Beautiful weather, should have been a great trip but we copped the driver who never shuts up. A nice guy but he talked for the whole 1 hour 20 minutes it took to get to Napa. He was silent for 10 minutes before lunch and it was blissful.
Winery #1 Madonna Estate NV - good Pinot Noir, sweet Rose
#2 Sutter Home NV - sweet White Zinfandel (but it's pink), good Pinot Grigio, good Zinfandel, 2 very sweet
wines, wine kitsch by the bushel.
#3 Sebastiani Sonoma: best for information and lovely cool courtyard. Chardonnay oaked no buttery flavours, Merlot harsh, Cabernet ok too young.
Australian wine miles better than what we had today, admittedly lower end.
Memo to self: go upmarket in future.
Disliked Sonoma - hot, crowded, noisy and dirty. Cheese Factory for lunch - totally disorganised. Couldn't get a proper iced coffee. Drinks are too sweet. Missing Feelgood iced coffee made with milk and no extra sugar.
We had a voucher from our tour company for dinner at Via Veneto in Pacific Heights: David consulted with bus driver who dropped us off at Van Ness and Clay. "It's just 9 blocks to your right". What he didn't add is that 5 of those blocks are practically vertical. We made it and the minute we walked in and smelt that warm garlic smell I knew it would be good - and it was, exquisite Italian food. This was on the wall above our table:
We had crab cakes and calamari then veal and sea bass, no pasta, really good.
I remember that I loved Sonoma and had some amazing Zinfandels but I deliberately went to smaller vineyards to avoid tour buses.
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