My Big Fat Great Weekend

This is the view from the winery at Joseph Phelps in Spring Valley near St. Helena. I had friends in for the weekend from NYC, SF and LA. ZuZu for tapas in downtown Napa is highly recommended. The food at the Martini House in St. Helena was perfect, the dining room is brilliant and the bar downstairs is beautiful. The service needs a little polish, but it felt so good to be there it really didn't matter. If you love mushrooms this is the place for you because chef Todd Humphries offers a mushroom tasting menu, along with wine pairings if you desire. The preparations and presentations were wonderful and far from boring. That night, for me, Gewurztraminer was going with everything.

Picnic and winery visit to the Dry Creek area of Sonoma was fun, but the poolside sing along of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' was the weekend's highlight and brought it all home.