Sip Happens!

Vacation could not have come at a better time for us and especially a vacation in wine country!! This is our second trip here, although we flew down this time and drove last time. We are missing the ease and comfort of our own car but its a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.
We will post our pictures in the "2010 Winery Tour Photo Album" that you can link to on the right hand side and you can also see some of the photos here:


Saturday was a travel day - leave mid-day, get the rental car, drive to the resort, etc. We got a VERY scenic cab ride out of the deal, but that is another story for another time. Even through all of the rain (it didn't feel like we had left Seattle at all!) we could see that they have been making road improvements sinc our last visit and these improvements are very welcome to this area! After checking in we dropped our luggage off and stood in awe of our great home for the week. It is beautiful and we get a kick out of the fact that there is an entrance to our entrance. More on that later as well.

Off to dinner with a great recommendation (and 10% off!) from the concierge for some italian food. We located Ristorante La Strada quite easily and were promptly seated. We quickly discovered that our new concierge friend, Andre, was right on the money with this place. He had told us that he could happily have a drink and just the bread/oil and he was not lying! It was fantastic and everything else we had was also incredibly good. We already know that we will go back before we return home!

Sunday was our real first day of adventures starting with a cooking demonstration at the Culinary Institute of America. They showed us how to make pumpkin pie from real pumpkins and a Calvados whipped cream. It was very yummy and a good way to start the day. A quick stop for lunch at the Silverado Brewing Company was next and then on to the wine tasting! First stop was Sterling Vineyards for a beautiful gondola ride to their self guided tasting tour. We highly recommend a stop here for anyone visiting this area! Next we went to Castello di Amorosa, a winery we visited last time and wanted to stop at again. Not only because it looks like a castle, but we love their "La Fantasia" wine! Last stop for the day was at Domaine Carneros. This will likely be a last stop for us many more times this week since we are members here and it is very close to our home away from home. We just love their "La Reve" sparkling wine and the hospitality here is wonderful.

Total bottles purchased today = 9, trip total = 9. :)

That is it for the first few days of our trip. Stay tuned for continued wine adventures throughout the week!