Don't Call It A Come-Back! Lambert Bridge Winery

Sometimes in life you just need to take some time away. Case in point: my blog here. If you have been following me on Twitter or Instagram, you know that I haven't stopping traveling and eating everything in sight, but have taken some time off from writing about it. However, I think enough is enough and its time to get back in the saddle. While many of these posts may be older, especially those from some of our travels, I still want to share them! So, please stay tuned over the next couple of weeks as we play a bit of catch up here at In and Around Town!

Part my inspiration for getting this post up is because we are heading back to California's Wine Country this week, and I realized that I still had one more vineyard to tell you all about. Even more, I rely on many blogger friends, like Meghan, for recommendations and missed the interactions based on these posts.

We loved this winery so much we actually are going back on our next visit! Lambert Bridge was recommended to us by one of Nick's colleagues, and from the moment you turn into the driveway, you understand why they told us this was a must-visit. With its picturesque location and delicious wine, it is definitely worth a stop while you are in Healdsburg.

Lambert Bridge

Wonderful Wine at Truett Hurst

We're taking things back to Healdsburg today! Friends of ours were just in Northern California, and their pictures reminded me of just how outstanding that area is. Knowing that we were going to spend a day in Healdsburg on our most recent trip out there, Nick and I both asked friends familiar with the area for recommendations. When we were each separately told to go to Truett Hurst, we immediately added it to our itinerary. Meghan's recommendation and her great blog post on the winery convinced me that I needed to spend some quality time on the red adirondack chairs by the stream.

Tasting Room and Surrounding Gardens

Raymond and Buena Vista Vineyards

It's time to return to wine country (at least on the blog). On our second day, the same day we did a barrel tasting at Westwood, we visited two of Jean-Charles Boisset's family vineyards. From what we saw, this guy must be quite a character! Our first stop was Raymond Vineyards, which we were excited to visit since we had a couple of their table Cabs at home and enjoyed them.

Biodynamic Farming at Raymond

Westwood Barrel Tasting and Crush!

With all this cold weather I keep thinking about warm sunny days. Every time we open a bottle of a big red wine I think about our trip to California's wine country and start planning our return trip in my head! As you may recall, on our first trip to Napa we stopped off in Sonoma Square and visited the Westwood Winery tasting room at our friends' recommendation (they are wine club members). When our friends added Westwood to the Google Doc for our return trip I was excited to head back, having thoroughly enjoyed their Pinot Noirs on the first go-around.

Where the Magic Happens!

Littorai - Biodynamic Grape Farming

After a great morning at Scribe, we went west to Littorai, which is located in the coastal region of Sonoma Valley. Tucked away from the majority of other vineyards, it is a beautiful drive over to Littorai.

Littorai

Scribe - Swinging in Sonoma (not THAT kind of swinging!)

Switching gears a bit, we are heading back to September when Nick and I were in California Wine Country. After a great first afternoon it was time to settle into the house we rented through Home Away, have some dinner, enjoy catching up with the two other couples we were traveling with and get ready for the rest of the vacation. A few months beforehand when planning for the trip we decided that each couple would be responsible for planning all the parts of an entire day: breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the wineries in between. This way our friends, who were members of various wine clubs in the area, could make sure to hit up their favorite spots as well as other places on their lists without us all tripping over each other in the planning process. Don't worry, we had a shared Google document to update each other on the plans so there was no overlap - I know you were concerned!

What's not to love about a swing!

Napa Valley with Visits to Cliff Lede and Behrens Family Winery

I was so excited to tell you all about our amazing lunch at Jordan Winery that I skipped ahead in our latest trip to California's wine country. Going back a bit, we actually left Boston at 7:30AM so that we were in San Francisco before noon on a Friday. After meeting our friends who were flying in from Chicago, we were off to Napa Valley for the first of many tastings. I still am so surprised that in only about an hour and a half from San Francisco, you can be tasting amazing wines in the middle of some beautiful surroundings.

We were so anxious to get started, I forgot my camera! source - Cliff Lede

Our first stop was Cliff Lede. Located in Yountville, the vineyard is surrounded completely by their own vines. I love when you can see where the grapes of the wine you are drinking are grown. Each vineyard is named for different classic rock songs - a love of the owner. Since it was so beautiful out, we got our first glasses in our tastings and went out on the beautiful patio to enjoy the sunshine and views of "Bohemian Rhapsody." This was a lovely first stop and really helped us settle into the wine tasting to come!

From Cliff Lede we headed towards St. Helena and climbed Spring Mountain Road, winding through the mountain until we found Behrens Family Winery. The winery is tucked back into the mountainside, which makes for spectacular views down into Napa Valley and across to Howell Mountain.

Views from Behrens Family Winery

Harvest Lunch at Jordan Winery

If you follow me on Twitter and/or Instagram, you know that I recently spent some time in Napa and Sonoma Valleys. After an amazing trip to Napa Valley last year I was eager to go back, so when one of Nick's college friends suggested a trip with a third couple, we were all in. Something about this trip makes it so easy to relax. From the moment I land in San Francisco, I am able to just shut off work and enjoy - there is no winding down necessary.

Needless to say, I will have a bunch of posts coming in the next few weeks on the vineyards we visited. We decided to split up the trip so that each couple was responsible for one day of planning, including which vineyards to visit and where to eat - don't worry, there was a Google document so that there was no overlap! Since there were 6 of us, we rented a house in Glen Ellen, which was a fantastic way to spend a long weekend. That, and we spent evenings soaking in the hot tub and eating home cooked meals on the outdoor patio. While there will be no big restaurant reviews from this trip, we did have some fun lunches on Sonoma Square and at the Oxbow Public Market.

Paloma Vineyards and Schramsberg Caves!

On our last day in Napa Valley we only had one appointment at 11:30, which we figured gave us time for a quick stop beforehand.  Having heard from our friends in San Francisco that Paloma Vineyards was supposed to have some great wines, we decided to give them a call the day before and make a reservation.  Like Kuleto, Paloma is up on a mountain, just on the opposite side of the valley.  As we climbed, the views just kept getting better.  After driving about 15 minutes, we arrived at Paloma.  At first, we thought we got the wrong directions because it was a house.  Shortly after getting out of the car, we were welcomed by Barbara, the owner of Paloma, who welcomed us into her home (literally).  We went straight out onto her deck, which had one of the best views.

From the decks of Paloma

More views...

Mumm Napa, Kuleto and Rubicon - Day 2 in Napa

After biking through Calistoga we were excited for a bit of an easier touring day!  Sadly, I forgot to grab my camera battery from the charger before we left for the day, so all of these photos are from my iPhone!!

Having read that Mumm Napa did free tours when they open at 10AM, we decided to head there first and hop on the tour, since we had heard great things about the vineyard.  The tour was informative, complete with a stop at a small group of grape vines, giving the guests a chance to taste the grapes that go into sparkling wine.  In addition, there was an amazing display of Ansel Adams' works (the ones you don't see on college students' walls), and they really are beautiful.  However, the tour was rather large as is the production facility itself.

Inside the production!

Biking through Calistoga - Napa Valley

Time to travel back in time a bit.  As regular readers will recall, Nick and I went to San Francisco back in September and then continued on to Napa Valley for a few days.  When we told people we were going to Napa we were given tons of great winery recommendations - I really had no idea how many wineries there were in such a small area!  Being super type-A, I took all of the suggestions and made charts based on location and tasting hours.  After some fun with Google Maps, I created a tentative itinerary, which only included three actual appointments over the 3 days of wine tasting.  This gave us enough of a plan to allow us to do all we wanted to do, but it had enough flexibility that we could change things up depending on what we saw and what recommendations we received during the day.

Along the bike trail in Calistoga

Heading to Napa Valley, and stops at Muir Woods and Sonoma Square

After three amazing days in San Francisco, it was time for Nick and I to head to Napa Valley for some wine tasting fun!  We left the city at around 10:30am and headed out over the Golden Gate Bridge in pursuit of some trees.

Over the bridge we go...

After heading down some very windy roads into a valley we descended into Muir Woods.

Road to Muir Woods