We woke late (thank you once again blackout curtains) and only had to wander a few short steps to the courtyard of our inn where breakfast was served. The waitress greeted us and then brought out these adorable little glass jars filled with fresh berries.
Our agenda for the day was packed quite full (um...not!) as our sole goal was to make use of every last penny we paid for our luxurious accommodations. It was still a couple degrees too cool for swimming just yet so we opted to begin the day with some post-breakfast wine tasting (it was 5 o' clock somewhere!)
Our first stop was at Kunde Family Estate which was literally a stones throw across the road from our Inn. We were hoping to go into the caves but apparently they had just begun the fermentation process and the levels of carbon dioxide in there were too high to allow tours. We settled for posing outside instead.
The grounds were gorgeous (I think Kenwood had the prettiest countryside) and the wines pretty good (better with the complimentary chocolate!) We didn't buy any wine but we found a green bracelet in their gift shop that somehow found itself on my person (you can see it in pictures below). The trip was quickly taking on a "Let's accessorize Kelsie" theme.
Next we popped over to Kenwood Vineyards where we did some side-by-side comparisons of their various cabs. A couple of them were pretty rockin' if I do say so myself and I would have purchased a bottle had we been checking luggage. And if I had an extra 60 bucks or so to throw around...
While we were tasting, one of the winemakers walked in, straight from the field, with a cluster of Gewurztraminer grapes for us to sample. And then they pulled out a bottle of fresh-squeezed Gewurztraminer grape juice and gave us a little pour. AMAZING! Oh the perks of being in wine country during harvest!
Our last stop was at Landmark Vineyards where we tried a couple sips of wine, but mostly we were there to use them for their bocce courts and gorgeous setting.
I take bocce very, very seriously.
By this time it was HOT so we drove the mile back to our hotel and made a bee line for the pool with books and picnic in hand.
We spent 4+ hours reading and floating and sunning and trying to push the unsuspecting victim under the waterfall (Graham).
The beauty of being at such a small hotel with very rich people was that all the other guests were off of extravagant wine excursions while we enjoyed the grounds 100% to ourselves. I literally think we were the only people there for most of the day.
I mean, our fellow guests were wealthy people. Look at the cars parked out front (the white one was ours). Ok, so maybe we hid our lovely Kia around on the back side of the lot...
No joke, right before this picture was taken, we walked out of the hotel with the spa's massage therapist who was just leaving for the day. She asked us "Do one of these lovely cars belong to you two?" to which I responded "No. I wish!" Then she said "Yeah me too. Maybe someday I'll get to drive a nice car too" and then I watched her unlock her Mercedes and drive off. I'm sorry, what?!
We snapped a quick picture from the parking lot of the view across the road and then drove just up the road to Cafe Citti, an authentic Italian restaurant. We were both craving a more laid back (and less expensive!) meal and it fit the bill perfectly.
We shared a Caesar salad that was so garlicky, it literally bit you back (in a good way). Graham had their famous ravioli with meat and swiss chard in a basil cream sauce and I had the homemade gnocchi with meat sauce. We talked a lot about the future, specifically where we dream of buying a house someday. The meal tasted just like Italy and we left feeling satisfied after a good meal and good conversation.
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