Napa Valley Wine Country

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Napa Valley - wine country in winter

Over the weekend we headed up to the wine country. The weather was misty & moist & moody, and just a little rainy. It was a lovely backdrop to fields of blooming wild mustard and vines that are bare and ready for pruning.

We attended a special gathering at Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg -- their annual "Wine and Chocolate" pairing event. There was food and music too! One of my all-time favorite wines is their "Symmetry" meritage. Every year is a good one! And the same goes for the cabernets from Ladera Vineyards in Angwin... although we didn't visit this time... it is in a different area of the Napa region (I just couldn't blog about wine and not gush a little about Ladera)...

A few days before our wine country visit, friends had shared a DVD of the movie "Bottle Shock" (view a trailer of the movie by clicking here) So -- we thought it would be fun to head over to "Chateau Montelena" -- the winery featured in the film. And, sure enough, there was "the" bottle on display from the chardonnay which had won the 1976 blind tasting in Paris - and totally SHOCKED the French. We were disappointed that there wasn't a chardonnay to taste on the day we were there, but the other wines from this very old winery were excellent.

If you want to read this article from Time Magazine, click on the photo to make it bigger. Funny to read that, in 1976, the wine was considered rather expensive, at $6 a bottle!!

Trial Run

The living room walls and windows have been removed, and the new space is taking shape. The photo above is taken from our "old" dining area, looking toward the "old" back porch, and living room. The framing at the far end is the wall of the walk-in closet, which will be accessed from the master bedroom. The post on the left will remain - it is necessary for support. (That post is the subject of much discussion!)

The photo to the right shows the current view from the back yard... There will be glass doors on each side of the windows, and siding has been ordered. (A rainy day here, today).

Friends were coming over for dinner and a movie, so we decided to move the table over and see how it felt - to sit in our new space... and it felt great! The lighting is not connected, but we were all happy to dine by candlelight! And since one dinner guest also happens to be our electrician, it was a wonderful opportunity to discuss light fixture placement...!