Napa, CA - June 2011

Shawna had a work conference in San Francisco, so we used that as an excuse to head to Napa Valley for a weekend.  Keith flew out on the Thursday night, meeting Shawna at her hotel super-late.  

Accommodation:
We stayed at the Marriott in Napa - we had stayed here once before when we met Charlie and Melissa a couple of years earlier.  It's a convenient location to the wineries in Napa and a nice hotel with a large gym, spa and outdoor seating area.

Activities:

We drove out to Napa on Friday after Shawna's conference was finished.  Despite traffic we made it to the hotel in 1.5 hours - not bad for a weekend rush. 



Darioush Winery

Trefethen Winery

On Saturday, Shawna was adamant that we visit some vineyards before lunch, so we hit Trefethen, Darioush, and Signorello.  Both Trefethen and Darioush are worth visiting - Trefethen for it's wine and Darioush for it's interesting tasting room.  We shared tastings so that Keith could actually drive the rest of the day. 

For lunch, we met Rakesh, Simran, and Ria at Bistro Don Giovanni where we had a wonderful Italian meal.  Rak showed up with a bottle of wine to kick us off and we ordered one more over lunch.  Lunch took 3 hours, with 5 year old Ria being extremely well behaved!  After lunch, we all headed over to the outside deck at Robert Sinskey, where we had more wine tastings.  It then seemed like a really good idea to head over to The Carneros Inn to have even more wine.  Rak and Sim had previously stayed there so we acted like customers and went to the back pool area.  Unfortunately, the waiter figured out that we did not belong and kicked us out - the game was up!  So, we went to the outside bar at the front of the hotel and had another couple of bottles of wine and a few appetizers.  Ria started doing cartwheels on the lawn and Keith decided that she was terrible - it was time for lessons.  Keith's first 5 cartwheels were perfect.  However, number 6 resulted in a pulled hamstring - argh!  Keith and Shawna retired back to the Marriott while Simran convinced Rak to stay and watch Under the Tuscan Sun which was playing on the outdoor screen at the hotel before they headed back to their home in San Francisco.

Domaine Carneros Winery

On Sunday, we were supposed to rent bikes, but the pulled hamstring from the night before put Keith out of commission.  So instead, we headed to Yountville, one of the cutesiest towns in CA, to walk around (or hobble in Keith's case).  We saw the French Laundry where we have tried to get in the last 6 visits to Napa to no avail - maybe some day!  We dropped by Bouchon Bakery and bought some treats - wow that was good!  We had a glass of wine at Domaine Carneros, a beautiful winery overlooking the valley which specializes in sparkling wines.  We then drove back to San Francisco to Rak and Simran's house, where Sim's parents were visiting.  The four of us (sans Ria) headed out to Volcano Curry for a late lunch - holy smoke that was hot - Keith was seriously sweating.  We returned to Rak and Sim's house and sat on their front porch, drinking more wine and visiting with friends of theirs who were moving the following day.  Keith had to head to the airport and Shawna stayed behind to have a yummy home cooked Indian dinner made by Simran's mother.  Stuffed and ready to detox, Shawna went to the airport later that evening to catch the red-eye flight back home.

Restaurants:

Bardessono

Bardessono is a boutique, eco hotel and restaurant in Yountville with a modern decor.  On Friday, we ate outside and had a wonderful meal and evening.  We tried the Kongsgaard Chardonnay which is now one of our favorite white wines.  Definitely worth going to!  

Robert Sinskey Winery

With Rakesh and Simran @ Carneros Inn