The morning started with breakfast, eggs Benedict were offered with either bacon or spinach. Since I was on vacation when calories and cholesterol don't count, I opted for the bacon...
We then head to GrapeSeed - I normally wouldn't have scheduled a wine tasting right before a 90 minute drive but winemaker/owner Matt Smith offered to open tasting room 1 hour earlier so we could make it to Napa by lunch...
The tasting room is part of an art gallery and the tasting area looks more like a chill hangout than tasting area. They also have a turntable and encourage you to spin your favorite album...
The wine tasting area...
Along with several usual bold reds, GrapeSeed specializes in Italian varietals like Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Vermentino via their Sassoferrato label...
We also opted for the charcuterie plate (from Journeyman Meat Co) just make sure we weren't imbibing on an empty stomach...
And since they no longer produce the Sangiovese from Mendocino - the vineyard owner uprooted the Sangiovese to plant some other varietal... we purchased a 6-pack to ship back to the 50th...
We left the leftover charcuterie plate with our host Danny who gladly took it off our hands - there were leftovers for a full sized sandwich. Just as we exited GrapeSeed, the Blackbird Inn notified us that we could do an early check-in so we dropped off the luggage and had a quick meal at Zuzu with the Duck Empanada...
The Asian Pear and Radicchio Salad...
And the Roasted Beet, Frisee and Goat Cheese Salad...
Then headed to Compline for our only scheduled wine tasting for the day. Compline isn't a winery but a tasting room/bar where you can simply purchase a glass of wine at the bar or select one of four preset tastings of three to four wines. They also have a turntable with albums and because we were the couple who selected the wine tasting, were allowed to select the album - I chose Kind of Blue, the classic Miles Davis album. Compline also features a chilled, glass walled room with wines available for retail purchase and they have a very nice selection.
I "HAD" to go with the Champagne tasting...
While Ms S selected the Wine Without Borders tasting...
Compline also has a full restaurant just a stone's throw from the tasting room/bar/retail shop so Ms S decided to have dinner there - I would have gone back to Zuzu just to sample their Gin Bar which is adjacent to the main Zuzu restaurant... but happy wife, happy life...
I selected the Porchetta - it was one of the best renditions I've sampled - top 5 at least - and just based on the belly portion, the BEST as the skin was perfectly crisp but not too hard - sometimes the skin gets so toasted, it hurts your palate munching down on it - while the inner skin was tender and stuck to your teeth. Sometimes porchetta is cooked so long, the outer skin gets too hard and all of the collagen melts away from the inner skin. When that inner skin sticks to your teeth, it's done PERFECTLY. The only reason this rendition wasn't #1 is that the tenderloin portion was a little dry...
Ms S selected the Bavette Steak which had a little chew but very flavorful...
We also sampled their Duck Fat Fries which were the BEST rendition, PERIOD! Sometimes what's labelled duck fat fries tastes like it simply was cooked in vegetable oil and sometimes the fries themselves aren't properly cooked being too dark and greasy or not golden brown. These were crisp on the outside throughout dinner, flaky on the inside and you got the duck fat flavor! NUMERO UNO!
Tomorrow starts with the obligatory stop at Trader Joe's for omiyage and obligatory stop to purchase lottery tickets then 2 scheduled tastings ending with dinner at Oenotri...
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