Wine Adventures with the 2 Dollar Wine Connoisseurs: Napa Rose

 Several years ago one of the first amazing Wine and Cheese experiences we had was at Napa Rose Restaurant at the Grand Californian Hotel in the Disneyland Resort. We decided it was long overdue to revisit this experience so one day last month after catching the Aladdin stage show at Disney's California Adventure we wandered over to the Grand Californian to enjoy this experience again. The Napa Rose is a fine dining restaurant  with a view of Disney California Adventure Park's Grizzly River Run area. The view is awesome and so is the food, wine and atmosphere.  The interior of the Napa Rose is gorgeous keeping with the theme of the beautiful Craftsman style of the hotel. We have had dinner here as well, but really enjoy just stopping by the Napa Rose Lounge for the cheeses from around the world and enjoying a bottle of wine.  Whether inside the lounge or outside next to the fire pit area it is a Wine and Cheese experience you absolutely have to try.

Below is the list of wonderful cheeses that we enjoyed on our latest trip here in February....

The Mine Shaft Blue and Bucheron St Saviol from France  were 2 personal favorites.

With some Russian River Valley Chardonnay it was a nearly perfect Wine and Cheese Adventure

Here is a view of the outside patio fire pit area at night from our previous visit here several years ago.

Wine Adventures with the 2 Dollar Wine Connoisseurs: Wine with Wyland

We planned a little one night trip to Laguna Beach in January to kick off the new year.  We stayed at one of the places we had wanted to stay at for awhile Laguna Casa Del Camino, a cute little hotel with a rooftop bar and the world's smallest rooms.  I'm talking so small that you better be careful sitting on the toilet because you may hit your head on the sink small.  And the rooftop bar with the ocean view----Well I'm sure you could see the ocean if you could get past the 500 people that were standing room only lined up shoulder to shoulder in order to see it.....but I'm getting ahead of myself......First there was wine tasting.

When getting ready to head down to Laguna for the day I was looking online for what we could do while down there.  We stopped for lunch at a beach side restaurant called The Deck which had a great view of the beach and ocean and was playing some great music put you in the beach vacation kind of mood.  The food wasn't bad either. After breakfast we headed inland just a bit to the Laguna Ranch Winery for a little wine tasting.   It was a last minute trip idea  so when we got there we found ourselves for the  second time in a row being the only people in the place without a +Groupon!! Oh well ... 

 They had a wide variety of some good wines for tasting. 5 free tastes with the purchase of any bottle of wine.  We knew wanted to get a couple of bottles anyway featuring some of the cool Wyland themed artwork.

We tasted some good  wines ---the Wyland Chardonnay 2011 and the Laguna Ranch Pinot Grigo 2010  which had a hint of lemon were our 2 favorites.  We also really enjoyed the 07' Wyland Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  While there we found out that they actually had a 2nd location right near PCH where we were staying so we decided to go and check that one out as well. 

Lucky for us that turned out to be a memorable decision.    

Talk about perfect timing!!!   About 3 minutes after we walked into the second location a guy with fish tattoos and a Hawaiian shirt wandered in and asked if anyone had been buying the Wyland wine. Next thing you know he jumped behind the counter and started signing bottles of wine.  Yep it was the +Artist Wyland  himself!! He just happened to be in town for a charity event and stopped by the winery to say Hi. He was very nice conversing with everyone as he signed a few of his most popular bottles of wine. 

So we had to get a couple more bottles of course and more wine tasting as well.   It was quite a lucky bit of timing since he now lives in Hawaii and just happened to stop by.  Wine Tasting with Wyland....who would have thought that when the day started.

So we tasted more wine and talked with some cool people and took home a few more wines for our collection

  Here is the website for the Laugna Ranch Winery.....

Stop by for a visit next time you are in the Laguna Area

+http://www.lagunacanyonwinery.com/

Until next time Cheers from Kim & Brad 

Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/2dollarwineconnoisseur

Wine Adventures with the 2 Dollar Wine Connoisseurs. The Orange Coast Winery

Located in a strange little location sitting in the middle of a business district  a few blocks inland in Newport Beach sits a fun little wine diversion, The Orange Coast Winery...We stopped by as a part of our Anniversary celebration to check it out.  The Orange Coast Winery featured wines from Wiens Winery in the  Temecula  region. The wine tasting area featured 2 separate wine tasting rooms that were a mix of Shabby Antique meets Industrial Modern.     

Do a tasting or have wine by the glass.

The process of Making White Wine

So if want a little Wine Tasting while in Newport Beach stop on by.

Their website is below.

http://www.orangecoastwinery.com/

Our  Next stop on our Anniversary celebration was  Villa Nova a great Italian restaurant down near the bay which has an extensive Wine selection of wines that are mostly out of the $2 wine Connoisseur budget.

We enjoyed a nice bottle of   Sonoma Cutrer  A Russian River Valley  Chardonnay .......  (There is just something special about the Chardonnays from that region)

We had an excellent dinner including an amazing  Fried Mozzarella  appetizer and as a special treat for dessert they made us  their special  Villa Nova Souffles....for our anniversary.

Chocolate Souffle with a Hint Grand Marnier, Served with Fresh Raspberries and Homemade Whipped Cream    (OMG was it good)

Here is their website....

http://www.villanovarestaurant.com/default.asp

Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/2dollarwineconnoisseur

White Flight at Golden Vine Terrace

A Quick Weekend trip to the Disneyland Resort for some Wine Tasting and a little Elvis. Summer 2012

First stop the Wine.....after a great lunch at Wine Country Trattoria...we wandered over to the Golden Vine Terrace for a little Wine Tasting --where we did a White Flight with the help of a Cast member named Windsor.

Up first was a Viogner from the Central Coast in Santa Barbara area.   A pleasant white wine with a hint of apricot.

Followed by a little Sauvignon Blanc from Sonoma Valley.

...Our favorite of the 3 wines we tried---Chardonnay and Sauvingon Blancs are usually our favorites.

Then a little Gewurztraminer from France....We liked it but good luck ordering it in a restaurant.....Because that is a hard name to say.

The Vines at DCA

After Wine---a Little Elvis over in Tomorrowland.....

Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/2dollarwineconnoisseur

Wine Adventures with the $2 Wine Connoisseurs: The Cellar in San Clemente

Once a year we head down to San Clemente for a fun getaway.  We love sitting on the balcony enjoying a glass of wine and pizza from the pizza place right next to the pier.  San Clemente is a really cool little Beach community with a great main street for shopping and dining.   This year we decided to hit up a fun little Wine Bar as well and now have an even better reason to look forward to our yearly trip.

The Cellar is  located on Avenida Del Mar, the main street that leads down to the beach.  It was a fun little Wine and Cheese bar that had great wines and FANTASTIC food.  I would advise getting there a little early because the place was packed when we arrived on a Friday night. We settled in at a spot at the piano listening to the entertainment and enjoying a Wine Flight and some really good appetizers.  We may have a new tradition for our yearly trip.

Whipped Goat Cheese Crostini's topped with preserves and grapes YUM!! 

The Cellar offers up a swanky chic kind of vibe. The live piano entertainment is a big plus. 

The food is excellent and overall this place is exactly what we enjoy most about a good wine bar. 

Just wish it was a little closer to home so we could visit more often!!

This was painted on the wall in the womens restroom!! 

If you get a chance to visit, let us know what you thought of your experience. We'd love to hear from you!! 

And for your final photo here is one last look at just a partial assortment of what the Cheese shop has to offer.  

Check out their website below

http://thecellarsite.com/

"One of those nights with my Witchy Women"

It was just that kind of night.........

It has been so hot this summer in the house that we have truly embraced the idea of extending our house outdoors.....Sitting out on the patio listening to music and enjoying the fresh air.   Drinking wine by candlelight and turning our backyard into the largest room in the house.....And last Friday was just One of Those nights.....We pulled down the movie screen and hooked up the DVD player and the sound system and enjoyed a backyard concert.

We had an Eagles Concert in our backyard for under $12.

It was an amazing night of good music and an enjoyable wine experience.... Some $2 Potato tacos from a local Taco place and some Charles Shaw....

Backyard movie nights are a great way of having fun at a low cost.  we have been listening to so much good music this summer we figured why not bring the Eagles to the backyard on more than just a CD....So we put in our Eagles Farewell Tour DVD and enjoyed some wine and some amazing music....It was the closest thing to actually being at an Eagles concert.

 On a budget you can create one of those Bachelor/Bachelorette TV dream dates with your loved one in your own backyard.

(Henley drumming away on the Eagles version of his hit The  Boys of Summer)

We plan to have many more concerts in the future....Sting is at the top of our Concert wish list ---since we have found Sting to be quite possibly be THE BEST music for sipping wine by candlelight....