Saturday morning we woke up and took the shuttle back to the airport to meet Pegs, Lauren, Darren and Mark and start the Napa leg of the trip.  Napa is only about an hour and a half from downtown SF, and the drive was quite nice.

First stop: Oxbow Public Market for lunch.  Mark just told us that there was something for everyone there, but I was surprised to see all these great vendors  in mini restaurants.  Everything smelled delicious, and I could’ve gone back there every day for lunch and still not covered every place.

After a quick lap to check out our options, Mom, mark and I went with a Mexican joint.  I got a pork carnitas taco, topped with just about everything for one huge taco with lots of flavor.  Mom opted for the salmon taco, and Mark got the roasted duck, plus some guacamole for everyone to share.  And of course I had to get a carafe of local wine — first of the trip!

Beth and Gordon pulled in to the market right after we ordered, and Lauren, Darren and Hunter came back to our table with their goodies too.  Let the family vacation begin!

Once our faces were stuffed, we packed in the car and headed to our 2:30pm reservation at Paraduxx.  Mark is a member of their wine club, so he set up a tasting on their back patio, overlooking the vineyards.  Ryan (who Lauren had read great reviews about) was our hilarious “guide” through our tasting.  We started with a white, rose, and then got into their reds.

Paraduxx is part of the Duckhorn vineyards group, and most people recognize their Decoy brand (aka it’s sold in Target and accessible to the masses).  Each of their wines have little ducks on them, so there were several duck related jokes as we tasted wine and started to unwind.  Well we also started our collection, and got 2 bottles to bring home 🙂

I have to say, after 2 hours of drinking great wine, I was feeling pretty great.  From there we headed into Napa to the house we rented to drop off all the stuff and grab some groceries.  The house was a little outdated, but great location, and way better than spending time in a hotel.  Plus, that backyard was great…. We drank out there before heading back to downtown Napa for dinner.

Uva is an Italian restaurant in Napa, with a home-y and NY is feel.  They had live jazz that night, but sadly it started after we were done eating.  The 8 of us devoured our pasta dishes — I think everyone was a member of the clean plate club that night — then headed home and to sleep.  We had to be ready for our 10am wine tasting the next morning…