Napa Valley: Day 1

After only 45 minutes of sleep the night before, Lisa and I finally arrived in SFO. It was foggy, humid and cold at about 60 degrees which was completely unexpected. It has been in the 90's all week in Denver, so the thought of having to buy jeans and sweaters made me ill once I discovered that I had only packed skirts and shorts. I worried about hanging out in the fog all weekend.

We grabbed our rental car and rushed downtown so I could make my much anticipated hair appointment at Cinta. Traffic in the big city was a complete mess, so much thanks to Rizzo for hooking me up with some CA maps for my cell phone Tom Tom. I had just enough battery juice on my phone to get me through the SF metropolis and right to 23 Grant. Unfortunately, I was 30 minutes late and my mentor stylist had moved on. No worries though, Lisa and I ate at Macy's, walked around Union Square and even managed to locate the car and drive to the airport before Amy arrived from Pennsylvania.

From there we got back on the road and got to Napa just in time to make our appointment at Opus One. It was relaxing... we took photos and did our tasting on the terrace as we basked in the sun overlooking their fabulous vines. The wine was glorious, even at $35 for a single pour. Deep down though, I actually belived Amy when she said that it was boring and dry. It was an honest assessment from someone who knows little about wine thus far. Is Opus One just a bunch of hype? No, not really. The wine was great, and if you can envision how it will taste in about 10 years when it's at it's peak then it may very well be a bargain for you at $180 a bottle. Me? I'm all about the now, baby.

Back on the road, we went to Robert's old stomping ground, the lovely Mondavi vineyards. We enjoyed the reserve tasting which was super fun, but nothing really stood out. Took more pictures and finally ended up at Peju.

Peju was fantastic and I experienced something of a revelation about Cabernet Franc. More on that later... From there we had dinner at the Fume Bistro, had a few more cocktails and stumbled back to the John Muir Inn with just enough energy to order a wake up call before passing out.