The Dude goes to Calistoga.

Thursday, April 16^th, 2015.

Calistoga, CA

Its 9am and my travel companions, still on Texas time, are awake and ready to roll. I begrudgingly crawl out of bed and don on wine tasting outfit #1 (a long skirt and tank top... In case you are wondering wine tasting outfit #2 is similar. When I drunk packed earlier this week, I made the decision that Napa-Michele will not wear pants as they are too constrictive. I mentally pat myself on the back for making a good-drunk-packing-decision. After all, they are few and far between.).

We start out with brunch at a charming café called Sarafornia. There is quote on the wall that explains the name: “I’m going to make it the Calistoga of Sarafornia”. Wait a minute that quote explains nothing; we will remain confused for the remainder of our vacation. 

Brunch is fantastic. I have biscuits and gravy and my vegetarian companions are satisfied with their meals as well. We finish our very strong coffees, pay the bill, and we are off! It's time to visit some wineries!

We start the day at Clos Pegase. The tasting room kinda looks like a prison from the outside but are not deterred. As we enter, we become aware that we are the first and only customers. The barista is nice; she has a wonderful British accent and serves us 5 different tastings. The wine is just okay. As we are leaving I am guilted into buying a bottle of chardonnay, the service was really good.

Hmmmm, what to do next? There is really only one answer to that question.

 

Its almost noon and we are rolling up to tasting room #2. Envy Winery. Again the tasting room is empty and we suspect that we are the first customers of the day. I resist the urge to tell the barista that it is well past noon in the central time zone. We proceed to small talk (a skill at which we all truly excel… it’s required coursework when you grow up in Texas) and try 5 different types of wine. Near the end of our tasting we decide to take a quick break and sit on the patio with a chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. It really is too early in the day to go to a third winery (we have standards).   

We are relaxing and enjoying good conversation when I suddenly wish that we had cheese to go with our wine. There is some in the car, but I think it would be better if I had some in my purse. I find this sentiment simultaneously hilarious and sad… uh oh, I may be drunk.  

Soon its time to make a decision about where to go next. I really, really want to go to Cakebread and Laura and Sarah are agreeable. We need an appointment to taste there, so Sarah sets one up on the ride over. When we arrive the vineyard is beautiful. We are grouped with 2 couples, one of which is from Texas (5 out of 7 of us are Texan!). After a quick tour we are given an overview of how to taste wine and 5 very wonderful pours of different kinds of chardonnays and a few reds. As a bonus they let us keep our glasses when we leave.

After Cakebread we have time for one more stop. We head over to V. Sattui. After our tasting we buy a bottle of white along with some food from the deli and find a table outside. We spend the rest of the day here. The weather is beautiful and the wine is delicious.

After a full day of wine tasting we head back to Calistoga. Having eaten lunch at 5pm, we are not hungry for dinner. It’s time to put on our swimsuits and sit in the hot tub all night. We make it a few hours before we decide to make a grocery store run. Determined to achieve maximum relaxation I throw on my bathrobe over my swimsuit and a pair sandals and wander over to the market. People are staring, but I don’t care. This is my Big Lebowski moment and I feel no shame.

After a dinner of wine, ice cream, and pretzels, we return to the hot tub. We finish off the evening with good conversation and eventually turn in for the night.

I am already excited about tomorrow – we will visit the Dr. Wilkinson Spa and Mud Baths!