Great Winery Day!

Today was rainy and chilly out, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits and we took off to the glorious Napa Valley around 10:00 this morning. We had an agenda in mind: Hope & Grace Winery, Jessup Cellars, St. Supery Winery, and Ehler's Estates. As is usually the case with wine-tasting days, we didn't stick to the plan.

We started off at Hope & Grace, a small and fairly new (production began in 2001) winery with a tiny tasting room in Yountville near Bouchon Restaurant. We tasted a Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Usually Karl and I would prefer the two latter wines, but for some reason we loved the Chard and Pinot at this winery and ended up buying a bottle of the Pinot.

Next on our list: Jessup Cellars, also in Yountville. I had heard good things about this winery from other people for a while, and we finally decided to go. Combine the good reviews with the fact that we actually know someone who works there, and it was a wonderful experience. One of our old co-workers from Oliver Winery in Indiana moved out to California recently to become a certified sommelier, and now she works at Jessup! She set us up in a fabulous little private tasting room filled with art, and also gave us a dried fruit & cheese plate to enjoy as we tasted. We ended up spending over two hours there and loved just about everything we tasted. We had a Merlot, three Zins, three Cabs, Petite Sirah, a wonderful blend called "Four Tables", and finished off with a delicious Cabernet Port that we paired with dark chocolates. We ended up buying one of the Cabs and one of the Zins.

Since we spent a little more time than expected at Jessup, we really only had time for one more, which was fine because our palates were becoming a little dull. Amanda (our old co-worker) recommended Freemark Abbey in St. Helena, so we took her advice and drove up. I had wanted to go there for a while but we just never made it. No time like the present! Our tasting was comped since we had Amanda's business card, and we tasted a lot of reds...Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cab Sauv, and a Zinfandel Port. It was all really good but in the end we opted for a bottle of the '04 Petite Sirah.

After all of that it was time to head back home, and as usual, I fell asleep for most of the ride. I'm glad Karl isn't quite as narcoleptic as I am...otherwise we'd be in trouble!

I've sprinkled a few photos throughout this post, and if you'd like to see more just go to my Facebook album. There are also a few old pictures in that album from some Saint Mary's basketball games earlier this year! The new pictures from today start at photo #14.