Another great day of wine tasting! We did much better today, hitting 8 wineries today! My favorites were the Cabernet Sauvignon's. I tasted so many fantastic ones and bought 2 that were 100%, one of which was rated a 91 by Wine Spectator. I also bought a great Claret wine. Really, just fantastic wines out here. Napa, eat your heart out.
Before we headed into town for lunch, we drove about 5 miles south so I could get my very first geocache in Oregon. It was a success... right next to a bull pen...fun!We went to Merchants Delicatessen for lunch and each bought a sandwich. Very delicious. It was fun to sit outside in the middle of downtown and people watch during our lunch break.
After our day of wine tasting had ended, we came back to our suite, changed, and went for a bike ride. We came across a BMX bike path which was pretty extreme for being my first time on one of those. It was a blast. The bike ride was nice with beautiful scenery to look at.
We came back home, showered and left for dinner. All the locals have been raving about Saffron Mediterranean so we went there tonight for dinner....
**Begin Narration by A**
My first impression of the place was, it's small, and crowded. Our waitress, Launa, seated us. She was full of smiles and a great waitress.
We started off with the Mezze Plate of flatbread (which they are known for) and three spreads. The first was a fava bean and pea spread with garlic. It was awesome, and the best of the three. The second was a 'chunky hummus', basically chick peas with a tahini dressing, and the third was a dried date and walnut chutney. The flatbread itself was fantastic. Topped with olive oil and spices.
Michelle picked a nice bottle of wine. A 2006 Haciendo Don Ramon, Temperanillo Rioja.
For dinner I ordered a 'free form' rabbit lasagna. Michelle ordered the goat cheese gnocchi with walla walla sweet onion sausage. They were both ridiculous. Just fantastic. My lasagna was nothing like traditional lasagna. It was not tomato based, but rather mushroom and ricotta. Michelle's gnocchi was even better. Each gnocchi was filled with goat cheese, and the sausage was a perfect match.
For dessert our waitress told us their three offerings for tonight. First was a sampling of their in-house gelatos. Including a honeysuckle and a basil gelato. I have a dehabilitating love of gelato.. but, I had to pass. (I had great ice cream the night before). The second was a custard with a nut crust and strawberries. The last option was a flatbread topped with chocolate, cherries and vanilla ice cream. Launa told us the custard was her favorite, but the flatbread is what they were 'known around town for'. Tough decision. We talked it over and we decided.. that we couldn't decide. We asked Launa to pick for us. She brought us her favorite, the custard. It wasn't a traditional custard, there were no eggs in it. It was just like everything else.. ridiculously fantastic.
I must say though, my favorite part.. was my date. Sitting across from my beautiful wife, any meal would be amazing.
**End Narration by A**
Dinner was late and we didn't get home until 10pm, so we crawled into bed, watched the movie Bolt and drifted to sleep dreaming of little wine glasses dancing in our heads.
Cheers!
Wine Bottle Count: 12
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