Opus One

 

Bright and early one rainy fall morning, we decided to make our first visit to Opus One, a high end winery in Napa Valley.  That's not us with the umbrella, it just made for a very nice photo as they walked towards the winery.

Here is my wife hustling towards the entrance as the upper crust in the background get curbside dropoff.

Looking to the right we see the winery itself.  Built in the 1970s, they are planning a modernization starting with the landscaping as shown in this artist's rendering.

The clouds and mist added to the mystique in this photo of my wife.

Ready?  One last look before we turn around and head for the entrance.

There it is.  The main doors!

A photo of yours truly.

The view from the table where our tasting were waiting for us.

There were three tastings each.  My wife reviews the description of the vintages we would be sampling.  Note to buy any of of the bottles is $500 and up.  As I said, it is a high end winery.

They took us down to the barrel room for a look around.

Back outside the front doors after the tasting.

Our rental car this trip - a Challenger R/T.  I really loved it and didn't want to give it back!

Raymond Winery

 

We discovered a very unusual winery this trip to Napa - Raymond Winery.

Nice summary board out front giving the status of all the tours.  Since we visited 3 days before Thanksgiving, it was very quiet and not all tours were available.

As soon as we entered, we knew this winery would be quite different.

We chose a tasting in the Red Room, and that room did not disappoint!

Red from top to bottom!

Love that couch!

Their Red Room menu.

We also peaked into another private tasting room.

If you are looking for the unusual (like we do), Raymond Winery is highly recommended!

Our Percussionist

Our Percussionist Teo after a concert this week.

Top World Religions Over Time

 

The Moon Last Night

The moon from our back yard last night.  

Beautiful.
 

Ruby and her Possum Friend

 

Ruby has found a possum on our back fence a few nights in the last two weeks.  Now she goes out back each evening and waits for her return.  Most nights, she does come by and Ruby is happy.

ZB Savoy

 

Saw a great country band last night - ZB Savoy.

And there was a new Sauvignon Blanc on the menu - it was very good!

Beautiful Evening on the lake

 

Winding down the week with dinner and drinks.

Troy Graduates Middle School

 

Our oldest grandson Troy has graduated middle school!  He is looking forward to high school.

Troy with his proud parents.

And his proud grandparents!

A Guided Tour Through Sonoma Valley

 

One of our close friends asked if we'd like to see a few of her favorite places in Sonoma Valley - we said of course!

So we flew in on a Friday afternoon in preparation for meeting her bright and early Saturday morning.

We needed lunch after the trip so we stopped at V. Sattui in Napa Valley.

Always a favorite of ours - both for the wines and the deli! 

We almost got skunked though as it was much busier than expected and we hadn't made reservations.  We might have to start making reservations there...here is my wife, thankful we got in!

We took the rental car to our hotel for the night.

The next morning!  What a beautiful drive through Sonoma Valley!

We were having so much fun and the views were so nice that we pulled over to take a few photos - something we very rarely do!

What a beautiful day!

St Francis Winery and Vineyards

 

Our friend introduced us to a new winery!  St Francis!  We went there before noon and before the crowds arrived.  Here is my wife in the main tasting room.

Very nicely done!

We had signed up for the wine pairing and being that it was the week of Earth Day,  the food was all vegetarian and most of it grown right there on site.

Cheers!  Thanks for introducing us to this magnificent place!

Jimmy is the winery gardener who grows the food.   He happened to bring his dog to work that day.   Jimmy also gave us a tomato plant grown right there on site!

Here was the pairings we had.  Delicious all!

The two favorites of everyone was the charred asparagus and....

...the strawberry tartlet!

Sigh!

 

We made a surprise stop in Sonoma!  A little shop called Sigh....

...and unknown to us, our friend had arranged a meetup with Cathy, a woman my wife had worked with when they both worked for a company that owned a Sonoma newspaper.  They had a great visit!

A few drinks being made at Sigh.

Domaine Carneros

 

Next stop:  Domaine Carneros!  A favorite of all three of us!

Well, actually the next stop was Etude but I failed to take any photos there for some reason.  Then we went to Domaine Carneros!

Just watching the act of pouring the champagne - excuse me, sparkling wine - is relaxing and fun.

And the bubbles!  Oh, the bubbles!

It's time!

I think we all three picked the Ultra Brut as our favorite.

Time for some cheese and crackers~

A view out to the patio from our seat.