On Sunday, Shrek and I packed a picnic lunch and hit the road nice and early to zip up to Napa with our friends Alina and Walt (A&W). Once we hit the Caneros Valley at the southern-most part of wine country, we popped into Acacia so A&W could claim their wine shipment. There, we also picked up a bottle of the winery’s Mongrel Rouge ($25 club price for 1.5 L!) and accepted a complimentary tasting as part of our friends’ membership. (Note: 3/4 of our tastings were complimentary this weekend!)

Our real destination of the day, however, was Paraduxx — sister vineyard to Duckhorn and Goldeneye. 3/4 of us have been to Duckhorn and 1/2 to Goldeneye. Our opinions were very high of both wineries and the Yelp reviews of Paraduxx are outstanding, thus we ventured there with high hopes.

The outdoor “tasting room” did not disappoint. Reservations are recommended and although ours weren’t until 3:45 pm, they had no problem seating us early at 2 pm. We were led to  one of the best seats “in the house” beneath a tree.

Aren’t the grounds gorgeous??

Too bad their wines didn’t live up to the hype. Maybe I just discovered that I don’t like blends which is what Paraduxx is known for, but we were all disappointed with what we tasted. Especially since tastings are $25 each! I really only liked one out of the 5 by Paraduxx we tried, the 2006. Fortunately, the tasting didn’t stop there. Our host started out on the wrong foot with Shrek… Poor guy had been driving all day and just wanted to relax and enjoy the setting. However, when our flights were set in front of us she asked Shrek to change seats to “make it easier on her.” I guess it had to do with the way she’d set the flights up on the trays, but I sided with Shrek on this one… She’d already been out once to greet us with a glass of rose and saw our seating arrangement. She should’ve arranged the wine to suit her customers. This hiccup was also in addition to their telling us we couldn’t picnic on their grounds (eye roll), so Shrek gave her a hard time and the running joke was that she’d try to get back into his good graces with more pours. We each ended up with 2 extra pours of a wonderful Goldeneye, 1 extra Paraduxx which was meh, and 1 Duckhorn which made the tasting itself a little more worthwhile.

After a little frolicking in the grapevines…

…We packed up and picnicked out of the back of our car in Yountville. For reals!

We also stood in line for baked goods at Bouchon. It’s a really swanky yummy bakery that people are willing to stand in lines 20 minutes long to get Nutter Butters (me) the size of their heads and delicacies like Jalapeno Bacon Scones (Shrek).

Finally we made it to Rutherford Grill. I’ve got a girlfriend who RAVES about the BBQ ribs here, so of course we got the ribs! You know what else is cool about this place? The corkage fee is waived. SERIOUSLY! So we popped open of Mongrel Rouge to help our 45 minute wait pass.

We got a sweet seat outside where we shared a bunch of appetizers:

Deviled eggs! Divine!

Grilled Artichoke! To be honest, I like them better steamed and plain with a little melted butter on the side for dipping.

Jalapeno Cornbread! Okay, this was amazing!

Chicken and mashed potatoes! Great combo! And the mashed potatoes had cabbage and herbs mixed in them. SO GOOD!

BBQ Pork Ribs! Great!

…But not how mom makes ‘em. I like mine less charred and with more sauce, but it certainly didn’t stop me from eating them!

1 enchilada a la carte

Key Lime Pie!

Homemade ice cream oreos!