Ross and I had a great day in wine country on Sunday, July 18. We started off at Pearson and Co. for take-out sandwiches. Then we headed off to Matanzas Creek Winery, located at 6097 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, California 95404 (http://www.matanzascreek.com/). They offer a $5 tasting where you can choose 5 out of their 7 wines. We bought a half bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and headed up past the koi pond to their picnic bench area. It was a little windy, but the shade felt great in the picnic area. Then, we walked down to the Lavender Gardens and listened to the bees and the breeze blowing through the lavender bushes. It was just gorgeous!
After Matanzas Creek, we decided to head over to Napa County to check out James Cole Winery (http://www.jamescolewinery.com/). It was recommended to us by Silenus Vintners (5225 Solano Ave. Napa, CA 94558 (http://www.silenusvintners.com/). We loved the Chardonnay and the two Cabernet Sauvignons that they were tasting. Lisa in the tasting room pointed out about 20 more wineries to visit which we're very excited to check out soon!
Our next stop was Silverado Vineyards (http://www.silveradovineyards.com/). It has a huge tasting room, and we were really excited to try a Merlot that we've liked in the past. We did both tastings that were offered, and we weren't too impressed. Luckily, our tasting room guide offered a taste of an upcoming Merlot release, and it was great. Ross and I both agreed that the views from the back terrace are the most beautiful that we've seen. We met a couple from New York outside, and we each took pictures of one another!
By 5:00 p.m., all of the tasting rooms had closed. We were really excited to try Cook St. Helena (http://www.cooksthelena.com/); so we drove up the Silverado Trail to St. Helena. There were a few shops on my list of places to check out: Foot Candy (http://www.footcandyshoes.com/), Pearl Wonderful Clothing (http://www.pearlwonderfulclothing.com/), Freckles, for kids and Flats (http://www.flatsnapavalley.com/). All of the shops looked really cute, but they were closing so I couldn't try anything on.
After Matanzas Creek, we decided to head over to Napa County to check out James Cole Winery (http://www.jamescolewinery.com/). It was recommended to us by Silenus Vintners (5225 Solano Ave. Napa, CA 94558 (http://www.silenusvintners.com/). We loved the Chardonnay and the two Cabernet Sauvignons that they were tasting. Lisa in the tasting room pointed out about 20 more wineries to visit which we're very excited to check out soon!
Our next stop was Silverado Vineyards (http://www.silveradovineyards.com/). It has a huge tasting room, and we were really excited to try a Merlot that we've liked in the past. We did both tastings that were offered, and we weren't too impressed. Luckily, our tasting room guide offered a taste of an upcoming Merlot release, and it was great. Ross and I both agreed that the views from the back terrace are the most beautiful that we've seen. We met a couple from New York outside, and we each took pictures of one another!
By 5:00 p.m., all of the tasting rooms had closed. We were really excited to try Cook St. Helena (http://www.cooksthelena.com/); so we drove up the Silverado Trail to St. Helena. There were a few shops on my list of places to check out: Foot Candy (http://www.footcandyshoes.com/), Pearl Wonderful Clothing (http://www.pearlwonderfulclothing.com/), Freckles, for kids and Flats (http://www.flatsnapavalley.com/). All of the shops looked really cute, but they were closing so I couldn't try anything on.
We arrived at Cook St. Helena at 6 p.m., and since it was a Sunday night, most of their tables were open. Someone had mentioned to us that it was best to sit at the bar because the dining tables are very close to one another; so we bellied up to the bar. Ross ordered a glass of Rose, and unfortunately I was all "wine-ed out". The menu was small, but there were a lot of options that sounded great to us. Ross started with Italian-style mussels, and I had the lemon-pesto mozzarella salad. We both ordered from the daily special menu for our main courses. Ross had rabbit three ways, which he loved. I had risotto with tuna, fried-green tomatos and sauteed nectarines. I absolutely loved it. We finished the meal with the daily special dessert, a blueberry cake with vanilla ice cream.
It really was a great day!
