Wine Country #2

There are 475 wineries in Napa Valley. In four trips there over the years, we have been to about fifteen or so, several of them more than once. Some of the best wines America has to offer are produced here and we enjoy the opportunity to sample a wide variety of them.

Pretty much everywhere you drive in Napa Valley there are vinyards on both sides of the road.

It is also one of America's great food destinations. Michelin-rated restaurants like The French Laundry, Press, Mustard's Grill and others are truly inspiring places to eat amazing food.

Many years ago, we joined a vacation club in Hawaii that has sites in several places in the western continental US as well. Napa is one of them, and it is one of its better resorts. We can stay there "for free" (hah!) as long as we make our reservations early enough (and pay our maintenance fees, but that's another story).

We arrived prior to check in time, so we went to the Oxbow Public Market in central Napa to grab a bite to eat. We found the Hog Island Oyster Co. bistro in the Market and had a wonderful meal there. Don't like oysters? They've got plenty of other stuff. Do like oysters? If you're in Napa, there isn't any better place to get them. Really good.

Next morning we woke up early, made breakfast in our suite, then headed out to our first tasting at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, a mainstay of Napa Valley wineries for decades. One of its red wines placed first in the famous 1976 Judgement of Paris that put American wines on the map. The movie Bottle Shock kind of tells that story.

The view from Stag's Leap tasting room. The legend is that a stag leapt over the V shape from one side of the rock outcropping to the other while being hunted.

The wines are very, very good. Our wine educator host was really good and helped us understand the history of the winery, where on the property the grapes that were used to produce the wines we tasted came from, and finally to talk us through sampling some really amazing wines.

We bought some wines, which will lay down at home for some time and be enjoyed at the right occasion.

We then snagged a late reservation at Mustard's Grill, the aformentioned Michelin star bistro on the west side of the valley. We've eaten there several times before, and this trip was again truly outstanding. We don't normally get dessert -- and never at lunch -- but we did this time as they had a butterscotch pot du creme that was a true showstopper.

We then went to ZD Winery, which has a small footprint on the east side of the valley. We had a behind-the-scenes tour of the winery which was awesome. We thought their wines were OK, but none that we tasted knocked our socks off. That happens some times, but the winery tour was really cool and we enjoyed the view from the winery's porch.

Inside the part of the barrel room at ZD Winery.

Barrels containing ZD Wines' high-end Abacus wine, which we did not get to taste. It can only be bought at the estate and is VERY pricey.

Dinner that night was at Press, which was a true culinary experience from start to finish. The service was impeccable, the ambience was super-cool and the food was very, very good. We left quite satisfied.

Next morning we were back at it with a visit to one of our favorites in the Valley, St. Supery. Bonnie was our host wine educator for our Taste of the Estate experience and it was wonderful. We remembered that she had helped us on our previous visit to St. Supery with some friends and was wonderful then, too. If you every find yourself in Napa, the St. Supery wines are exceptional and Bonnie is a great host!

The entrance to St. Supery. It's a really inviting place.

Our menu and pairings for our visit. The chefs were amazing and personally came to explain each dish.

We bought some wines, which will lay down at home for some time and be enjoyed at the right occasion.

Then we drove north past the quaint old town of St. Helena to the Freemark Abbey winery, one of the original wineries in the Valley. Anne was our wine educator there, and she expertly led us through a comparison tasting of several of their wines. We learned about the history of the various vinyards the grapes come from, and tasted some excellent wines.

The tasting room at Freemark Abbey.

We bought some wines, which will lay down at home for some time and be enjoyed at the right occasion.

We woke up early the next morning, packed up and headed out on the road again. Our Napa Valley experience was just about all we could have hoped for. We saw some places we hadn't seen before and also renewed old friends. We will be back.