Wining in Napa and Sonoma and Lompoc...Part 1...

Having been invited to witness the wedding of Megan and Rich, JD and I drove up to Napa 7/24, stopping at Harris Ranch for an overpriced lunch and fuel for the car; arrived at the Best Western Inn at the Vines in Napa. Very nice, updated, clean room. Pulled in around 4, cleaned up and rested a bit, then coasted over to Villa Romano for the rehearsal dinner. Megan and Rich love Villa Romano, but the staff were a bit unfocused due to the sudden illness of their boss the night before, so dinner had some interesting hiccups. The guests were mainly family, but there were other folks as well: Dale and Mark, Brian and Stephanie, Rich’s best man Don Williams and his family, and Joe Lobue from WineShop At Home and his wife.

Wining in Thousand Oaks and dining in Westlake...

We were supposed to meet Marya at the Cornell Winery at 10 a.m. on Father's Day, but Saturday evening brought an email canceling the date due to illness.  So we slept in a bit, made coffee, read the paper, and suddenly felt that we really needed to get out of the house.

So we showered and dressed, grabbed a handful of peanuts to stave off the pangs, and headed north to Thousand Oaks.  Specifically, The WineYard, a charming wine bar and store, and the official tasting room for Four Brix Winery.  We had met Steve and Laura Simonsgaard previously, and liked them and their wines, and wanted to know more about them.

After a somewhat challenging drive up the 101 - Sigalerts on Sundays just don't help - we pulled into the parking lot for the WineYard, and were welcomed by Larry, the man behind the bar.