Our friends Jay and Staci had some friends in town over the weekend after Thanksgiving, and we wanted to make sure they experienced Napa the only way anyone should ever experience Napa, from the back of a limo! That's right, we rented a limo and hit a couple of our favorite wineries in Napa.
Bob and I are members at Ram's Gate, and man oh man do we love it. It's an absolutely beautiful site on a rolling hill just across the Golden Gate Bridge. It's the first winery you come to when you reach the Carneros Region up in Sonoma/Napa. We joined the wine club last fall because we were blown away with how yummy and affordable the wine was, as well as the stunning venue. The other great thing about Ram's Gate is that they have delicious small dishes, so it's a great starting place for a day of wine tasting. You can fill up your tummy on some good food, savor the flavor of your pinot and take in the breath taking view. We ordered a smattering of their seasonal items, as well as the meat and cheese plate. Because we had new friends with us, we chose to do the full Ram's Gate tasting so that we could get a sip of everything. I'm personally a fan of their Pinot Noir, but everything is good, and their Chardonnay is buttery but not too sweet.
As you can see, some obligatory "couples" shots were taken. We couldn't help ourselves, it was a gorgeous day, and look at the view!
After Ram's Gate we headed out to….
Jay and Staci are members of The Madonna Estate, and for good reason, they have a killer Barbera. They also have really nice and knowledgeable staff who obviously love working there. We went on a tour of their facility and had a full tasting of deliciousness. After we had our tasting we opted to purchase a couple of bottles of wine, and borrow some glasses to hang out at some of their picnic tables. You can reserve picnic tables if you want to enjoy lunch there, we've done that before and it was great.
We ended up having the best weather imaginable for the day. Absolutely lovely, not to hot or cold with clear skies. And at the end of the day we watched the sun set over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Awesome day, with new and old friends. I can hardly wait to do it again.
Love and kisses,
Margaret
