can you not? I felt like Lucy during the “I Love Lucy” episode where she is invited to stomp grapes herself. I dragged my spouse and it turns out that he liked it too. We stomped grapes, drank wine and got a shirt to prove we were there.

Later, we revisited some of our old favorites and learned some new ones. What Alain and I found fascinating was that we didn’t always like the wines we once did. We also learned some new wine facts. We knew that the wine cork needs to stay moist. That keeps the wine from “skunking”. We didn’t know that aging wine is a personal thing. I may like the wine after 2 years and you may like it after 5. And we both may like it best after 10 years.

We were smart, though. We bought wine we can drink right away as well as some we will save. There are wines for company and wines for us. But don’t worry, we bought enough to last for awhile either way. So stop by and have a glass with us.

Salute.

An “Ordinary, Average, Every Day….” Weekend

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It was an “ordinary, average, every day, sane, psycho supergoddess” kind of weekend.

The weekdays are usually the same-plug away at the job and keep counting down the days until it’s Friday. This week was no different. So when the weekend comes, we usually like to do something different.

As you may know, we had a lot of different: our A/C conked out which left A LOT to be desired. It wasn’t too bad on Friday and Saturday because we had zero humidity and the temps were in the 80s. But come Sunday, the humidity jumped sky-high. That was miserable trying to sleep. Even with the fan on overhead, the air was stifling.

But Saturday was still a good day. Alain and I hit our usual winery here in Northern Virginia. We have two we really like: Quattro Goombas  and Stone Tower Winery which we where we found ourselves. We had both brought books to read. And why not? A book and a glass of wine is a great way to spend the day! There was even a wedding going on so we were able to people-watch. The bad part was trying to find a seat in the shade. That didn’t happen so we wandered inside.

We spent a few great hours sipping Chardonnay and reading. I love to read but when I’m not at home, I get antsy. I chalk it up to the fact that I can’t take off my shoes and kick my feet up on the couch. That’s why we didn’t stay too long.

We headed home and decided to go to the pool. There weren’t too many people either so we found great chaise lounges, plopped our towels down and jumped into the water. OK, we didn’t actually jump, we slowly lowered ourselves in. The water was wonderfully warm. After a while, we hopped out and lay out on the chairs.

That just reminded me that I’d much rather be in the Caribbean on a cruise ship. I asked hubby when we were taking our anniversary trip and I got a non-committal answer.

For now, I’ll keep heading to the pool, closing my eyes and imagining that I’m there. Let’s see how long that lasts….