Livermore Ladies

An old ZinfanFriend from my college days is coming up from SoCal this weekend for her birthday. She has never been wine tasting, and I consider it my ZinfanDuty to remedy this situation immediately. Remember what happened when I found out my pal Noah had never been? In case you don't, please see Hunting the Black Chicken Pt. 1 and Hunting the Black Chicken Pt. 2 to refresh your memory. I take wine tasting virgins and corrupt them into converts-for-life, and Kelly will be no different.

Tomorrow I am loading up our sexy little convertible (with Horace the beaver in tow, natch) with Kelly and a couple of other sorority sisters. Yes, I was a sorostitute in college. Laugh now & get it over with. Done? OK, moving on... So the ladies & I are heading across the Bay to Livermore for a day of wine tasting. The fine folks at Wente/Murrieta's Well/Tamas Estates gave ZinfanHubby & I each a "passport" during our last visit: by collecting stamps from each of the 3 wineries, we each received a gift certificate of $25 off any $50+ purchase. In exchange from being spared an afternoon of wine-ing with a gaggle of giggly girls, ZinfanHubby is relinquishing his passport to the cause-- the cause being lunch at Wente's restaurant. Yum!

As the official director of this trip, I haven't decided which wineries to go to. I'm sure we'll taste at Wente before we have lunch-- well, the girls will. I'm driving, and have tasted at Wente before, so I will save my palate for new locales. A friend who hits up Livermore wineries regularly recommended White Crane and Charles R Vineyards. A fellow Twine'o tweeted a few recs as well: Tenuta, Bent Creek, Ruby Hill and Charles R (again-- I better put Mr. R at the top of my list).

So there's my ZinfanPlans for the weekend. What are yours? Where are ya headed, and who are ya headed there with? And if you should happen to see a convertible cruising through Livermore with 4 girls all wearing red & sporting boas, say hi. We won't bite... hard ;)

I'm Zinfan-OUT!