Awesome day of wine tastings today. We started early (10am) at Tefethen Vineyards with a wonderful tasting hosted by James, an NJ native. Trefethen offered two tastings: a selection of four wines for $10, and a reserve tasting of five wines for $25. We, of course, had both, with Pop and I ordering the reserve, and Wifey and Mom getting the regular, and we shared all the wines. It really didn't matter, because by the end of the tasting James was pouring us each all of the wines, and even went off menu to offer us Trefethen's Halo Chardonnay, which was beyond awesome. We bought a Halo, a regular chard, and a cab sauv to bring home.
After an hour at Trefethen, we continued north along 29 to Saddleback Cellars which Lou, the owner of Amalthea in Atco recommended. Saddleback's poured seven wines for $20. We sat ousted on the deck and listened to country western music (they have both kinds) and drank some really good, inexpensive wine (Nils, Saddleback's owner already paid off his 17 acre vineyard) and got though our Asta withdrawal by giving the vineyard dog some well deserved attention. A chardonnay, and a viognier decided they want to visit NJ.
For lunch, we wend to Rutherford Grill, which was near Saddleback. Even without reservations, they seated us right away, and we enjoyed a nice lunch of sandwiches and salads (I had the special Ahi Tuna burger, yumm).
We got to our next tasting on Napa time (late). Joseph Phelps Winery only does tastings by appointment only and they accommodated our tardiness. The wines were good, but they stopped making the Napa Chardonnay which introduced us to the winery, but it would be difficult to beat the view.
For out last winery of the day we decided to try one of the wineries that specialized in sparkling wine: Mumm Napa. Mumm offers different levels of tastings and we went for the reserve tasting which was two whole glasses of champagne and a cheese tray while sitting on the veranda overlooking the vineyard, nice.
Mommy works as the office manager for a doctor's office and one of the doctor's was staying in the same hotel for continuing education and we met them for dinner at Angele Restaurant in Napa city. Built out of a ship repair dock, Angele is a traditional French restaurant. Wifey and I shared a cheese plate appetizer and I had a rack of lamb for dinner. If you go to the valley, definitely have dinner at Angele.
Places visited:
Trefethen
Saddleback
Rutherford Grill
Mumm
Joseph Phelps
Angele
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