Reverie

I would  call this place a "divine intervention".

Reverie was not on our ordinal agenda but a friend had recommended it. Her recommendation was vague, simply stating that it was a great tour and nice people. 

Part of our planning process included printing out a map of all Napa vineyards and circling the places we wanted to see. We made our appointments to the most critical places and then looked at vineyards on our list that were in the area. Reverie just happened to be the closest to our first appointment so it made sense visit. 

The morning started out misty and cold but turned into a beautiful day!!!

Our trusty binder included a great write up of Reverie and the history of the vineyard. It's a rather new place, starting in the late 90's. Norm (pictured below) was sitting in his dentist's office in NYC reading an article about wine making. He was working as a CFO and decided that he would pack his bags and make the transition. He purchased the land for 1/2 of what it's worth today. His wife came out and began to turn the property into a massive garden with rock-bed trails, benches between Red Wood Trees and flowers everywhere!

His son Andrew soon followed his way out to Napa and then his wife lost her battle with cancer. 

He produced his most prestigious wine A.S Kiken (after his son) and continued to produce small amounts of incredible wine. 

Life turned full circle for Norm as he fell in love, again, to a dentist!!!!

I ended up studying the entire history and autobiography the entire drive up.

Norm, below, was in the process of creating a new blend and when he saw us coming he dipped his pitcher in the tank and gave us all a taste! He was so warm and welcoming and chatted with us like we were old friends. I think I was sold on Reverie at this point. 

Laurie was our guide and naturally I memorized her life story too!! She's a retired principal who lives in Arizona but comes out to Reverie each year during harvest season.

One of their most famous wines. I was lucky enough to even get a t-shirt with this logo!!

They have a great cave tour and we learned more about the reasoning behind a cave rather than in a building. 

An interesting tid-bit I also learned about myself is that I really prefer French Oak as opposed to American Oak. I wish Yankee Candle would come out with a French Oak Barrel scented candle because it's smells great!!!!

When you walk through the garden you really get a sense of peace. The Red Wood Trees are indescribable!!!!

This was everyone's favorite place of the entire trip. I think it's a hidden gem and I'm glad that everything worked out the way it did. Andy and I became "wine club" members and just today got notice that our first shipment was on it's way. 

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

6 Down 1 To Go

We made our last destination at V.Sattui which is a winery and market in one.

I was surprised that after 6 winery's we were all feeling pretty good!!

Kerri was our server and although it was super packed (it's the only winery opened past 5 pm!!!), she was very polite and made time to talk to everyone!! Ironically, when Ron and Roz went to visit Chateau Montellena a few years back, she was their server too!!

This place is very busy and has a great market attached to it with great sandwiches, cheeses and lost of wine!! They had a great section filled with unique gift ideas and trinkets. 

Our driver was a commercial producer by day, and she was just hired on to be a driver for the car service we used. She lives in Napa and is very familiar with the entire area. She had recommended Norman Rose for dinner and we decided to try it out.

It's a neat local restaurant/bar with even more wines to choose from and local beer. 

At this point I had to go with some beer. 

Regusci, Cakebread & Heitz

Regusci was recommended by a friend who lives and works in Napa. She told me that this a famous place where they used to bootleg wine during Prohibition. It's a smaller vineyard but has an amazing terrace and is a highly sought after location for weddings.  We didn't have an appointment for this, it was one of our many "drive-thru" vineyards on our list to see. 

You can take a look around the "Prohibition" room while you're there, however, they were setting up for a wedding so it was not allowed. Our kind server told us that if he turns his back and can't see us then he can't stop us from taking a peek!

Everybody say PROHIBITION!!!!

We hurried over to Cakebread Cellars which is one of my FAVORITE wines!!!  It's the only wine, up until now, that I'd actually go out of my "15 dollar limit" and buy!!! We wanted to make this trip all about wines that we couldn't get in Texas and away from all the popular vineyards. However, being a true Cakebread fan, we had to go!!

We scheduled the "Reserve" tasting which was incredible. I had to take a picture of the wine glasses.... apparently I've been serving it all wrong!!! 

Cabernet grapes!

We were grouped together with another party of 4 whom two of them were from Round Rock and lived across the neighborhood from Roz & Ron. One of their brothers was there who is a doctor in the area of Ron and Andy's work so naturally the 2 salesmen solicited their devices. 

It then turns out that the girlfriend is a fellow tri delt!

Ironic. 

The premises around Cakebread is truly remarkable!!! We learned all about their new vineyards up on the mountain and supposedly it's going to be some of the best wine yet!!!

Our next stop was another "drive-thru" at Heitz Cellars which is a local spot with easy to get to tastings! 

and another round.....

Our next stop was at Luna Vineyards which was a surprise to Andy. One of his favorite wine's is by Arnold Palmer. I usually buy him this wine for Christmas via UPS since you can't find it anywhere outside of Napa. Luna Vineyards produces the Arnold Palmer wine so it was a really treat for Andy!

My top choices here was the 2010 Luna Pinot Grigo and the 2012 Luna Reserve Chardonnay.

Napa Day 1

Rozlyn and I had been planning this trip since July 30. We were headed to the Coast together and we just decided that we were going to Napa. So as we were driving, we both got in contact with Andy and Ron to confirm dates and we made hotel reservations. and check the flights. 

We talked to several people who had traveled to Napa before and we wanted to make sure we had GREAT recommendations!!!  Luckily a great friend of mine has been there several times and another friend of a friend lives there so we ended up with a EXCELLENT list of places to go. 

We had a driver for 2 days and the company did a fantastic job!! We gave her the list of places we wanted to see and she then created a timeline of places to hit first to last. She would tell us if a particular place had been getting poor reviews and then suggest vineyards that had better ratings. We loved her honesty and even more her enthusiasm!!!!

The night before our trip Rozlyn stayed up all night and into the wee hours of the early morning putting together our "Binder" that had each day's itinerary along with write ups and reviews of each winery we were to visit!

Day 1, here we go!!!!

Our first vineyard was at Del Dotto, or as the locals call it, Del Blotto. The slang version came about because during their cave tours they are very flexible to the amount of wine they pour and feel then need to keep your glass full at all times. 

Their cave was dug in the 1850s by Chinese immigrants. It is one of the oldest vineyards in Napa. Del Dotto just opened up their second location which looks BEYOND magnificent!! However, we wanted to stick with the original this time, however, the new Del Dotto is on the list for next time!

FYI: my favorite wine at this vineyard. 

Our kind tour guide let the boys play with the "wine thief"....... bad idea!

Ron brought along his humidor so the guys could smoke cigars between vineyards. It seems that most of the vineyards we saw actually encourage this.