Getting our Wine On: Day 3

And what a day it was....this was our "let's go to every winery we haven't hit but we don't want to miss and who cares if they are no where near each other" day. You know everyone has one of those.

The day started early as usual...I actually slept to the extra late time of 5:15 AM. We decided to head out to breakfast towards Healdsburg because we had a winery appointment at 11 AM there. We found this little breakfast place in Calistoga called Sarafornia. The name comes from Samuel Brennan. When he settled the town in the late 1800's he wanted to make the town similar to his home in Saratoga, NY. Get it. Saratoga - toga + California - Cali = Sarafornia. If you need some extra help with the naming I can meet with you separately. Though our food was great, our favorite part of the visit was the guy sitting next to us with the handlebar mustache. He was like 80 and he definitely spent his life perfecting it. Unlike his date who had a horrible time drawing in her eyebrows this morning.

After breakfast, we ran to Seghesio in Healdsburg. If you know Seghesio, it is probably for the Zins, but we found some other unique Italian like vintages that we loved - including another Barbara. Even better the place had bocce courts on premise. Bottle Count: 3.

Next we went to a winery that was recommended to us by several friends - Michel-Schlaumberger. They do organic reds and we took a tour of the grounds. It was really cool to see how they do things so differently than most vinyards to produce the wine organically. The tour would have been great if we didn't have to be with the other couple. Mike had passsed these people driving into the Dry Creek area. They were going 15 miles below the speed limit and swaying to some music. Of course when they showed up for the tour, you could say we were both estatic. The male portion of the couple could be described in so many ways but none of the ways would be positive. I hated how he asked questions that he knew the answer to but just wanted to ask so he would prove to all of us that he knew. He also talked about his Greenhouse and chickens that he has in his house in Brooklyn. Yes, Brooklyn NY. He mentioned his greenhouse 5 times (I literally counted.) and his wife showed us a picture of their chicken. I can't even tell you how much we wanted to leave them. Luckily we tasted an awesome Cab Sav from 1998 and bought 2 bottles. It was the best we tasted in the area.

On the way into the Mic-Schlaum ( That is what us wine geeks call it, and by us, I mean me), we saw a sign for a winery called Williamson Wines. For those of you who do not know, my last name is Williamson. Just in case I was some how related to these people, I felt I had to go. Of course, I told them immediately upon entering that my last name was Williamson and just as immediate they told me that they get countless Williamson's coming through he door. They had a great little set up though and they paired all the wines with a dessert or cheese. The Williamson's in my life are getting these wines as gifts. Hope they enjoy. Bottle Count: 4

The wine hostess asked if we would like lunch recommendations at one of the little restaurants in town and we weren't the least bit embarrassed to tell her that we were driving to the nearest In and Out Burger. You can't come to Cali and miss In and Out. We ordered off the secret menu because we are just that cool.

We then headed to Gundlach Bundschu, a winery I came to the last time I was in town. We had a great visit through the caves and our visit today was quick but we tasted some good reds. Bought a Cab Franc that we both liked.

Our final winery of the week was Elise outside of Yountville. We had a great bottle at Redd from here and wanted to try to fit it in. The wines did not disappoint. We really enjoyed Elise's little brother's label (Jacob Franklin)and bought the two wines in that label - a Petit Syrah and a Charbono. Of course we ran into some folks there from Canada and sadly we hated them too. Why would some one find it appropriate to say: "Your not like other New Yorkers. We like you." and then wrap it in a bow with the statement: "This is a compliment." Luckily Mike didn't get in to his aggressive stance since this was our 5th winery of the day. But really people of the world: It's probably best not to open your mouth at a winery unless you are tasting or you say "boy Scott, you are handsome, smart and funny".

Total Bottle Count:11
Grand Total bottles:29