On our last full day in Napa, we once again started with breakfast... it was a version of eggs Benedict except that the egg yolks were hard as in fully boiled egg and the cheese was congealed. Oh well, today's scheduled meal was lunch so I didn't really want a full breakfast anyway...
Since lunch was scheduled for 12:45pm, I wanted to sneak in a wine tasting before lunch so I made an appointment at Hestan for 11:30am. However, the drive from Napa Town to Yountville took a scant 10 minutes so we arrived about 10:30am. Most of the shops were still closed though V Wine cellars was already open so I browsed their wine selection... About as EXTENSIVE as it gets... Lookee! a Jacques Selosse Lieu Dit selection, the Le Mesnil Sur Oger Les Carelles made from 100% Chardonnay. For the uninitiated, Anselme Selosse (Jacques Selosse's son) only makes 600 mixed 6-packs from his six lieu dits or individual parcels and the current web prices for a 6-pack range from $3000 to $8000 with 2 bottles in the Lieu Dit 6-pack only sold as part of the 6-pack (the other 4 in the 6-pack are also sold individually like Les Carelles)...
Yountville is also home to the JCB Collection - their tasting room is a mixture of Liberace meets Cartier meets upscale lounge (the following photos were from a trip 4 years ago)...
Anyway, I included photos of the JCB Collection tasting room because I didn't take any photos while we were at the Hestan tasting room. In any case Hestan is named after the founders HElen and STANley Cheng who made their fortune selling the Anolon and Circulon line of cookware then eventually purchased Ruffoni and now have their own Hestan cookware line. Therefore the tasting room is part wine tasting room, part cookware showroom. They do make very good wine (Thomas Rivers Brown makes the Hestan and Stephanie line named after their daughter) while a separate Vincent Christopher (named after their sons) line is made by Jeff Gaffner so we did purchase a 6-pack to ship back to the 50th. Because it was Cyber Monday, the Hestan line of cookware was 20% off with free shipping including the 50th so we also purchased a 3 quart saucepan from their NanoBond Titanium line. Then walked next door to Bouchon Bistro for lunch. To celebrate our purchases, I started with a Negroni Vert with Magellan gin, Green Chartreuse and Suze...
While Ms S had an Aperol Spritz...
I then moved on to a half dozen oysters (Bouchon's bivalves are just as good as Hog Island's)...
And we shared a plate of Pommes Frites with Black Truffle... not truffle oil but flecks of real truffle (likely French summer truffle)...
Ms S selected the Snake Rivers Farms Beef Brisket...
While I sampled the Boudin Noir... BEST blood sausage on the planet!...
Ms S still had a little room so she sampled the Orange Meringue... very light and airy with a pronounced orange flavor...
We made our way back to Napa Town for a last tasting at Kepliger. I was on the e-mail list for Keplinger for several years ever since sampling their Lithic, a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah but stopped during the pandemic as I was starting the process of transitioning from fully employed to retired by cutting expenses so we initially didn't plan on making any purchases. But due to the wild fires around Napa, they had to pick some of their red grapes earlier but didn't feel it warranted the usual bottling so the grapes that normally would go into Lithic simply made a Rose instead. So we purchased some Lithic "pink" as well as their Viognier blend which was fully ripened at harvest. After the Keplinger tasting, I was exited to visit the Gin Bar at Zuzu but low and behold... Zuzu is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so that'll have to wait for another trip... so we simply had the wine and cracker plate at the Blackbird Inn and a bottle of Marquiliani Blanc that we purchased from Compline (I left most of the bottle for the Blackbird Inn staff) as we were the only couple that remained at the Inn...
Well, last day tomorrow before we fly back to the 50th...
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