Girls Weekend in Napa Valley - October 2010

I had never been on a girls' trip and always thought it would be fun.  Some friends that I’ve known since high school invited me to Napa for a long weekend.  Good friends and good wine, I could hardly wait.  We all flew into San Francisco and had our flights timed within 20 minutes of each other.  We all ended up being delayed due to the fog in the bay area, but still managed to all get there about the same time.  We rented a car with Fox Rental and got a Chrysler 300 and it looks like a Bentley, so we kept referring to it as “The Bentley” the whole weekend.  We got some really strange looks when we called it that in public around other people.

Friday, Oct 1

We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Napa.  The drive through Marin County is actually really pretty.  The traffic was pretty slow getting from the airport to the bridge.  The normally 1 and ½ drive took us a little over 2 hours. 

We arrived to the Carneros area of Napa Valley about 4:30pm and made a plan to stop at a couple of wineries before checking into our cottage.  Our first stop was Madonna Estate.  We chose this place based on the tasting fee only being $5.  Inside the tasting room, we stood at the counter and tasted 4 of their wines (Chard, Pinot, Cab and Gewurztraminer).  It is an independent winery and the wines were pretty decent.  I’d never tasted a Gewurztraminer before.

After Madonna Estate, we decided to head over to Domaine Carneros for a tasting.  They are open until 6pm and the place looked gorgeous.  We walked up the stairs and sat at a table on the balcony in the sun.  It was a nice, sunny evening.  We all did a tasting for $15, 2 of us had the red wine tasting (2 Pinots and Merlot) and 2 of us had the sparkling wine tasting (Cuvee, Rose, and Demi-Sec).  They gave us 2 ounces of 3 different wines to taste.  It was a lot of wine, so we sipped and enjoyed the sun and scenery.

We decided to go check into our cottage and think about dinner after enjoying some great wine.  A friend found this place online and took care of all the booking.  It was such a cute little place and perfect for the 4 of us.  The owner, Susan, is really nice and is also from Illinois around the same place as one of my friends.  She treated us like family.

We didn’t have any dinner reservations for the weekend; we just went to places that looked good.  We decided on Azzuro Pizzeria as it was recommended by Madonna Estate and it was only a block from our cottage.  The food was great, especially the mushroom pizza from what I hear from my friends.  I opted for the rigatoni, which was really good also, even though the “hot” sausage was really hot to me.  We walked off some of our dinner by walking into the historic downtown Napa to check it out.  I’d been before, but it seems as though some things have changed since last year, like new restaurants.  We all had a long day of traveling and decided to turn in to get ready for our full day of wine tasting in the valley.

Saturday, Oct 2

Early to bed, early to rise.  We were all up around 7am and started getting ready for our day of wine tasting in the Valley.  We had a driver booked with Bee Driven, so we would be able to enjoy tasting wine and not worrying about whom was going to drive.  We didn’t have a pre-determined itinerary set up; we just wanted to go with the flow.  After breakfast at Gilman’s Cafe, our driver, Patricia, showed up at our cottage at about 11am.  Saturday in October is a busy time to be in Napa, so the plan was to stay on Silverado Trail as much as possible.  

The first stop we made was one of Patricia’s favorite places, Signorello.  She said we had to go check out the infinity pool and the view from the pool before leaving.  It was definitely an awesome view.  Our tasting included 5 wines (Seta, Chard, Zin, Syrah, and Cab) for $15 each.  The wine was pretty decent; I bought a bottle of the Estate Cabernet.

We had a 12:30pm reservation at Jessup, so our next stop was Girard tasting room, which was right across the street from Jessup.  Their tasting is a "pick 4 for $10".  I like that option, because not everyone likes whites, like me (and vice versa).  The pourer at Girard was super nice and we were having fun, so we were a little late getting to Jessup.  We were sat at a high top round table and brought a small tray of cheese, crackers, and chocolate.  We were given several tastes at Girard and probably should have called it a day after leaving here.  We all bought a couple of bottles of wine each.  I bought the Juel and Merlot.

After leaving Yountville, we headed over to Flora Springs.  We had a quick tasting there.  It was more like a bar set up and gets busy, so not the greatest place to get information on what you taste and the most expensive tasting, 4 for $20.  Our guy at Girard gave us some cards of places to go, one being Miner Family (5 for $20).  We were having a good time tasting there until we were told we were being too loud.  I looked around and there were several other groups in huddles having fun.  It must have been because we were right at the bar.  Either way, we were given our tasting for free.  Our last stop of the day was Alpha Omega.  They are one of the few places open until 6pm, most tasting rooms close at 5pm.  The grounds were beautiful with a large fountain out front.  After tasting all day and going to several places, my taste buds were shot.  I’m just glad we had a driver.

Patricia took us back to our cottage and we decided to go find some dinner.  We wanted to go to ZuZu, but the wait was really long.  We decided on Bounty Hunter instead.  Napa smells like smoked BBQ because of this place.  The food was super smoky and I didn’t like it, but my friends loved their sliders.  We again called it an early night because of the long day tasting wine.

Sunday, Oct 3

When we tasted at Jessup the previous day, we befriended one of the reps that poured for us and educated us on the wine.  We told him that we had hired a driver to drive us around the valley and he agreed to drive us around on Sunday.  He came to our cottage around 11am after we’d had another breakfast at Gilman’s Cafe.  Since Jeff was in the industry, we were hoping to have some fun tasting and we ended up getting most of our tastings for free or "2 for 1".  We let him chose all the places to visit.

Our first stop was Artesa.  I had been there on a previous trip only to check out the grounds and the view.  We did a tasting here this time and once again enjoyed a great day and gorgeous view.  Our next stop was down the road at Michael Mondavi Folio.  Jeff said it was a high end winery.  The lady serving us was super nice.  The wine was really good and she let us taste Mondavi’s $200 bottle of Cabernet.  She said only he can open it and if there is some left, she’ll pour it for some visitors.  They have a porch on the back right up against some vineyards, nice view.

We left the Carneros area and stopped at Plumpjack for a tasting.  I had tasted there on a previous trip and liked the wine, but I think it’s too expensive.  We headed over to Mumm for our next tasting.  I had seen Mumm being recommended on TripAdvisor all the time, but I’m not really a sparkling wine drinker.  It was such a great afternoon, sunny and warm.  We were sat a table outside looking out into vineyards and the surrounding mountains.  Basically, they pour you three 2 ounce glasses of sparkling wine and leave you to enjoy it while socializing or taking in the view.

We made one final tasting stop at Rutherford Ranch, but didn’t have a great experience since it was close to closing time.  They really didn’t seem interested in serving us.  Their wine was actually pretty decent, but I didn’t want to buy any since they rushed us along.

Jeff took us up to Auberge du Soleil for appetizers and to see the great view of the valley from the top of Rutherford Hill.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with friends enjoying a drink and some food.  

We made one final stop for the night at V Wine Cellars in Yountville.  It’s a cellar that sells wines from all over the world.  We started a tasting and ended up there for a long time hanging out on their leather couches watching some of the Bears game on Sunday Night Football.  It is such a cool place to hang out and enjoy some wine.  

We didn’t feel like anything fancy for dinner, so we ended up grabbing a pizza from Round Table and taking it back to our cottage.  How boring for being in Napa Valley where there are such great restaurants to visit, right?  But that’s how it goes after spending 2 full days drinking and tasting wine all day long.

Monday, Oct 4

My friends had never been to San Francisco, so they wanted to spend some time on Fisherman’s Wharf before catching our flights home.  Before heading back to the city, we took all of wine to a shipping store, Buffalo's Shipping Post.  I shipped home 6 bottles, while my friends had about 30 bottles between them all.

We drove back to the city and found a parking garage by the Wharf and walked around looking for a place to enjoy lunch.  We settled on Cioppino’s since it was the busiest place we walked by.  That’s usually a good sign that it’s a good place.  I couldn’t pass up ordering the cioppino and it was so good and full of seafood.  

We walked around the maritime pier a little, had a final drink at an Irish Pub and headed back to the SFO airport.  I had a great time traveling with my friends.  It’s not that often that we are able to get together and travel and I hope we start doing it more often.  Girls’ trips can be really fun!

Trip Summary

Lodging - The Corner Cottage

Food - Azzuro Pizzeria, Bounty Hunter, Auberge du Soliel, Round Table Pizza, Cioppino’s in San Francisco

Tasting Rooms - Madonna Estate, Domaine Carneros, Signorello, Girard, Jessup, Flora Springs, Miner Family, Alpha Omega, Artesa, Folio, Mumm, V Cellars