Vacation - Day 3

Tuesday, Sept 20th - Today is our 31st wedding anniversary. We had reservaations for the "In-Depth Educational Tour & Tasting" at Cakebread Cellars.   We have always liked this wine so it was great to learn the history of how this vineyard was purchased and the journey of this family owned business.

Onsite at this winery they have a large organic garden where people are encouraged to eat from the vine. I enjoyed some fresh cherry & roma tomotoes, strawberries and green beans.  They were simply awesome!

After the tour we drove up in to the town of Napa for lunch at Gott's Roadside Diner. It was packed the day before when we drove by it so we thought we would stop. It is also well reviewed. You order at a window and find a shady spot under a tree. Doug had the fish tacos and I had the cheeseburger and sweet potato fries. Simple!  Wonderful!




After lunch we did a little window shopping at Dean & Delucca, a gourmet food and kitchen supply store. Doug purchased a glass cruet for the dispensation of olive oil. It will be kept on the kitchen counter.

On to more wine tasting at Franciscan. This was my least favorite of the week. This was a tasting only. The tasting was kind of hurried, since we had reservations at 3pm at the Robert Mondavi Winery.

Robert Mondavi Winery was huge! The scenery views was beautiful. There were over 400+ acres of vineyards. All green and neatly trimmed. The grounds were filled with statues and flowers. Very visually appealling. This was our 3rd and final tour. "Signature Tour & Tasting".  We tasted the different types of grapes~right off the vine. We tasted chardonnay grapes, zinfandel grapes, merlot grapes, etc... The entire process is alot more automated than the other two we saw. This winery even does the "bottling process" for some of the smaller vineyards that don't have that type of equipment.

Doug and I hanging out in the Barrel Room at Robert Mondavi Winery

It was a very educational day!

After some downtime at the hotel we headed to Napa for dinner. Our "somewhat" spontaneous selection was the Bistro Sabor.  This was a latin american restaurant with very quick service. I had the Torta Plate: El Pollo Loco with grilled chicken, guacamole, refried beans, red onions, Swiss & cotija cheese.  Doug had the Taco Plate: Pan Seared Salmon with arugula and mango serrano salsa.   Wonderful food off the beaten path!

Tomorrow is a sad day, we are leaving the Napa Valley area for the big city of Oakland.