In the dead of winter, when end is nowhere in sight, a warm weather vacation is non-negotiable. Getting away from winter storms such as Thundersnow 2011 was definitely in order. So I was super relieved when we stepped onto the plane and jetted off to Napa for a weekend filled with sun, wonderful friends and excellent vino.
Our Napa group came from Chicago, Portland, Atlanta and Kansas City and we all met in Santa Rosa where we rented a house described online as a "celebrity style" villa. None of us really knew what this meant, but the enormous house was equipped with a hot tub, outdoor living room and a chef's kitchen. It was perfect for the ten or us!
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| J and E in the mustard seed |
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| Soaking in the sun! |
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Tom and Rebecca from ATL-excellent Napa planners!
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We had two days full of vineyard hopping where our driver, Brian, drove us rowdy passengers from place to place. We split up our days- Saturday was dedicated to Napa and Sunday to Sonoma. The wine was fantastic and I would return to each winery we hit. Some of the highlights included
Frog's Leap which is fully LEED certified and is basically my dream home turned into a winery. It was decked out in Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn and overlooked a valley of mustard seed. Another awesome stop was
Reynolds Family- super laid back and Burt Reynolds (the cat) personally greets you.
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| Natalie and Ash (Nat came in from KC) |
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| JJ and Sabrina in from Portland- they left Portland's cutest baby with the grandparents |
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| Sara and Matt from Chi in the seed! |
We started each day off with champagne in the warm sun- which is how I think every day should begin.
Mumm on Saturday was a great way to kick off the tour and on Sunday we began at my favorite place in Sonoma-
Domaine Carneros. Needless to say the weekend was a huge success. Hopefully we can make it a grey February tradition!
