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OK, more Napa… Day 2, Stu and Debbie arrived, so all six of us met up at Harlan Estate winery. We had an amazing tour, given by Sheila and Katherine, thanks to Stu. It’s not just anyone who gets a tour and tasting at Harlan; luckily, Stu has been on their mailing list for many years. Woo hoo for Stu! We sampled and chatted about both Harlan Estate and The Maiden – what a treat, my friends. I’m quite sure I’ll never drink either of those wines again – a bottle of Harlan Estate was on the menu at our dinner later that evening for $895 – so it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I loved it.

After our Harlan tour, we headed back “home” for a bit, and then made our way to a festive, casual dinner at Redd in Yountville. After our absolute feast the night before, I decided to play things a bit lighter with a lovely skate filet. I slept like a rock that night, whew.

Day 3 opened bright and sunny on Howell Mountain, so we decided to spend some time with a bottle of Turley Zin on Turley’s deck overlooking Turley’s vineyards and the Napa Valley. NICE! Fortified with cheeses and sausages from Dean & Deluca, Stu, Debbie, John, and I had one of those spontaneously amazing vacation days, where everything falls into place – food, wine, sunshine, a beautiful setting – and could hardly motivate ourselves to get our butts on down the road to Ladera to meet Rudy and Ana (who’d enjoyed their own lovely morning at Meadowood swimming and lounging). But motivate we did, and thoroughly enjoyed our tour, chat, and tasting with Pat and Anne Stotesbury, formerly of Minnesota.

From Ladera we made our way down the road to Littorai, for another Stu-arranged tasting with assistant winemaker Neal (who the guys dubbed Cute Neal because 1) he is, and 2) all the ladies got a little twittery around him). In fact, after our tasting, Neal dropped by the house for – what else? – a glass of wine and some snacks on the deck. After he hit the road, we six dove in to cooking our dinner – over the fire, no less, thanks to grillmaster Rudy (and the Turley’s cool fireplace/grill set-up). Steaks and veal chops, oh yeah, with more D&D salads, crusty bread, and cookies and cheeses for dessert. Ohhhh, sitting in front of that roaring fire, all stuffed and toasty warm, full of great wine, laughing and talking, what a night! Unforgettable.

And then…our last day…stay tuned…