Napa: Day 2

Day 2! We woke up feeling great and with Duck Dude craving breakfast tacos. However, we were in California and those are not quite as popular there... so we ended up at Starbucks. After Duck Dude got two cold in the middle breakfast wraps... he asked for a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast. When in Napa... right? 
First up, our favorite winery, tour, and tasting of the trip! Hendry Winery. This tour was with 8 people and George Hendry, himself, was our tour guide. I was obsessed with him and his flannel shirt and his rotted out teeth. You could tell he was a knowledgeable man. Duck Dude enjoyed the tour because he spoke more of the business side of wine making. This is where we found out 1 acre of land in Napa would cost you $300,000. We also found out if you start a winery, it will take you around 7 years to produce your first bottle. He told us why he planted grapes where, why 30% of his land is zinfandel grapes, because you can usually count on zinfandel to pick up the slack if other grapes have a bad year. He talked about the price it cost them per bottle and why they sell it at the price point they do. And when he talked he liked to point his finger that was crooked at the end just a little bit. We loved it! 
Then we got to the tasting! This was the only place we went where we had two glasses placed in front of us. Mr. Hendry, or George... requested zero cameras during the time because he wanted us to listen and learn. He poured a white wine fermented in a stainless steel tank and a white wine fermented in an oak barrel side by side. He told us to lift our left glass and take a sip... then he told us to life our right glass and take a sip. He explained why a stainless steel white can be sealed with a screw top and an oak barrel white needs to be sealed with a cork. 
He poured a Primitivo in one glass and a Zinfandel in another and asked us to taste different things. We dipped crackers in olive oil to cleanse our pallet and get rid of the tannins before we took a sip from the right glass. We learned what to pair each wine with and why. We learned why not everyone likes cabs as much as we do, and they probably do not drink their coffee black. Mr. Hendry was one cool dude. He lives in the farmhouse on the winery... and I am thinking of asking if he needs a roommate. 

We went back to the hotel and ate Duck Dude's leftover short ribs... that were still reallllllllly good. Then we got an Uber and headed to our next tour.  We arrived at Darioush and I think I gasped. It was so different than all the other winerys we had been to. It obviously has a Persian flair and I was so excited to see the inside. 

We had a lovely tour guide, Jameson, who loved this winery and it showed through. Looking at that picture above, the winery is in the middle and to the left, and Mr. Darioush's living quarters is to the right. We got to go into his personal wine cellar....... and I neeeed one like his!! It was incredible! He loves "magnum" bottles... aka the really big bottles. We would be friends... I know it! Then we did the tasting in this beautiful room with this beautiful cheese plate. You paired the cheese in counter clockwise order and we made friends with some cool people across the table! 

That evening we went to a restaurant in downtown Napa. Downtown Napa is a really cool place, that we didn't explore until that evening. I think it would be fun to go back there when we go back again! We got to sit on Celadon's enclosed patio and they brought us champagne for our one year anniversary! We had some of the best calamari I've ever had in my life!! Then I had scallops for my meal and Duck Dude had...... duck! 

Behind our honeymoon, this was the best trip ever with my husband.