"The family that drinks together....stays together!"

It may have been a dreary, rainy Saturday in Napa, but today was all about wine tastings!  We hit the bricks early, with the destination being Calistoga.  

Our first stop traveling north on 29 was Grgich Hills Estate.

Frank and I got to know Grgich on a previous trip and have enjoyed their chardonnay. As luck would have it, they were open and we were ready to start tasting! Michael was very informative and we learned quite a bit a what it means to be organically certified and what they do. We tasted an amazing Fume Blanc. (Needless to say, there will be a few bottles waiting for us when we get home.)


We continued our drive and a little while later, reached Calistoga.  Not really a lot to do, but we did walk around the town for a bit.  Afterwards we decided to have lunch at the CIA. 

Frank enjoyed yummy mashed potatoes and boeuf bourguignon in the cutest Le Creuset pots!

 After lunch, which included various "fruit juices" (*wink-wink*), we hopped back into the car and crossed over to the Silverado Trail.  We had a few tasting passes and were ready to try a sparkling wine.  What better place than Mumm!  

We got the opportunity to try several sparkling wines.  And I was always under the impression sparkling wines were white.  But Oh.My.Goodness!!!  Red sparkling wine is delicious!!  (Especially the Cuvee M Red!)

Clockwise from the top:  Cuvee M Red, Brut Reserve, Demi Sec, Sparkling Pinot Noir

After enjoying all those bubbles, we were invited to visit the art gallery where work from Art Rogers (Yesterday and Today) and Ansel Adams were on display.

We were scheduled for a Blending Session at Crushpad.  Unfortunately, there was a hiccup with communication on their end and unbeknownst to us the session was cancelled. Oh well, their loss. 

Not wanting to end the day with sour grapes (yes, pun intended), we dug out a few more tasting passes and headed for downtown Napa.  Bounty Hunter, a tasting bar, was where we would have an opportunity to try several different brands of wine. 

So many glasses!

 While at Bounty Hunter, they had a display of wine bottles in various (and some ginormous) sizes.  We tried to identify them and Andrea threw out the name/word, Nebuchadnezzar.  (And she surprised herself when she looked at the list of wine bottle sizes and it was there!)

A fun day, followed by dinner at UVA Italian restaurant.

Tomorrow's adventure:  Gourmet Walks - a walking food tour.  (See the theme of our trip yet??)