A Fabulous Day in the Neighborhood

Whew! What a fabulous day in wine country!

The weather was perfect, the wine was delightful and, of course, I got to hang out with my mama! What do you think? Do we look alike?!

So, this afternoon was just way too gorgeous to be inside. I took my mom on a driving tour of Dry Creek Valley and we hit up Quivera, my neighbor winery (it’s right next to Michel-Schlumberger!). Quivera is all organic, too, and is known for their delicious zinfandels. We tasted down the list and my favorite was actually the 2007 Grenache, which one a gold medal at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair last month.

After hitting up Dry Creek, we headed south to the Kendall-Jackson Wine Center for a sensory garden tour and food and wine paring!

Umm can I live here? Seriously?

Yes, it was only 3:30 and we were totally doing a food and wine pairing…it was awesome. What else was awesome? The absolutely amazing gardens at the wine center. Seriously, my mom and I were both totally in awe. They had everything. I wanted to pitch a tent and live in the lettuce patch. Just kidding….maybe.

We got the VIP treatment with Kendall-Jackson Executive Chef Justin Wangler as our tour guide. Chef Justin is brilliant in the kitchen and actually was just featured in this month’s issue of Better Homes and Gardens (my mom got a signed copy from him!). He educated us on everything growing in the garden and we were totally fascinated. There were walnut trees, asparagus plants, pear trees, apple trees, lettuce, chilies, potatoes and so much more. For some reason I’ve always felt right at home stomping through vegetable gardens…makes me so happy!

After our fabulous garden tour, we were seated out in the sunlight for our food and wine pairing. What a treat!

Everything was served in tiny tiny portions and served with a different Kendall-Jackson wine. It was like very gourmet tapas!

Plate # 1 was a watermelon salad, sweet corn custard and smoked duck breast. It was all so small and cute…and VERY tasty!

Plate #2: pork belly sliders and an Asian lettuce wrap

Plate #3: dessert!

The CARAMEL CORN! Best I’ve ever had. Hands down.

So good that I brought leftovers home in my purse. I’m just that classy, obviously. There was also a mini pumpkin mousse, which was fabulous as well. Oh California and its amazing food. I love thee.

Look who came out to say hi!

Adam was working an event at the Wine Center all morning and paused to enjoy some delicious food and wine with us. Tough gig, huh?!

We got home from all that craziness around 5:00 and my brain just didn’t know what to do with itself. The food I ate was delicious but it wasn’t lunch and it wasn’t dinner….and it was too big for a snack. It just didn’t fit! Plus, the portions were so, so tiny. So, around 6:30 I made quasi-dinner numero duo: pb&j:

On an Arnold’s Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin! Much better.

My mom totally crashed. She’s still on east coast time and had a looooooong day yesterday! I don’t blame her. Currently, I’m paging my way through the latest Bon Appetit and sipping on some licorice tea. Tomorrow we have more wine tastings on tap + dinner at The Estate!