Valentine's Day in Napa & Sonoma

Karl and I usually don't go crazy over Valentine's Day, and we were planning on just staying in this year until we found out that one of the wineries where we're members (Jacuzzi Family Winery) was having an event for its members called "Olive Odyssey". Once we found that out we decided we might as well make the trip up to Sonoma, and we needed to pick up our January wine shipment from another one of our wine clubs, Hess, in Napa.

Despite the somewhat rainy weather, it was a GREAT day! We went to Hess first, where in addition to wine tasting, they also had chocolate truffle tasting in the cellar room. Next on our list was Jacuzzi, where we sampled some excellent olives and chocolates, and also grabbed a small lunch and a few wine tastes. We had a few hours to kill before our dinner reservations at Shiso Sushi restaurant in Sonoma, so we decided to stop by Ravenswood. This one was a favorite of ours when we made our very first trip out to Sonoma in the fall of 2007. It didn't disappoint, as we once again LOVED the Sangiacomo Chardonnay and all of the Zins on the tasting list. Just like all of the other wineries we visited today, we loaded up on some chocolate here since they were giving out free truffles with the tastes of their Zinfandel Port.

Finally, we decided to take the recommendation of the lady who was pouring for us at Ravenswood, and we visited Buena Vista Winery. My dad told me about this one a while ago when he went there, and I was glad we finally got a chance to try it...we loved it! This was truly one of the best wineries I've been to in Sonoma....every single wine on the list was excellent. We seriously debated whether or not we should join their wine club, but since we're already members of three others, we decided to hold off on it today. We loved their Chardonnays, Pinots, Syrah, and Merlot, and in the end we decided to buy two bottles of the Syrah.

It was a wonderful Valentine's Day, and now in the spirit of the "wine theme" of the day we're back home and getting ready to watch the movie "Bottle Shock", which chronicles Napa Valley's early days struggling to become a successful wine region. I'll let you all know how it is. :) Meanwhile, here are a few photos from our day (*the picture at the top of this post was from Buena Vista Winery. Again, if you click on any of the photos you can see a larger version of it):

Me at Hess Collection Winery in Napa.

Close-up of the flower they gave me at Hess. I loved the color!

Jacuzzi Family Winery in Sonoma

Karl and me at Ravenswood in Sonoma.