Honeymoon Part 1

I loved Napa Valley, the leaves were still on the vines and they had turned magnificent shades of red, orange and yellow. The rolling hills of Napa looked like they were covered in a carpet of fall colors with trees littered across it. Napa has those great medium sized trees that turn the color of a red crayola crayon that has been melted in the sun. I think that even in the peak of the summer, with the grapes on the vines it's nowhere near as beautiful fall in Napa Valley.

The weather was jeans and t-shirts in the day and long sleeves at night. What a beautiful place.

We decided to splurge on a dinner and went to http://www.latoque.com, at the www.ranchocaymus.com. I desperately wanted to stay at the inn but the prices were our of our range but after comparing their hotel to the River Terrace Inn, I wished we had spent the extra dough. They had tubs with stained glass windows behind them and a fireplace in the bedroom.

The restaurant was a prix fixe menu and they offered a pairing menu for the wine so we decided on both, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Artichokes were in season so everything had some kind of artichoke in them. I had the artichoke/mushroom soup, the scallops on artichoke mousse, bone marrow beef burgundy, venison and baklava/pear dessert. There was a pork something with truffles on the menu that we passed in lieu of the beef burgundy and the chef would come out the truffle clenched in his white gloved hand. He would shave a few slivers on the pork for an extra $35. Give me a break.

The sommelier came over to give us his spiel and I immediately tried to interrupt him to keep him from regurgitating the same comments I heard him give all the tables around us but it didn't work. The guy was like a robot BUT he did recommend a decent white. I told him to give me a very small glass of the white since I was not a huge fan, but after tasting the wine I would up drinking the entire thing before the food even came so I had to wave him over and ask for more. The dinner was awesome and as soon as I got home I bought mini artichokes and planned on making something exotic but I caught a cold and never cooked them. I wound up throwing them away and eating Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup for a week.

Wineries that we loved:
http://www.avvwine.com/
www.niebaum-coppola.com
http://www.chandon.com/default.html
http://www.vsattui.com/
http://www.stsupery.com/