In my last post, I talked about my four favorite winemakers in California wine country and our amazing tour guide, Barry. But we were in Napa for four days, and there was no way I could handle four straight days of non-stop wine tasting. I would either die (and by die, I mean vomit) or fall asleep in between the vines. Either way it wouldn't be pretty.
So what else did we do...
We stayed in a beautiful villa on the golf course of the Silverado Resort just outside Dowtown Napa that I would 1000% reccomend. I loved having our own space (and fireplace!), but if walkability is important to you, definitely opt for a villa closer to the center of the resort! I'd also look into staying in Yountville. It is the cutest little town and conveniently situated between Napa and Calistoga. We sillily thought that staying there would be too out of the way, but we drove through it both days we spent wine tasting. Barry also told us that there are some amazing Airbnb & VRBO rentals available in the area.
We also had some great meals. My favorite restaurant was The Girl and The Fig in Sonoma. We live right next to an excellent French restaurant here in Durham, and this casual take on French "country" food was such a treat. I got the pastis-scented mussels and the potato gnoccchi with bacon, squash, parmesan, olives, and peppers. Yum, yum. yum.
The barbecue at Bounty Hunter was also on point, and that comes from someone who's spent a more than appropriate amount of time eating Texas, Memphis, and North Carolina BBQ. Be prepared to wait for a table, and if you're lucky, you'll be waiting during happy hour. They have a killer wine list and a BBQ sampler plate. I split the beer can chicken for dinner (eaten after stuffing my face with pork, brisket, ribs, and red wine).
Now, since I couldn't spend the entire vacation alternating between eating and drinking, we threw one big non-wine activity in their mix... ballooning!
Okay, I can't even really say this was non-wine because we took off from Domine Chandon (part of Moet and producer of the absolute cutest sparkling wine bottles) and we were treated to a champagne brunch afterwards. But it was so beautiful and we got the most amazing pictures.
...LOOK!
Oh, and we capped off our trip with a day in San Fransisco!
Happy traveling darlings!
