This morning for breakfast we went to, surprise surprise, Denny's. We had received coupons for a discounted breakfast there. After breakfast, we went to the hotel lobby for information on the plethora of vineyards in the area. We checked out of the hotel and were on our way.
We decided on a vineyard in St. Helena. We arrived there after a leisurely 30 minute drive through the Napa Valley. This drive was beautiful. The weather was perfect. We saw pine trees sitting next to palm trees. We drove by many vineyards and saw bunches of ripe grapes weighing down their vines. We then pulled the car up to Beringer Vineyards, the oldest vineyard in Napa Valley.
Yes. This actually IS the same Beringer that produces the Beringer White Zinfandel that you can buy for $6 a bottle at your local Harris Teeter, but we didn't see any of that wine in the tasting room. We sampled a Sbragia Chardonnay Limited Release, a Cabernet Franc, and a GREAT dessert wine, the Beringer Nightingale. After the tasting, it didn't take long for my parents to get roped into becoming members of the wine club there.
After walking around the vineyard and sampling some great wine, we then headed up the street to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. This is not THE Culinary Institute of America, that one is in New York. This is a branch campus. They've only been open for about 6 years. We went to the restaurant here for lunch called The Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant.
The cooks here use local ingredients and the menu changes with the seasons. This insures that the freshest ingredients are used at all times. My dad went with a sample of wines while my mom and I just went with sparkling water (someone's gotta drive). For lunch, I went with the Chanterelles Pasta. Chanterelles are a local mushroom found in California that I had read were fantastic. They were. The sauce was a sort of cream of mushroom type sauce that was delicious. The pasta was a homemade flat pasta that I don't know the name of off hand. Here is the picture.
After an amazing main course, we were still a little bit hungry and decided to go ahead with dessert and coffee. I got the Creme Brulee. This was amazing as well and was very rich. It topped off the meal perfectly and filled me up as well.
Today was a great day. After the lunch and a short stop at the Franciscan Winery, we headed to our next hotel destination in Berkeley, CA just outside of San Francisco. I like Northern California a lot. I can't really describe just how perfect the weather is right now. Stay tuned for more. Tomorrow we go to San Francisco.
