sunflowers and castles

The second day in Napa was a bit strange. The tastings were below par after we hit J. Keverson/Hart's Desire...but we still had a great time prancing around in the vineyards.

cakebread sunflowers are SO BIG.

castello di amorosa

wandering through vineyards

on the castle grounds

Castello di Amorosa is very pretty, the castle modeled like medieval times. However, the tastings were really bad, and the tour lacked any luster. The dungeons were closed to the public although the brochure says they have awesome ones. We had more fun on the grounds of the castle than the tasting. Cakebread was really disappointing since the website said nothing about appointments. When we arrived, the parking was packed with groups of people, all waiting to go into their tasting. We opted to walk around the vineyard and enjoy the gardens instead. Raymond's grounds were nice, but when we went inside, a corporate party was going on...and I felt like I was in an Irvine office building. Since the tasting table was packed with corporate personnel on their day off, we decided to head over to the next one at Goosecross. I called beforehand, and the girl told me they closed at 7. Upon arrival, the people there all told me they were closed and handed me a coupon to Jessup. First, we didn't like Jessup. Second, WHY Jessup?? I called again to see who i talked to, and found out that they have another tasting location in downtown Napa. Well, THANKS for telling us that Goosecross! blah.

However, there is a great ending to this story. This pic is kat utterly happy that she finally got her Prisoner. We have been trying to contact Orin Swift all day, and they have not responded to anything we sent them. At Tra Vigne, the life saving restaurant in St Helena, the 23 page wine list had the Prisoner!!!! We ordered a bottle with the most amazing dinner. We were all craving different things during the day, and mentioned them to each other. Tra Vigne had ALL of it: filet mignon [what i was craving], tombe tuna [what kat was craving], and spinach ravioli [what leanne was craving]....and it was all absolutely delectable. Not only that, the sommalier told us where to find The Prisoner to buy at retail! We went the next morning, and picked up the last 3 bottles at St Helena Wine Shop for $35 apiece! Soooo happy!