The Birthday Extravaganza

My husband and I both celebrated our birthdays on our trip, my birthday was Monday and his was yesterday. We had a busy two days with winery visits and dinner reservations. We started out Monday morning back at Domaine Chandon since we didn't have enough time to do the tasting on Sunday. We did a sparkling wine and still wine tasting; Chris and I shared. The étoile Brut and étoile Rosé are both delicious and a perfect pairing with fresh oysters. I also really enjoyed the Chandon Reserve Chardonnay Brut. They have a wonderful Carneros Chardonnay but I think my favorite still wine of the tasting was the Pinot Meunier.









Our second stop was Joseph Phelps for a Terrace tasting. The property was beautiful. The pictures below crack me up because it looks like we were super imposed in the photos. We tasted a total of 8 Wines which included the Freestone and Joseph Phelps Vineyards. We had a 2010 Sauvignon Blanc which was quite good. I'm typically not a big Sauvignon Blanc fan but I really enjoyed this. We also tried the Freestone Chardonnay which was really good. When we moved onto the reds this is where Chris got really excited. We had the 2006 and 2008 Insignia and the 2005 Backus. We ended our tasting with an ice wine which I thought for sure I was going to hate because I do not like sweet wines at all. I was completely wrong in this case, the 2009 Eisrebe was absolutely delicious!



















We took a quick break for lunch at Rutherford Grill. I highly recommend the French Dip sandwich, it was quite tasty.

Winery number 3 was Elizabeth Spencer for another tasting. The tasting room is so quaint and they have a great patio area to relax and enjoy some wine. I'm a big fan of their Chardonnay but they also have some great reds.








Last stop was dinner at Bouchon Bistro in Yountville. We had another delicious meal here. I had a chilled pepper soup as my first course and their Alaskan Halibut special as my entree. Everything was so fresh and delightful! Chris and Becky both had the fresh onion soup as a starter and they both thought it was excellent. Chris moved on to the Croque Madame as his entree and Becky had the Pork Belly special which looked divine. Thierry started with some fresh oysters had the Steak Frites which both looked excellent. We ended our meal with the Profiteroles.

Overall it was a great way to celebrate my birthday!

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