Napa Getaway - Day 2

Day 2 of our getaway was actually day 3 of the trip, because Saturday was spent almost entirely devoted to Larissa's wedding. I do have to say the wedding was beautiful. It was held at a hillside home/inn in the hills above Calistoga. I don't think they hold weddings there normally, but use it more for corporate retreats. That's probably why they had the heli-pad, which made a nice place to have the actual ceremony, though the concrete pad radiated a lot of heat. You couldn't beat the view though, as it looked out over the valley.

Well, anyway our plan was to get an early start on Sunday to enjoy the day, but we were pretty tired from the night before, so we didn't get out of the hotel until checkout time at 11am. We jumped back on 29 and stopped in at V. Sattui vineyards first, which is a great place to visit for lunch, but we had a late breakfast so we just went for the tasting.

 

Our second stop was a bit of a risk, since I'd just found out about the place that morning, but Faith's really into the sweeter dessert wine, so I found that there was a place called Prager Port Works just up the road. It's a really small place tucked in behind Sutter Home winery, but we found that it's definitely worth seeking out. The building is really small, and you don't go for the ambiance (unless you like dollar bills as wallpaper), but the reason to go is obviously to try the ports. The tastings are $10 a piece and include a glass. Given that they were only tasting 4 wines, this could be considered a little steep, but once you taste them it becomes clear that it's a good deal. I'll have to admit I wasn't a big fan of the zinfandel, but that was followed by two ports and a late harvest reisling. Faith liked the reisling and I liked the white port, so we each picked up a bottle.

 

Since we were there, we stopped in at Sutter Home real quick, and Faith took the picture of me with the big bottle! Hmmm, I wonder if Prager's Port comes in a bottle that big...

 

After that we hopped over to the Silverado Trail and checked out a few places there, though I think the most impressive part was the view.

We were finally starting to get a little hungry, so we went looking for a place to eat, but were reminded that it was Sunday and it was too late for brunch, but too early for dinner. Eventually, we ended up in Yountville at the Napa Valley Grille, which I didn't know anything about, but seemed reasonable, since we were getting really hungry. Once we were seated we checked out the menu and started to worry. The menu included a lot of "healthy organic" faire, and I have nothing against eating things that are good for me, but I tend to find that "healthy and organic" is usually just another way of saying "tasteless and overpriced". But since we were hungry, we decided to tough it out. Faith ordered a pork chop dish, and I ordered something called Beef Steak Tomatoes, which sounded reasonably good from the menu description. When the food arrived we got really worried again, as neither of us are big fans of the "fancy presentation of very little food" culinary school.

 

After Faith and I gave each other the "Oh man, what did we get into here?" look, we decided to dig in. I'll admit that when I'm served not much food for the price of a very nice entree, I expect the food to be very good. And in this case... it was. Moreover, those that know me know I'm not a little guy, but I'll admit that this tiny little plate actually filled me up. In the end, I had no choice but to give the Napa Valley Grille a 'thumbs up'.

Following our lunch, we did a little shopping here and there, and then grudgingly accepted that our getaway was over, and headed back to Atwater to pick up the kids. But I have no doubt that we'll be back.