Have a Jen-centric weekend planned for our 5th anniversary, headed to Napa tomorrow, and I’m actually quite excited about it, which is odd, as it doesn’t have 8-10 tastings in a day, marathon-style that I like to do when I go to Napa or Sonoma.
We’re headed in tomorrow, dining at Redd after checking into Hotel Archer (apparently ‘the place to be’ is the roof on weekend evenings). Friday we start with a standard breakfast of eggs - fish eggs, technically - ‘caviar and bubbles’ at Davies Vineyards, then head to meet up with Berserkers Will Segui and Bud Carey, with the former pouring some Rivers-Marie (primarily Chardonnay, but I’ll be pushing to get some red stuff poured, as well) for a short tasting alongside Bud, prior to our tasting at Mending Wall (recently graced by our own Frank, Brig, and crew). I’ve seen a lot of posts about Mending Wall, and surprisingly all good, so I look forward to that one. We’ll be ending the day at Raymond for a VIP tasting that is mysterious even to me - I told Bill Farmer to make sure my wife has a good time there, her likes and dislikes, so I’m in the dark on this one a bit. The Raymond visit will definitely be up her alley in terms of over-the-top, club style decor and presentation, and I know they have a massive array of wines so I’m sure we’ll find some we like.
That evening we’ll head to Two Birds One Stone for dinner, and the following day (the real reason for the trip) is the Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Release Party. I’ve never been to a release party, and so we’ll prep for 6 hours of Cabernet, apparently, and Jen will be in heaven, since it’s her favorite wine of all time (specifically Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - she prefers it over the Napa Valley Cab). We’re going to the Oakville location as the new AV winery was a bit tough to get into, particularly since we’re far, FAR from power buyers with that company, so we’ll save the AV winery visit for another trip. If we can make it to dinner, we’re slated to head to Torc that evening, returning the next day.
Any wines, menu items to choose or avoid would be appreciated, and I’ll update this thread with photos and notes, though I suck at both taking notes, since I’m lazy, and suck at the actual notes, should I get the bug to actually prepare some.