The California Wine Country

I am fortunate to live only an hour away from The California Wine Country. I am also happy to say that it is so large and vast that I will be exploring it for years to come. There are so many fantastic wineries and towns, it's impossible to have tried them all. Last Saturday we decided to go to Yountville and just have fun. It had been raining for a few days and now things were heating up. Did you know you could actually have fun in the wine country with children? Everything is geared to the outdoors, picnics, wide open beautiful spaces. Of course, if you get lucky and have some time alone, it's even better, but very doable with little ones.

Yountville is an adorable little town near The Napa Valley. It's a must see. Here is one of it's claims to fame:

The Bouchon Bakery.  As you can see I am waiting in line. There will be a line on Saturday. It will go a bit slow. It will be worth it. Everything is delicious.

Some of the breakfast goodies available

The desserts

Some of what we got.

Lucas picked a dessert. Anything goes while at Bouchon. The bakery is very small. No seating areas inside hence, the line. However the courtyard is fabulous.

Lucie enjoying her croissant. She share a lot of it with the bird.

Right next to the Bouchon Bakery is the Bouchon Bistro.  There are only three in the United States! Here in Yountville, In Las Vegas, and in New York.

http://www.bouchonbakery.com/

http://www.bouchonbistro.com/

If you are lucky enough to be near any of them, you should definitely have a Bouchon experience!

Right across the street from Bouchon is The Yountville Marketplace:

The Marketplace. Look at those views in the wine country. It's just so peaceful here. The gardens at The Marketplace are just beautiful.

Napa Style at The Marketpace is out of this world, gorgeous finds, food, tastings, and samples. Loved this place.

http://www.napastyle.com/home.jsp


If you like to shop, eat, drink, and relax, this is your place. The Marketplace has some wonderful galleries; including original works by Dr. Seuss, great shops, wonderful restaurants like, the famous Bottega)

Bottega is a fantastic restaurant in the gardens of The Marketplace. Beautiful wrap-around open air porch for al fresco dining.

The original cutting board from Bottega.

http://www.vmarketplace.com/dining

In the Marketplace is a great wine cellar where you can find many of the wines from the region. The also offer FREE wine tasting. We stopped in to taste some COHO wines. They were delicious. Lucas and Lucie were on a bench outside the window with their DS games.

What a wonderful experience. Who better to pour your wine then the wine marker himself. The tastings were free so we really saved over $30 on the fantastic bottle we bought. COHO makes only red wines. Everything he served was delectable. What a great intimate experience.
http://www.cohowines.com/

Next stop: Michael Mondavi's! See you there!!!!!!!
                          Bisous,
Karen