Driving out of the city, we cross the Golden Gate Bridge:
We were rolling in to our first stop in Napa, Artesa Winery, by 10:15am. Sean is a member of Artesa, so it was one of the wineries he definitely wanted to make a stop at (he also had wine to pick up from there). This winery was very unusual-looking, in that it looked almost like a fort built into the side of a mountain. There was a beautiful walkway with fountains going up to the entrance where we stopped and looked out over the beautiful green, rolling hills that stretched out as far as the eye could see, acres and acres of grapes in the fields below us.
The beautiful view from Artesa Winery's entrance:
Being a member (and me being a guest of a member), we didn't have to wait in the rather long lines at the main wine tasting bar, and were instead ushered into a private room with sofas, our own bar and bartender and no lines. Over the course of the next hour and a half, we tried numerous whites and reds from the tasting list (being a member gave us access to an unlimited tasting), wandering in and out of the visitor's center onto the back terrace and enjoying the beautiful day.
A view of Artesa. Very fort-like, isn't it?:
When it was time to move on to lunch (we had a noon reservation), we hopped in the car and made the 30 minute drive to Rutherford Grill. We passed lots of wineries on the way, and it was always fun to pass a one I'd heard of (Mondavi, for instance)! We waited for what seemed like an eternity for a table - the place was definitely packed and was a hot spot for people bopping around Napa doing wine tastings, but it became pretty obvious after over half an hour of watching people arrive after us and be seated that we had simply been skipped (they of course denied it when I suggested that is what happened). While there was a nice outdoor patio with lots of tables, we were seated inside at a booth, and by the time we got our food (prime rib sandwich for Sean and sashimi tuna salad for me), were completely famished. The food was really good, but the ridiculous wait had just left a bad taste in our mouth, so we were ready to get out of there once we scarfed our food down.
By 2pm, we were pulling up to Rombauer Vineyards, high atop a mountain at the end of a long, winding road, and best-known for their buttery chardonnay. Sean is also a member of this one, so with his professional guidance, we bought a bottle of the chardonnay and wandered through the gardens down to the bottom of the trail where there was a nice sitting area to shade us from the hot sun while we drank our vino. Rombauer was definitely the quaintest and most peaceful of the wineries we visited; the gardens had a trail through trees and picnic tables along the way...plenty of places to sit and enjoy nature and seclusion without being on top of people the way it was inside the tasting room. Buying a bottle and getting away from the crowd of people was definitely the way to go. I really did enjoy the chardonnay, despite whites not typically being my favorite these days. It was nice to sit and just enjoy a bottle without all the jostling required in the tasting room.
Chardonnay in the shade, my favorite moment of the day:
After finishing up our wine, we took our time meandering back up the trail and back to the car. We decided we only had time for one more winery before we needed to go check in to the hotel and get ready for dinner, so we opted to skip Sebastiani Winery and go straight to Cosentino Winery, which Sean had never been to but came highly recommended by his friends. I was definitely starting to get a buzz by this point, but I knew I could handle just one more round of tastings. :) Cosentino was perhaps the least remarkable of the wineries in appearance, although the reds we got to try were very enjoyable (and Sean ended up signing up for a membership). This was a much less formal atmosphere than the others we'd been to today, and there was basically just a big room with a bar for the tastings...no pretty patios or shady gardens to wander off to.
When we finished up, we then made the half hour drive to our hotel in Sonoma, MacArthur Place. MacArthur Place was so cute! Although we arrived in time for the complimentary wine tasting, that was probably the last thing we needed, so we made our way through the stone path and garden to our room, located in the Manor House (room #3). This much more closely resembled what my idea of a "bed and breakfast" would be as opposed to a "hotel." The room had a private porch with seating and a garden and felt very secluded. We were on the first floor, but as it turns out, lugging our bags up stairs wouldn't have been much fun, so the first floor worked out just fine. :) The room had a very 'country home' type of feel, and was super cozy. (I later discovered the website refers to the hotel as a "country inn," exactly!) I was sad we'd only have one night in the room...I would totally go back and stay there again for a long weekend.
A pretty nighttime photo of the main reception building at MacArthur Place:
After a quick nap and freshening up, we were on the road once again, this time to our 8pm reservation at Cole's Chop House, approximately a 30 minute drive back the direction we came from in Napa. We circled for a while before figuring out exactly where the entrance to the restaurant was and then headed to the bar for drinks before our table was ready. The service was outstanding (professional and serious without coming off aloof or unfriendly) and our waiter and sommelier were very knowledgeable. Sean opted to purchase an expensive bottle of red after an extensive discussion with the sommelier (this would later prove to perhaps be a bit of a mistake, as about halfway through the bottle the sheer volume of wine I'd consumed during the day finally caught up with me, and I could hardly keep my eyes open...woops). We shared an appetizer of oysters and both ordered the 10 oz. filet and a few family-style sides. The fact that the steaks were cooked perhaps closer to medium or medium-well wasn't a huge deal to me, but it was an expensive meal, and Sean got frustrated with the steakhouse's inability to properly cook the steaks. Unfortunately, the steaks had been OVER-cooked, so they would have to start over with new steaks if we wanted it fixed. We decided to just keep what we had. I thought everything was delicious, but ultimately, the food didn't come out the way we ordered it, so Sean felt the whole thing was a disappointment.
So while I'm passing out in the passenger's seat, Sean proceeded to get lost trying to get back to the hotel. When I woke up, there was a deer's eyes glowing through a fence and staring straight at me. Yeah, it was just one of those nights. So we finally managed to make it back to the hotel and crashed immediately. Long, exhausting and wonderful day!
The next morning, we slept until we woke up, packed our bags and headed into downtown Sonoma, where we parked by Sonoma Plaza (a large grassy park) and looked for a place to get some grub. We settled on the Harvest Moon Cafe, as it was one of the few places that didn't have a line of people billowing out of it. We were seated outside on the back patio and just ordered omelets and OJ. Most notably, we were overwhelmed by the terrible service. Our waitress literally disappeared for an hour, which made getting our check (and more water - it was hot!) no simple feat.
Sean then decided since I'd never seen the Pacific Coast Highway, we could take the "long way" back to San Francisco, truly the "scenic route." I'm so glad we did! It was certainly out of the way, but I got to see some beautiful places I had no idea could even exist in this country. Driving down the long two-lane road deep through wine country toward the Pacific Ocean was absolutely stunning. It's the way I picture a place like Scotland or Ireland to look, with green hills everywhere, little red barns and cattle lazily grazing by the roadside.
Not the greatest shot, but you get the idea:
When we turned south, we headed toward Point Reyes in Marshall, CA, where Sean had heard of a cool spot to get fresh oysters called Nick's Cove. And wow, I'm so glad we stopped here! This was so far off the beaten path and a whole little world all its own. Nick's Cove was actually a small oyster/wine bar and a number of cottages available for rentals right on the Tomales Bay. People were lounging in beach chairs outside the cottages, fishing off the pier and kayaking. We walked out on the long pier, but the weather was a bit breezy, so we decided instead of eating out at the small hut at the end of the pier, we'd stay in the 'real' building and eat at the bar.
On the pier at Nick's Cove:
We settled in at the bar and ordered a bottle of Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley (local!) and several dozen oysters (ordering oysters is totally our new 'thing'). The oysters were AMAZING, probably my favorite I've had anywhere. They had prepared the raw oysters in a variety of ways, Rockefeller, with BBQ sauce, with Parmesan cheese, etc. SO GOOD. After inhaling the oysters and raving about them for a little while, we were back on the road. Fog was starting to roll in, and I was amazed at the amount of people still out and about like this was a normal "beach day." Surfers, people riding bikes...the whole community was very beachbum-y, and it was just too cold for that! Driving along the PCH felt like we were in another country - the huge rocky cliffs, the ominous fog, and the dark grey waters breaking below us...there was something very rugged and almost Highland-esque to me about this part of the drive. And then we got stuck in some monumental traffic. This wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that we needed to get the car back by our scheduled Zipcar time or we'd be charged overtime for it. And try as we might, we just didn't make it. There was definitely a mad dash through San Francisco at the end of the trip, so we were pretty close!
We ordered some delivery for dinner when we got back home and lounged around a little bit before it was time for me to head to the airport (once again Sean ordered an Uber car as my mode of transportation). This was my first redeye, so while I had high hopes of getting a full night's rest on the plane, let's be honest - getting comfortable enough to get a proper sleep on a plane is not one of my skills. My JetBlue flight departed at 11:30pm, and I was excited to see that JetBlue had provided a "sleep kit" in every seat - an eye mask and ear plugs, both of which I promptly donned. We landed just before 8am back at JFK, and while I got perhaps a couple solid hours of sleep, I was pretty much a zombie all day yesterday trying to recover from my first overnight flight experience. I don't know how the businessmen do this all the time!
Overall, this was a wonderful trip and it was a blast getting to spend time in wine country for the first time. I can't wait to go back - apparently it's mid-70s and sunny year round there (or so 'they' say)!
My trip:
"Warm red wine, you know that place where you take me some times
Where my cares have wings and fly right off my shoulder
Where I leave my cares behind and for a while find peace of mind
Help me friend of mine wine take me away..." - Wine Take Me Away, Merle Haggard
Where my cares have wings and fly right off my shoulder
Where I leave my cares behind and for a while find peace of mind
Help me friend of mine wine take me away..." - Wine Take Me Away, Merle Haggard
Miles Traveled Today: 3,056
Total Miles Traveled: 42,471
