The Sparkling Life
at
Domaine Chandon
Yesterday Gerald and I got to sneak away from the kiddies and joined in on the birthday celebration of a dear friend, Mayrasol. The venue was at Domaine Chandon, a purveyor of sparkling and still wines in the Napa Valley.
Part 1: Tardy for lunch
Running very late and flustered from dropping off the kids at two different locations (Gigi with Mama & Gavin with Lorna & Mom) we finally met up with our party at Chandon's award winning restaurant Etoile.
I was about to delete the picture of Gerald below because of his unhappy-looking-face (we were a little stressed and argued about an upcoming big event) but needing to be true to my craft, I feel compelled to document accurately. **You will, however, see the progression of =( to =) as the day goes on as only happy endings are allowed in this blog :D**
I had the Rosé and really enjoyed that. Unfortunately we did not get to have lunch because of our tardiness. We did get to participate in the Guided Tour/Tasting and man did we have a smashing good time!! Before leaving the dining area of Etoile, I began my barrage of photo-ops. Here are some faves ;D
Above is a beautifully decorated wine cabinet that served as one of our photo-op-backdrops. This was located in the immediate vicinity of our dining area. Pictured above are May and Dom happily posing for me :)
Yay! Me and the birthday girl :)
May's cousin Jenn and her husband Mel. Such a warm and friendly couple they are :)
May's very dear (and newly engaged) friend Claire and Adam..CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!
Dom and his long time friend Coke strike up manly poses. Thanks for the stogies Coke =)
Deepa and May having just crossed the bridge to terabithia, j/k ;D
The photo above included all attendants thanks to Dom & Gerald rigging up our cameras to operate on auto-pilot.
(**Someone please send me a pic of May & Deepa**)
Part 3: Lounging in the lounge
We left the restaurant and chilled at the Wine Lounge. We had more wine, oysters, and a bread and cheese plate. Jenn and I had a great conversation about our kids, motherhood, babymaking techniques to achieve the desired sex of a child, and even shared photos of our children on our phones ;)
Part 4: Art everywhere
Stunning photographs, aesthetically pleasing photo montages, beautifully decorated tables, and wonderful art pieces filled the Chandon property.
Wind sculptures by Lyman Whitaker. "Lyman's sculptures are hand made of copper, steel and stainless steel-metals chosen for their beauty and durability. An applied patina encourages the natural verdigris of weathered copper. The wind sculptures range in height from 5 to 28 feet and can be installed alone or in groupings.
Photographs by Vi Botarro. "Born in Vietnam, Vi Botarro came to the United States in 1970 to attend college. Moving to the Napa Valley to pursue her love of nature and photography she has been capturing the pulse of Chandon's vineyard life." Botarro's passion is using various photographic techniques to express her unique perspective and emotions on one of her favorite subjects: the Napa Valley Wine Country.
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Something about the seating area below kept calling me back to take photo after photo of this area. The space itself was inviting, comfortable, and simply beautiful. I felt as though I was in a museum and not a winery : ) Below are three of my favorite photos of this lovely museum-ish seating area.
Part 5: The wine tour, tasting, and our charming-Brit-guide, Georgia
Gerald and I visited Domain Chandon a few years ago and though it was quite romantic (pre-wedding & pre-kids) we had such so much fun on this tour for two reasons: 1) we were part of a nicely-sized group 2) our tour guide Georgia, a native of Ipswich, England was phenomenal. Charming, engaging, extremely knowledgeable, and quite affable, all of us were quite smitten with her..especially when she talked with that great accent of hers. At the end of our tour I spotted another tour starting up so I quickly checked it out. I found the group not paying attention and the guide narrating boringly and thought to myself "Dang, our guide is waaaaaaay better than yours! Lol."
The guide started out at my favorite seating area. Here Georgia is talking about Etoile's award winning
27-year old chef and his great genes and ties to French Laundry. As a side note Etoile is the only fine dining restaurant in the Napa Valley with a prestigious Michelin star.
See? We're mesmerized.
Let's get this show on the road ya'll....
Gerald face-booking.."Babe, Yvette had her baby!" CONGRATULATIONS YVETTE & LOU!
Moving on the working winery tour...
Pouring our first taste of a 2007 Pinot Noir straight out of the oak barrel. Very nice.
A great group pic from above taken by Gerald.
Right before we start horsing around : )
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Let the silliness commence! = D
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A sweet pic of Mr. & Mrs. Alvarez : )
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Toward the end of our tour...
I giggled to myself because everyone thought I was taking a picture and not a video but no one knew I messed up :D hee hee
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More art and stuff...
Oh, ya and one more...Our happy ending :)
We enjoyed the 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir and 2008 Carneros Pinot Meunier and purchased a bottle of each (both solely distributed at Chandon and the only winery that makes an excellent Meunier in the area.)
CHEERS! :) = ) ;D