Napa Trip ~ Celebrating my 40th Birthday

~ 40th Birthday Trip ~

We went to Napa/Sonoma to celebrate my 40th birthday.  Our good friends joined us: Allison, Andrew (Miah), Katherine (Kat) and Phil.  We flew into San Francisco and had dinner at Epic Steak on the water.  The next day we drove to Sonoma and went to several wine tastings:  Williams Selyem, Paul Hobbs, Flanagan.  We tried a lot of great wines and fun visiting the vineyards.  We checked into our house (Villa Nel Bosco) in Glen Ellyn, which is in between Sonoma and Napa.  The house was beautiful and very spacious.  On Friday (my 40th birthday) Allison made me breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and sausage.  We rushed out to start our day of tastings because I over slept and did not set my alarm.  We went to Spring Mountain in Napa and visited Barnett, 7&8, Sherwin and Pride.  My favorite vineyard is 7&8 - the tasting room is beautiful and has the most amazing table with he coolest decoration above.  There is a huge window from the tasting room that over looks the vineyard.  The lady that runs the place is Meg and she is amazing.  We tasted a Chardonnay that was wonderful and so low in quantity that they didn't even put a label on it.  We loved it and tried to buy it, but she said they are not selling it because of the low quantity.  She sent us home with an unlabeled bottle of it and we wished we could buy more.  That night we went to dinner at Mustard's Grill in Napa.  Phil and Kat bought me a David Yurman bracelet that is absolutely beautiful!  I was so shocked, but loved it!  I bought a Louis Vutton purse for my 40th birthday - something I've always wanted to do and so happy I did.  Saturday we went to tastings on the Napa floor and visited Nickel & Nickel, Pine Ridge, Robert Sinskey and Silver Oak.  It was another nice day of wine tastings.  We went to dinner at The Girl & The Fig in Sonoma, which was highly recommended.  We had great food and laughed all night.  It was so nice to celebrate my birthday with this group - truly the best of the best.  We are very lucky to have such wonderful friends.  They made turning 40 much easier.  

Napa Trip ~ Craig and Maria

We had the most amazing time in Napa with our friends, Phil and Katherine from Michigan.  There were 4 couples in total on this trip including us.  The other couples spend a lot of money on wine so we were able to attend the Del Dotto Barrels and Beast Party as well as visiting several top notch wineries.  We stayed at the most amazing hotel called Los Alcobas in St. Helena.  It was a new Starwood hotel and they did everything top of the line.  Craig's favorite part of our hotel room was the high tech toilet that lit up when you walked into the room, had a heated seat, and washed you from the front and back. lol.  The first day we flew into San Francisco and met Phil and Kat for dinner.  The next day we drove to Napa and made our first stop at Amuse Bouche, which had the most amazing view and wonderful wine.  They also had beautiful artwork that went along with their bottles of wine.  Next we stopped by the general store for lunch and then headed to Clif Lede for another tasting.  We had dinner at Auberge du Soleil and this restaurant had the most amazing views with great food.  The next day we had a tasting at 7&8 Winery, Peacock Winery followed by Frantesca with lunch overlooking their winery.  All of those vineyards had great wine and we ended up buying several bottles from each.  That night we went to Del Dotto's Barrels and Beasts party for their top customers (luckily we have friends of friends that buy a lot of wine)  We had some amazing wines, one being a Zinfandel, which I never like, but this one is a new favorite.  Finally our last day we went to Hess Winery and a few others.  This was our first trip to Napa and I'm glad we waited all of these years because it was so special.