Life with MK: Wine Country

Today my mom, dad, and I had a lovely day in the wine country. The weather was unbelievably beautiful: pretty warm and not a cloud in the bright blue sky! So much for it finally being winter like I said earlier this week. We drove up to Domaine Carneros in Napa and did the tour/tasting there. Domaine Carneros is known for their sparkling wines made in the Champagne method, but they also do Pinot Noirs. I prefer sparkling wine myself, so this place is right up my alley. I did the tour there about four years ago, but since I had forgotten most of what they said I had a great time doing it again! Our tour guide was amazing and charismatic and definitely helped to make it a great time. My dad even loved it after being skeptical of my choice of vineyard to begin with, and he ended up joining their wine club! After the tour we went to the special fancy wine club members only section for a cheese plate and charcuterie plate with another glass of sparkling wine. I wish I knew what cheeses they served, because they were absolutely delicious!

We left the winery around 5:30 and decided we needed to find a place to eat dinner somewhere in the valley. We ended up just driving north on the highway and stopped in Yountville to see about my parents getting reservations at French Laundry for another time since they had been next to impossible on the phone, but they were just as impossible in person. For tonight's dinner we decided to find a random place that had a reservation available on OpenTable (amazing website and iPhone app that everyone should have in my opinion). We ended up choosing an Italian place called Vercelli Ristorante in St. Helena and it was really good! We shared mushroom bruschetta first and then I had tagliatelle with shrimp that was delicious. All in all a pretty fantastic meal to end a wonderful day in the Napa Valley. Tomorrow we are thinking on going on another adventure to the coast, but we will see!