Wine Country: What We Did!

In case you're wondering if wine country is what everyone says it is, it is.  I mean, it really is.

I procured many pieces of great advice before our trip, and it was unfortunately impossible to do everything people were so generous and helpful in telling me.  But, I definitely did my best to get to as many places as possible.  And seriously, I spent two days creating google maps, plotting travel times, searching yelp, etc.  I created an actual itinerary down to the minute.  I'm that kind of crazy.

And because I am so thankful for the advice we got, I want to share (and recap) all the great experiences we had complete with "reviews" for each place we went to.  Who knows, maybe one of you will find it helpful someday too!

Before I get to the recap, I wanted to say that putting a little time, money, and effort into planning a getaway with your spouse is totally worth it.  A toddler (or multiple kids, I can only imagine) can really take it out of you and let you forget how much fun (and necessary!) adult-time and spouse-time can be for your heart and soul.  It was so great to spend quality time with my husband for a long weekend to reboot and reconnect (even though we were always anxious for the next Benjamin update/picture to come in on our phones!).  So yes, while wine country broke the bank a bit (well, it didn't help that we brought home some delicious wine!), it was a deserved and appreciated expense.  I guess kind of like an oil change for a car or something.  Regular marriage maintenance should always include carved-out adult time (bonus for having good wine with it).

I'm going to recap our trip in two parts, wine country and San Francisco based on the time we spent in each place.  Today is the wine country run down.  Forgive me if this is a long post... if the "reviews" don't bore you, maybe the endless pictures will.  (And to think, I have about 5 times as many that I whittled these down from!)

Soon I'll have our San Fran post up, but essentially, we spent the first night and morning there... and drove north over the Golden Gate Bridge to check out the redwoods before finally reaching Napa.  This is where we'll begin...

{Oh, and here are some things I didn't really understand until we got there, i.e. TIPS}

• Napa vs. Sonoma - basically, the short of it is that Napa is often called "pretentious", and Sonoma is often called "hippie" or other versions of those things.  Dress nicely in Napa.  Dress however you want in Sonoma.  Frankly, we've heard from many people that the "regulars" of wine country tend to prefer Sonoma because it is so much more laid back and less touristy (with more varietals thanks to their different climates).  In Napa, it's not uncommon to drive up to a winery to find a tour bus sitting at the main entrance.  
• most places in Napa require reservations for tastings (it's part of their license requirements, so occasionally you can just fill out a "form" there if they have room for you and you didn't make a reservation - if it's not busy season, you can usually call on your way there), most places in Sonoma don't need any reservations. If you're mapping out where you're going ahead of time like I did, you should check this out to avoid headaches.  Oh, and tours DO require reservations almost everywhere (except if you're a wine club member with them).
• tastings generally cost money, and in Napa they are like 4x the price in Sonoma (like around $20-30).  Ok, sometimes only 2x.  However, splitting a tasting is totally acceptable, and welcomed, so don't feel cheap if you split one.  It also helps you stay un-drunk to be able to actually enjoy the wine and not just speed through it.  Fees are waived for buying stuff - however, check about each place's policy on this.  In Napa, it's not uncommon for their policies to be "buy 6 bottles, get a tasting waived" or "join our club, get a tasting waived".  Some places in Napa will be as few as 2 bottles, but this was rare.  Sonoma is much more liberal and you can often find fees (minimal as they are) waived for 1-3 bottles of wine purchased.  You can also download the Winery Finder app for awesome deals, 2-for-1 tastings, and other specials near you (easy and awesome).  And often, your hotel will have deals for you or coupons upon checking in.  Oh, and many employees can "recommend" another winery to you and give you a "coupon" for a free tasting there.  So don't be shy about asking for "recommendations" if you're looking for free tastings.
• Random sidenote: If you are going to Sonoma County in 2013, Visa Signature has an awesome deal with almost 100 of their wineries waiving all fees and giving a discount on purchases.  This came in handy to a few of ours (and of course I only found out about this deal right before we left and had already mapped out our whole trip!).  A great bonus if you happen to have a Visa Signature card!  
• FYI: Wineries are only open til 5pm, and most open around 10 or 11am. This can create scheduling problems if you're on a tight time frame! 
• BRING FOOD! A lot of places (practically every one in Sonoma) have picnic areas.  Eating while you taste throughout the day is a smart idea, and we were thankful for the suggestion to get a case of water beforehand and drink a bottle between each winery.  There are great gourmet shops to grab delicious cheeses or sandwiches, but if you're in a rush, even the local gas station will do!  Just be sure to eat. :)
• Wine clubs: we did not know much about these, but most wineries in Napa and Sonoma sell their wine on site or through their wine clubs (plus to some restaurants in San Fran and elsewhere) exclusively... so if you fall in love with a wine, you likely won't be able to find it at home and will have to end up thinking about becoming a member.  We stuck almost exclusively to wineries that do not distribute, so this was our dilemma...

And now, the recap!!

THURSDAY (Napa Valley)

Driving into Napa!

First stop: Signorello Estate

As you can tell, this was one of the most gorgeous wineries we visited.  The hillside vineyards, the infinity pool, the seemingly endless views... it was beautiful!  When we got there, we were the only people, so it was a little awkward for our first official tasting (hello quiet!!), but the folks were very friendly and answered a ton of our questions about wine.  You can take your tastings out to the patio by the pool and enjoy the gorgeous setting, which was nice.  Wine was delicious, and one of my favorites of the trip was their Cab Franc (too pricey for us to take home at $70/bottle).

Next stop: Frog's Leap

This winery came highly recommended to us by a few people, and we could certainly see why! (FYI, their tours and tastings fill up really quickly, so you have to book super early).  The setting was simply gorgeous, the people were extra friendly, the wine was delicious, the backyard had cornhole/bags set up, and the "seated tasting" gave you tons of time to chat with your pourer and learn a ton of stuff.  Only downside is that they distribute in all 50 states, so if you're looking for wine that you can't get at home, you can either skip this or make it a quick stop for the beautiful environment/experience. (We walked away with a Sauv Blanc and a Zin)  Also, their tasting fees are a little high with a relatively high "minimum purchase" to have fees waived... one more bummer.

Next up: A Tour at O'Brien Estate

I read about this somewhere online and then also read great reviews on Yelp, so we figured it might be a good place to do a tour.  The estate is extremely small compared to others in Napa, but the wines they produce are awesome!  The tour was great, our guide was hysterical (and possibly tipsy, the Napa version of a Colorado ski bum), and we even got to meet the owner and hear some stories about how he named his wines (talk about romantic, he adores his wife!!).  We really enjoyed our visit here and picked up a bottle of Merlot for some big fancy occasion (i.e. our most expensive purchase of the trip). Oh, and the property, though small, is very pretty, and you get to walk right through the vineyards and around the estate.  We're glad we made this stop for sure.

Mr. O'Brien himself!  Kind enough to talk with us for a bit

Last stop: Goosecross Cellars

I read about this place on a blog post some random/kind person did about their knowledge of Napa, and I'm glad we tried it!  The tasting room felt very Colorado-y, almost like a small brewery.  And while we were enjoying their tasty wine, we ended up meeting someone from Colorado pouring our tastes... who just happened to be a member of the Coors family!  Her sister had just purchased the winery and was getting ready to make a few changes (like moving the tasting room into the house on the property), and I can only imagine it will be even better.  We enjoyed the small feel of the place and the wine was quite tasty. (And we were grateful for a friendly Colorado face we could chat with for an hour.) I bought a bottle of their famously sweet Orange Muscat - an awesome dessert wine!

Dinner: Gott's Roadside

Yes, Napa is known for great food.  Duh, some of the best food in the world.  But our wallets were a little light from purchasing Napa wines, and our stomachs weren't dying for a huge meal.  SO, we went to the place I had read about in multiple blogs/recommendations from people; Gott's Roadside Grill.  Apparently it's a Napa tradition (it used to be under a previous name but apparently serves the same things now as it has for years).  Sure enough, the food was delicious (Matt loved his tuna burger), and we didn't break the bank :)

Outdoor Festival in downtown Napa (Chef's Market)

After dinner we walked over the river into downtown Napa and found the last "Chef's Market" of the summer going on.  The streets were FILLED with people enjoying the wine/beer/food from the vendors, and a band was playing on one of the squares.  It was fun to see the little town so alive (and it made me wonder what life in Napa might be like on a day-to-day basis.) :)  We tried to stop by the "Vintage Sweet Shoppe" with a groupon I had purchased for a wine and chocolate pairing, but there was a mixup on their hours and they happened to close their wine bar 20 minutes before we got there!  First fail of the trip!  We did enjoy strolling around town and along the river though. 

Dessert at Pear on the river

While walking along the river, we saw a cute restaurant with a patio along the water and a guy playing acoustic guitar, so we stopped for a cocktail and dessert.  The weather was gorgeous, the setting was gorgeous, couldn't have been a better end to the day!

Overnight at River Terrace Inn
I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I spent a lot of time trying to save money on trip expenditures, and one way was using some free hotel rooms I had earned.  Because they were "free" to me, we were a little limited in options, not to mention Napa was crazy busy and pretty booked up by the time we were looking for a place.  But with that said, we were really happy with our huge room at the River Terrace Inn - it's not in downtown Napa, but it's a short walk and in a beautiful area.  We'd stay again (though we wouldn't mind trying something downtown too).

FRIDAY (Sonoma County):

Breakfast at Alexis's Baking Company
I read awesome reviews of this place online, and it did not disappoint.  It's not in the main downtown Napa area, and it definitely felt more "local", but I'm sure they get their share of tourists (like us) given how great the food was!

Drive through Napa

We decided to drive up north to see the rest of Napa Valley on our way over west to Sonoma Valley and the wineries in Healdsburg and such.  It was a beautiful drive, obviously.  Can't really go wrong!  We drove through the town of St. Helena (pronounced "saint-ih-leena", which we did not know), and it was super cute - a place we'd love to stop in if we weren't on a tight schedule :)  Lots of picture taking out the windows! (And we made a quick stop at a roadside Dean and Deluca - yum!)

First stop: Hanna Winery

My pictures just don't do this place justice.  The property was simply stunning, perhaps the most beautiful views we had all trip.  This was an early stop for us, so we were once again among only a few people there, which gave us the impression that this is a pretty quiet winery, perfect to enjoy some time with a loved one (or a picnic lunch overlooking the beautiful scenery).  The folks there were friendly (and they have been around awhile, so there are tons of "trinkets" to buy), and we really enjoyed one of their blends.  We ended up taking home their Russian River Chardonnay.  A good recommendation if you're looking for great wine, great views, and a relaxing atmosphere.

Stop at Jimtown for picnic food
Thanks to some good recommendations (again), we made a strategic stop at this roadside "shop" for some food to eat throughout the afternoon.  It was a quaint little store with a great deli and sandwich selection, and we were most certainly not disappointed.  Matt really enjoyed his smoked albacore sandwich and raved about it later in the day :)

Next stop: Bella 

One of our favorite stops of the trip was to this beautiful winery.  The tasting room is in a cave, and even if that wasn't cool enough, the rest of the property is gorgeous.  They have an awesome picnic area for lounging/eating, and we basically roamed between the picnic area and the caves the whole time.  (Everyone was very friendly!) They have a good variety of Zins, and Matt's favorite wine of the trip happened to be their old vines Zin made from the 1915 vines above the cave!  It tipped the scale for him and made him an old vines Zin snob :)  Needless to say, we left with one of their basics (the Dry Creek Zin) and the pricier old vines Zin (Lily Hills).  (PS- the Dry Creek area is known for their Zin, as we learned)

Next up: Dutcher Crossing 

this is a real photo! not fake or of a photo :)

Little did we know that this winery (that we accidentally got lost on the way to finding), would end up being our favorite (thanks to a friend for the suggestion)!  First of all, that picture above is literally the scene you walk upon when heading to the tasting room from the parking lot.  It looks like a mural!  The staff was SUPER friendly and informative, the setting was unbelievable, we enjoyed a picnic lunch under their cute pergola facing the rolling hills covered in vineyards, and we loved the wine.  Couldn't beat it!  During my time on this trip learning more than I ever thought I could about wine, I learned that I'm not the biggest fan of Cab (which is Napa's specialty)... but somehow I fell in love with Dutcher Crossing's Private Reserve 2010 Cab.  So we bought a bottle.  Oh, and we joined their wine club, too!  Yikes :)  (The winery's dogs were adorable and so sweet too, extra bonus)  Other great thing, they are actually semi-affordable, comparatively speaking.  Big win.

Quick stop: Papapietro Perry

There's a cluster of wineries that don't have their own property for tastings that offer tastings in a "plaza" of sorts off one of the roads through Healdsburg.  I was told by a friend (and read amazing reviews) about the Pinot Noir at Papapietro Perry, and though I wasn't feeling well at that point (insert the beginning of my 30-hour stomach bug!! BOO), Matt can attest that the Pinot was incredible.  What wasn't incredible was the price... if we had some bigger bucks to spend, we would have certainly splurged.  If you're a big Pinot fan, I'd highly recommend you make this stop.  Many people believe theirs are the best in the world.

Peterson 

While in this little "family" of wineries, we stopped by Peterson Winery and enjoyed a few sips of their offerings.  The fun thing is they were the only winery we went to that offered some of their varietals in boxes!  We couldn't afford a box, but we did grab one of their "cheaper" bottles of Barbera, a very bold, different varietal that we thought was too interesting to pass up!

Drive down Sonoma County

We had a long drive back down through Sonoma County (and I wasn't feeling great), so we took a scenic drive back to the actual town of Sonoma. Honestly, these views are incredible! (Hence so many pictures)

Larson Family Winery 

Despite not feeling well, I had budgeted time to visit the Larson Family Winery back near the town of Sonoma - it wasn't recommended to me by anyone, and its reviews aren't as stellar as the other wineries we visited, but we had a great time enjoying the beautiful property and admiring the name of the vineyard :)  Too bad we aren't related!  We did bring back some bottles of the Cab Sauv and Pinot Grigio as gifts for Larson family members... couldn't resist!  The whole place is super family-friendly with an excellent picnic area, games, friendly dogs, and most definitely no attitude about having kids there.  So if you're traveling with little ones, this is certainly a place welcoming of you!

Drinks at Hopmonk (Sonoma Beer Garden)
By the time we had checked in to our hotel, my stomach bug was beginning to get pretty awful.  So, the rest of the evening we had planned basically went out the window.  (Insert super sad face, especially because we missed what I heard would be an amazing dinner at the Girl & the Fig)  We ended up eating at a small Italian place (the Swiss Hotel) and leaving quickly because I could barely stomach eating anything (again, insert sad face).

Overnight at MacArthur Place

We used another of my free hotel nights at this 4 star hotel in Sonoma and were most certainly happy with the accommodations!  My only disappointment was that the hot tub was filled with one group and the pool wasn't really warm enough to swim in at night... so that was a bummer.  But our room was huge and the location was not too far to need to drive anywhere but not too close to be annoyed by people late at night.  (However, in the future, we would probably prefer to stay in Healdsburg or somewhere further north in the Sonoma Valley... but who knew!?)

boo for not hot tub time!

SATURDAY:

Wineries Skipped: J Winery, Iron Horse, Maushin
So, my stomach bug was still bugging me on Saturday, which led me to agonizingly decide to skip three wineries I had on our itinerary :(  Talk about a bummer!  But, it was nice to sleep in and not feel rushed.  We even got to enjoy a great breakfast (complimentary!) at the hotel.  Next trip, I'd love to make it to either J Winery or Iron Horse wineries, as I've heard both have excellent bubbly!!

Quick Stop at BR Cohn

The one thing we couldn't pass up was a visit to Russian River Brewery, so we eventually packed up and headed back north.  On the way, we made a quick stop at BR Cohn Winery because BR Cohn is actually Bruce Cohn, the manager of the Doobie Brothers.  This stop had nothing to do with their wine, I just figured since I spent so much of my childhood listening to the Doobie Brothers, it was worth a visit and a souvenir for my dad.  Cohn also sells olive oil and vinegars in his gourmet shop (which many reviewers raved about), so we ended up just picking up a bottle of olive oil for my dad.  The property was beautiful, I can say that at least!

Russian River Brewery

At long last (for Matt), we made it to the world-renown Russian River Brewery.  Thankfully, we got there right before a big rush, so we only had to wait about 20 minutes for a table (I hear the wait can be brutal).  But the place is extremely low-key, definitely not what I expected for such a well known and beloved brewery.  You would never know that they are THE destination for beer lovers worldwide.  I liked that most of all about it.  Though I wasn't feeling well enough to taste any of the beer (aside from a few delicious sips of their sours), Matt thoroughly enjoyed their full flight taster (16 beers!).  I think it made his trip.  He brought home some beer to share with some of his other beer-loving buddies.

Drive back to San Fran...

All of a sudden, our time in wine country was coming to a close.  With that, we drove back south towards the Golden Gate Bridge... and the rest of it I'll post in our San Fran recap coming soon :)