Sparkling Memories

We kicked off the third day of our Napa Valley trip with something special -- sleeping in a little bit. (No early morning plane or sunrise balloon flight to wake up for.) In fact, we slowed our pace in general. We'd had less in mind for this day because before the trip, we'd considered a day where we'd rent bicycles and pedal around to places near our house. With temperatures forecast in the 90s for the rest of our vacation, however, we dispensed with that plan.

We headed over to a winery called Darioush, its tasting room inspired by Persian architecture. Though we got to walk the grounds, taking in their beautiful building and gardens, we actually didn't enjoy a full wine tasting. Some places in Napa Valley require a reservation in advance, and we found out this was one. (With hundreds of wineries to choose from, reservations aren't much of a constraint on filling a day with wine. Somewhere along the way, we heard anecdotally that reservation policies were a result of some law change years ago, and that wineries which existed before the change were grandfathered in, not having to require reservations. In any case, know when planning your Napa getaway that some places need reservations, while some don't.)

We decided to choose a random winery we'd driven by on the way to Darioush and see what it had to offer. We found ourselves at Monticello Vineyards. Though comparatively smaller than other places we'd visited so far on the trip, it could hardly be called "small"; their gimmick was a 1/3rd scale replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello there on their grounds, serving as their office building. (I would have loved to see inside that. Surely the rooms weren't 1/3rd scale; that would be like something out of Being John Malkovich.) We sat outside in the shade of a large tree and enjoyed a tasting flight. Our guide pouring the wines (Jason) took plenty of time to talk us through the different styles we were tasting. It was actually one of the more palate-expanding and educational tastings of the trip. We learned about the different appellations and American Viticultural Areas in Napa, what the wine bottle labels can specifically tell you about where the grapes come from, and more.

Lunch came next, with us heading into the city of Napa itself for beer and burgers at Downtown Joe's. We also walked up and down Main Street for a while, in search of souvenirs... but ultimately giving up to get back out of the heat.

We had a reservation for the mid-afternoon (made earlier that morning). We headed over to Domaine Carneros, a winery sporting a French-style chateau and plenty of French-style wine; their specialty is sparkling varieties as close to champagne as they can make it, short of actually labeling it as such. Sparkling wine isn't really a favorite among any of the four of us, but it was nice to change things up a bit at this stop -- Domaine Carneros was unlike any other place we went during the trip. We sat in a bright white sun room, enjoying both the view and the air conditioning, as we sampled five different kinds of bubbly.

That was enough moving around for the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the house we'd rented, enjoying the pool there on site, and a dinner of pesto pasta we'd shopped for at the market the day before. Reading, relaxing, and recovery -- a nice, less-intense day in the middle of our time in Napa.