Thursday, October 20, Day 4

In the middle of our honeymoon we stayed at the lovely renovated Gaige House.

It's one of those Joie de Vivre hotels that looks all swanky but actually isn't completely overpriced. They put in those amenities that you really want like breakfast and cookies at the front door and wine and cheese in the afternoon, and a heated pool (sadly, we weren't able to take advantage of the wine and cheese and the pool because we were too busy going to wineries!!! The walls were a little thin, but you can kind of forgive that considering we were in the main house, which was built over a hundred years ago.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/gaige-house-glen-ellen#hrid:vvwxztsNrMPVyr7VbanZLA
First stop on Thursday was Domaine Carneros in the Carneros region of Sonoma. Apparently people who tried to grow wine here were initially laughed at because the area was supposedly only good for sheep herding. Oops! Too bad for those haters, the place has really tasty wine! Domaine Carneros is totally over-the-top in a Louis XIV kind of way, but their sparkling wines were a nice beginning to the day.

Here's the skinny online:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/domaine-carneros-napa#hrid:7O1VjrlgTSVBp7pNaPv8KQ

As Monty Python (and my dad) would say "and now for something completely different":
di Rosa preserve is this wacky property right across the road from Domaine Carneros, where Mr. di Rosa spent most of his adult life collecting and displaying Northern California artwork. While I am not usually a fan of this region's art (too much lumpy pottery and ugly figurative stuff), it was cool to see how passionate and thorough he was in his love of art--he lived with it every day and essentially built a shrine to house an impressive collection. As a nod to the region's "sheep herding" past, di Rosa's wife painted the sheep right next to the parking lot (hehe):

Here's more about di Rosa and me spouting about the importance of art and culture...
http://www.yelp.com/biz/di-rosa-preserve-napa-2#hrid:GWDySNockg2jLVhFV9keQw

And more pictures of the house...

Lunch was at the delightfully unpretentious Moore's Landing diner that overlooked the river:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/moores-landing-napa#hrid:c-GCIGROzvVm-wrN26jwww

After lunch we went back to the Carneros area and did Artesa--a beautiful winery up on a hill with a super-modern tasting room and overall some really good wines. Makes me think of Spain for some reason...
http://www.yelp.com/biz/artesa-winery-napa#hrid:QeZdH9LXj5GHi0EaFd983w

Dinner was in downtown Sonoma (adorable!) at the Girl and the Fig. Great food! Weird art on the walls, but a cozy, charming place with friendly waiters.
(stars by the plates we had) I love that the restaurants would gladly give you a copy of the menu. They make great keepsakes and are the only way I could possibly remember what we ate every night!

Here's more detail about the Girl and Fig...and my favorite cheese.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-girl-and-the-fig-sonoma#hrid:uBSW4iKsEYuf5UasMIid5w

Here's the route for day 4: