A Day of Wine Touring

A sunny Saturday filled with scents of spring, the wildflowers alive and colourful in the hills, and birdsong abundant and bright.

We began with a wonderful breakfast in St. Helena, a picturesque and gorgeous town overflowing with vineyards and old stone walls, picture perfect little houses and some definitively kick ass wine.  We stopped at Ehlers Estate to sample the reds and my buddies Joe and Jonathan were amusing as usual.

Kyle, the stupendous host (pictured here) entertained us while simultaneously flirting with a gaggle of well dressed women on a bridal shower excursion.  After the tastings, we returned outside, where the fellas and I found a  bocci ball court beside a very mediterranean feeling olive grove courtyard.  I won the first 2 games and it was a very close draw at the end between Jonathan and I.   I felt like I was in Italy or France.  The smell of the olives  jasmin and roses, so intoxicating in the dry warmth of the sun.  The first really hot day of the season.

We then headed off to Trinchero,, another old winery where I got to flirt this time; with a bichon frise named Merlin.  I miss my Maddie a lot,  and he looked so much like her.  It was bittersweet.  I tried two extraordinary reds, and the notes are somewhere in my backpack.

At lunch we went to the city of Napa to COPIA, the American Center for Wine Food & the Arts, where there was Julia's Kitchen, a restaurant named in honour of Julia Childs.  We didn't eat there, but at the cool market across from it.  When we were walking with our ice cream cup, my plastic spoon dropped on the concrete floor.  I had picked it up and after a quick exam was about to start using it again, when Jonathan appeared behind me with a new one.  "You've been in Mexico too long", he stated.   I thought the cement floor of this brand new market was certainly clean enough to eat off, however I graciously accepted the new spoon as I laughed thinking I would have never done something like that a few months ago.  Before leaving, we all strolled through the fabulous gardens, all manicured and blossoming.  It was really hot out! 

To escape the heat, we finished the day sipping sparkling wine at the caves of Gloria Ferrer, on the shaded deck with a view of the whole valley.

Definitely, a princess kind of day . . . even if the princess did try to eat her ice cream with the dirty spoon.