Traipsing Through Napa Day 3, San Francisco Day 1

Day three in Napa began much like days one and two- yet another delicious breakfast and bright golden sunshine. This morning we remembered to take a photo of our breakfast before diving in, so here is a quick shot of a marvelous Chateau de Vie breakfast.

Happily fortified for another day of exploring we set off to catch the morning light at the famed Chinese gardens of Chateau Montelena. We arrived at 9am and didn't feel up to tasting wine at that hour so we simply walked around the grounds. While the pagoda was a nice cheery red, the gardens were otherwise rather unimpressive. We were in and out in less than 20 minutes, moving on to something more interesting.

Our next stop was just a few miles up the road at August Briggs winery. The tasting guide at Vincent Arroyo tipped us off to this tucked away winery. A few months ago Mr. B wrote of our first experience with the Charbono grape. It turns out that this rather obscure varietal is one of the specialty wines produced by August Briggs. A very friendly tasting guide named Tom greeted us when we walked into the airy barn style building. As we chatted over several tastings, we learned that Tom is a true Renaissance man, moonlighting as a tasting guide when he isn't sailing, playing in a band, or making his own wine. He is such a fan of August Briggs wines that he volunteers in the tasting room when he has free time in exchange for wine. Now that is my kind of volunteer job! The wines at August Briggs were outstanding, full of flavor and lively complexity. Mr. B and I looked at each other and knew that we had stumbled upon yet another hidden gem.

A quick stop at Summer's winery to taste their version of Charbono (Briggs is better but they do have a great Rosé) wrapped up our Napa tastings; and then we hit the road to drive a big loop through Sonoma and into San Francisco. As we drove out of Calistoga the scenery changed, becoming lush and rugged. Fields of blooming yellow mustard flowers and trees swathed in Spanish moss lined each side of the curving road. I felt as if we were driving through a lost paradise. We were shocked that this part of California still existed with natural beauty unmarred by over-development. It was California as I imagined it fifty years ago. Our travels led us to the quaint town of Geyserville for a much anticipated lunch appointment.

I learned of Taverna Santi from the always helpful people in the Chowhound forums. Mr. B has a love affair with authentic Italian food, so when I read that this restaurant was making delicious authentic Northern Italian cuisine I knew we had to work in a meal. Our simple lunch of house-cured salumis, soup and handmade pasta bolognese was indeed worth the stop. If the people around us had been speaking Italian I would have believed that we took a magic road and somehow ended up in Italy!

Our final stop before leaving wine country behind was at Ridge Vineyards in Sonoma. Ridge is a well known winery, creating a variety of excellent wines for more than thirty years. Several of the vineyards around the tasting room were organic and bio-dynamic. This means they had the added bonus of beautiful sweet pea vines growing among them, adding nitrogen into the soil. Mr. B was thrilled to try the famous Ridge Monte Bello wine (for a fee) and I was happy he could taste it without having to buy the whole bottle!

Finally, we continued our drive into San Francisco. As we neared the city at about 4:30pm we started to see miles and miles of traffic moving at a slow crawl on the opposite side of the highway. This continued for a good 10 minutes until Mr. B turned and said to me, "Take a good look. This is why you don't want to live here." After our last three days, I probably needed the reminder!

We turned off just before the Golden Gate bridge to look for a spot to snap a photo and yet again stumbled right into an incredible spot by sheer luck. As we followed the road to the top of the hill we found ourselves in the middle of the Marin Headlands National Recreation Area. At 5:00pm on a Friday the park was almost deserted and we were treated to breathtaking views of San Francisco. Since we didn't need to be in the city until 7:00pm, we decided to follow the one lane road through the park to see what else we could discover. The road wound through verdant canyons with views of the 150 year old Pt. Bonita lighthouse, an artist colony, and World War II bunkers. When I stepped out of the car to snap photos of the waves the wind was blowing so strong that I almost lost my footing. For once in my life I was glad for those extra fifteen pounds! The scenery was breathtaking and well worth the drive. Here is a brief slide show to share the view:

Windblown and smiling like two clowns we drove over the Golden Gate bridge and navigated our way to The Palace hotel. This long-standing San Francisco hotel is quite deserving of its name. With a beautiful glass atrium and gilded lobby it really does feel palatial.

We cleaned up and rested our feet for a few minutes before heading out to dinner at the Zuni Cafe. This restaurant is one of the oldest in San Francisco and is world famous for an oven roasted chicken and bread salad entree. We were meeting friends (who don't know about the blog) so I restrained myself from taking pictures at dinner, but while we were waiting I managed to capture a few of the big wood fired oven that makes Zuni food famous.

The chicken was worthy of the acclaim. Remarkably moist and flavorful, served over a homemade sourdough bread salad, it was truly one of the best roast chickens I've tasted. Dinner capped off another action-packed awe inspiring day and we were only half-way through the trip!