Wednesday, May 17, 2006

It's a good thing I don't have a problem with alcohol...

It's a good thing I don't have a problem with alcohol because I could NOT give up drinking wine. Went wine tasting in Napa yesterday with Tom, his friend Eric and Eric's squeeze Melanie. The boys, for reasons completlely lost on us, went on a bike ride while Melanie and I rented a chauffered Mercedes and traipsed around Napa sipping wine and having a grand ol' time. I am proud to say I did not get nearly as tipsy as I did the last time I went to Napa, so I feel I've regained some dignity in that regard...there's nothing like being gently asked to leave Mumm and having to walk to dinner thanks to a blood alcohol level almost as high as George Bush's IQ.

Before we dumped the boys and hopped into the S-Class, the four of us went to Sterling...here's a picture of us on the Gondola ride up to the winery...note to self...drink BEFORE getting on the Gondola...do not make Sterling the first winery of the day.

Our second winery stop was Frank Family Winery...they were very low-key and super nice. They also (BONUS!) had a big black kitty and great champagne. We spent quite a bit of time there talking with the wine pourer guy (who I think has my dream job, by the way) and, of course, drinking wine. The thing about wine tasting is that it's almost impossible to remember what you like well enough to buy, so at Frank Family I ended up with just one bottle of champagne, though now I'm regretting not getting a bottle of Zin. Oh well...

The third winery was V. Sattui (I probably spelled that wrong), where a friend of mine (Hey Coop!) had a gorgeous wedding. Talk about chatty and friendly wine pourer guys & gals. All that goodwill must have rubbed off on me because I gave a strange man from Israel a Fig Newton, which he described as a "very bad cookie." See pic of Me, Mel, the cute Isreali guy and his buddy from Colorado (who wasn't so cute and I think may have been stoned...but then again, if he were stoned he would have been jonesing for my newtons!)


Our fourth, and final, winery was up a windy mountain road...the type of place I would never be able to find on my own. Here is where we met The Rain Man of Wine. He was actually very nice, but he kept asking us impossible trivia questions like, "how much does an oak barrel cost? (Something like $750!), and I forget what all...I was liking his wine, though. It was here where I blew caution to the wind and dropped a cool $100 on four yummy botttles...can't wait to see what I got (Ok, I might have been a wee bit tipsy!).

In other news...Trumie is having appetite issues, but I'm hoping that will clear up as the Leukeran clears out.

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