November 13, 2015

What a beautiful day in Napa Valley.  Our first winery stop was to the incredibly beautiful Kenzo Estate. We toured this estate with our guide, Cameron. The first taste was the Asatsuyu (morning dew), a crisp Sauvignon Blanc. I especially enjoyed the second tasting, a rosé, aptly named Yui, meaning unity, as it was the perfect blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec. The delicious final two tastings were reds, Murasaki and Ai, both so beautiful in color. This was an awesome first stop of the day.    We visited Mumm Napa for tastings of some bubbly.  Drinking sparkling wine always seems so celebratory. Somehow the sound of the popping open of the bottle seems to set the tone for a party. Our educator, Miguel Santana, poured for us a variety of Mumm options.  We tasted different DVX vintages and also had a sparkling wine created by musician and artist, Carlos Santana–of no relation to Miguel, I think much to Miguel’s disappointment.

We got on the Beau Wine Tours van and was spoiled by our driver, Mitchell, who took care of us with strawberries, bread, crackers, cheese, salami, and dip. He was worried that we hadn’t scheduled lunch in between our tours and wanted to make sure we were well fed and happy. Our final winery stop of the Napa weekend was to Domaine Carneros. We had a table with a beautiful view and had time to chat, relax, and laugh with our delicious cheese plates served alongside our wine.

We were introduced to the methuselah. This is the hugest bottle of bubbly I’ve ever seen! Nicole and Audrey look very happy with their bottle!

That evening, we had dinner at The French Laundry. That dinner deserves its own post. Look for a future post dedicated to our A-MA-ZING meal.