Little ole' wine drinker

I made it back to Nashville safely after a fantastic weekend in the Lodi and Napa Valley wine regions. I am already plotting dates on the calendar as to when I can go back! It's hard not to want to go back soon when your friends are offering to put you up and take care of you. The wine bottling on Saturday in the Lodi region at Century Oak Winery was a blast. I woke up Sunday feeling like I'd ridden a hard century while hydrating with five bottles of wine! Well, at least the wine drinking part was true.

Sunday we spent the day in Napa visiting three different wineries; Stag's Leap, Elyse and Benessere. At each one we had a tasting and ended up purchasing a few bottles for the road. I found that I enjoy the sweeter wines such as a Rose', Chenin Blanc or Savignon Blanc. I've probably spelled one of those wrong, but I didn't have trouble washing them down! There were a couple of Cabernets that I enjoyed, but many of them had a more bitter after taste that I didn't enjoy.

By my count I have 17 bottles of wine being shipped to me sometime soon. Because of all the airline restrictions imposed last week I was unable to carry on any liquids. This means I have to wait, and considering I'm doing the stage race in Memphis this coming weekend the wait is good!
While we were cruising through the Napa region we saw cyclists all over the place. I didn't see any BeThereorGetSlower group ride, but more ones and twos battling the rough wind. Next time I'll have to take a bike and explore the area. The shoulder sections along most of the roads are wide, and signs are posted everywhere alerting drivers to bike lanes and cyclists. This may have to become my future winter training camp destination.