Yonderville, (Thomas) Kellerville, Yountville, same difference. We actually went to Anderson Valley first so will start with that.
Last week, we drove up to Anderson Valley and checked out our favorite winery Navarro. The weather is cooler than in Napa Valley and so the wines that grow well here are different. From Navarro we picked up their gewurztraminers, pinot noir, and pinot gris. You can picnic at Navarro.
Up a few miles is another one of our favorites, Husch. It's a smaller winery and we picked up some chenin blanc and muscat. Across the street from Husch is Roederer Estate. We picked up their L'Ermitage sparkling wine which is cheaper at The Wine Mine and probably BevMo. Roederer is a little snooty (can't picnic on the grounds, etc) but it is champagne after all. We went to Goldeneye (and I don't remember the Bond movie) for the first time and did some wine tasting there too. They have a wine with food tasting for an extra cost.
On the way to Anderson Valley is Alexander Valley but we didn't stop at any wineries there. We just went and ate a friend's old restaurant, Healdsburg Bar and Grill. In Alexander Valley we like Roshambo.
We made our way over to Yonderville, and there we stay at a B&B Oleander House. It's really nice, DirecTV, web access, hot tub, wine, nice beds, good breakfast, walking distance to a winery next door and Mustard's restaurant.
Yonderville is impressive and so is Thomas Keller for having three restaurants – French Laundry, Bouchon, Ad Hoc, and a bakery, Bouchon Bakery on the same street. That's just so cool.
French Laundy is THE BEST restaurant in the United States. Period.
Bouchon is probably my favorite restaurant though because they do the French classic bistro as perfectly as possible.
Bouchon Bakery is awesome. The chocolate croissants there are perfect and the macaroons are great.
We ate at Ad Hoc this time around and it's a nice restaurant too. There's no choice, you eat what they're making that day and it tries to be casual. Thomas Keller doing a casual restaurant is like Prince William or Harry wearing grunge.
Anyway, Yonderville is quite a treat.