Continuing on my catch-up of recent life events...toward the end of September, I was graced with a quick visit from three of my very favorites, the darling Reuvers family!
Zach travels like a crazy person for work, and on his most recent trip to the Bay Area, he brought Colleen and Baby Ryan with him for a long weekend! Naturally, I was called in to serve as Napa Valley Tour Guide and Wine Tasting Expert du Jour, a position which I was all too glad to fill. After we met up in Oakland at their hotel, and I had properly cooed over precious baby Ry for approximately THE ENTIRE drive to Napa, we made it to stop 1: Trinitas Cellars at the Meritage Resort!
Why Trinitas?
They were one of the makers of the 2016 Notre Dame Family Wines, and the day of our visit was the last day they'd be selling theirs! We naturally HAD to make a stop...and pick up plenty of it...but first, a vineyard hike to start our morning off strong. After our great guide, Matt, poured us some sauvignon blanc for the walk, we set off...
...into an absolutely picture-perfect fall day. Who says California doesn't get fall colors?! Look at those vines!
Baby Ryan, moderately angered at his inability to enjoy the sauvignon blanc with us, stuck with a bottle of the house white while we moved on to chardonnay (HAHAHAHA I have such a puerile sense of humor - oops!).
Trinitas was one of the cooler tours I've ever done - the hike leads almost straight up through their steeply-terraced vineyards, with picture-perfect views of the south end of the valley. We were at liberty to step off the trail, examine the vines, and, at Matt's encouragement, to taste grapes straight off the vine...one of my favorite Napa experiences.
For me, though, the biggest delight was watching these two as parents - trekking through the vineyard with a bottle in one hand and a glass in the other, Coll carrying Ryan straight up like nobody's business, and Ry guy being an absolutely perfect angel-baby the entire time. They are THE cutest family, no joke.
From Trinitas, we moved on to Chandon for a quick glass of bubbly - Zach also tried their reserve Pinot and was pretty pleased! Ryan, meanwhile, was the indisputable star of the tasting room...
Realistically, in an outfit like that, how could he not be the cutest person there? Since I'm a club member, I got our standard comped two glasses...but because it was Ryan's first wine-tasting, our tasting host actually comped us everything we drank, plus a couple of their last few bottles of American Summer!! I need to bring Baby Ry with me EVERY time I go to Napa, geez.
We headed back to Oakland to catch the Notre Dame Miami Ohio game...one that we had originally talked about all going to the Bend for with my family of Redhawk/Irish fans, so it was extra-fun to watch it with these two!
Mr. Ryan was ready to party - not only did he intently watch at least five minutes of the game, but he seemed ready to celebrate a win in true Reuvs fashion:
Instead, though, after all that bottle service, this little cuddlebug promptly passed out. And I was clearly not at all into it...
Loved getting a whole day with my favorite little family in one of my favorite places! Can't wait to see them again soon!