In an effort to explore all 3000 San Francisco restaurants and having been to over 500, my wife Linda and I recently traveled to Napa for a private wine tasting at O'Shaughnessy Winery and Meadowood for an elegant lunch.
The winery is located on Howell Mountain and sets on 110 acres of pristine beauty. Betty O'Shaughnessy Wools and Paul Wools are the proud owners of the estate winery. Sean Capiaux is the founding winemaker and has consistently made world class mountain and award winning big bold cabernets.
Our wine host for the day was Luke who was very knowledgeable and has been with the winery for 4 years. We began our tasting with the 2013 Oakville Chardonnay. Flavors of orange blossom, honeycomb and hazelnut cream was very refreshing and memorable. It is 100% Chardonnay and retails for $50.00.
Next we enjoyed the 2012 Howell Mountain Merlot. It's purple color and was powerful yet soothing on the palate with wild plum, black tea and rum raisin aromas. This sensational Merlot retails for $68.00.
We concluded our tasting with the 2009 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2011 Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2009 is a varietal composition of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, St. Macaire, and Cabernet Franc and retails for $110.00. The 2011 is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and retails for $100.00. Both carry the O'Shaughnessy's trademark of balance and power.
We enjoyed all of these great wines and purchased a bottle of each for our trip back home.
After our tasting, we enjoyed lunch at the world famous Meadowood Grill. It is a beautiful and winding short ride from the winery.
For lunch, we sat on the balcony overlooking the executive 9 hole golf course that was just renovated. The view reminded us of being in Lake Tahoe with the serene hills and well manicured golf course. I ordered the Mahi Tacos Baja style with corn tortillas, manila mango and chipotle aioli. 4 perfectly seasoned tacos was more than enough food to satisfy any appetite.
Linda ordered the Cuban Sandwich made with braised pork shoulder, Kurobuta ham, provolone, Meadow Garden pickles, yellow mustard on perfectly grilled bread with fries. This was Linda's first experience with a Cuban sandwich and definitely won't be her last as she was all smiles enjoying each bite.
For dessert we shared an elegant cheesecake presentation that was a glorious ending to a great day in the Napa wine country.
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