For our last day in the wine region, we started out with a tasting at Elio Grasso.  It is a very nice winery, and we had a wonderful tour and tasting with another couple from the US.  They actually live in San Francisco and own some property in Napa, so it was fun talking with them about their favorite wineries and swapping notes about good restaurants in New Orleans.

James held it together pretty well.  He especially liked watching the machine that was cleaning the bottles and labeling them.

The winery and vineyard are on a gorgeous piece of property overlooking the hills.  After the tour, James and I spent alot of time playing outside in the grassy area.  He was in a good mood, and I was able to drink some really good wine in between chasing him.

One thing that we have noticed is that the prices of the wine and food are all extremely reasonable.  I’m talking like 10$ for a bottle of wine in a restaurant. That has really been a pleasant surprise.

The prices of wine in Napa have gone up so much even since we starting going back in 2010.  We have learned that one of the reasons is that many of these Italian wineries are 3rd and 4th generation families. They don’t want to change much from the way it has always been done, so they keep the prices about the same to maintain a loyal customer base.

James fell asleep in the car almost immediately after we left, consequently we cancelled our lunch reservations.  Justin picked up an antipasti plate from a restaurant near by and we ate in the room.

In the afternoon, we had another tour/tasting at Cavollatto.  This winery is close by the hotel so we were able to walk there.  I could tell that James just wasn’t in the mood, so Justin took the tour while we played outside.  I did get to try some of the wine, and it was very good.  This was another family owed vineyard and one of the sons did the tour/tasting.

All the wineries have been very nice and patient with James!  Even when he was trying to dip his breadstick in my glass of wine!

Dinner didn’t go too smoothly.  We attempted to eat in the restaurant in the hotel.  I could tell immediately that things were not going to go our way.  We barely made it through appetizers when James and I had to head back up to the room for bed.  Justin brought our entrees up to the room and we ate on the floor of the living room (for the 3rd time).

Tomorrow we leave for Venice.  This is our last stop before we come home.  I hope it’s a good one!

Alyce