Meetings, Wine Tasting, and YWIE
Today, I woke up and had a wonderful, elegant spread for breakfast. The meetings went very well and I learned a bunch about what we were doing right and a TON about what we were not doing as well as we should and should fix. The people there were a great help! We had participants from McAfee, Bank of America, Citadel Investments, Chevron, and a couple more.
After the meetings, we went out into the countryside and visited 3 vineyards for wine tasting. The folks at Autonomy felt bad for me when they found out that I didn’t drink. I was fine with that and told them so. I had a great time learning about the process (enough to know the reasons why I wouldn’t want to drink in the first place) 🙂 and hanging out and having a great time with everyone. Silver Oak was the first winery we visited. It was very elegant and also very commercial.
Everyone had a great time drinking the wine and re-filling their glass over and over. 🙂 Not sure how much everyone drank there, but it was a few bottles.
The next place on the list was Tres Sabores, a small family-owned and totally organic winery that was WAY different than Silver Oak. They didn’t have nearly the technology that Silver Oak had and they actually pressed their grapes by hand. It was a really fun tour because it is such a small vineyard. We got to eat some grapes off the vine, and go into the cave in the side of the hill where they put the barrels to age until ready. The lady (and owner) was really excited to see us.
The last place we went to was called Nickel and Nickel. It was by far the largest, the most impressive, and the most beautiful. We also ate dinner here. When we arrived, they gave us hors d’oeuvres and we stood around a couple of fire-pits enjoying the night sky (I realized how much I missed being out where you could see stars at night)! 🙂 We then took our tour. Their barrel storage area seemed about the size of a football field, and it was all underground and totally temperature-controlled. The whole winery looks like an old working farm.
After the tour, we went into the red barn (above) and ate dinner. It was one of the most elegant and fancy dinners I had ever eaten. Because we were at a winery, the first thing everyone noticed, was that there were 7 wine glasses around each plate! 🙂 They were very accommodating to me when they found out I didn’t drink (I was the only one, by the way). They brought me sparking water and juice. The dinner was absolutely AWESOME! We had amazing Filet Mignon, surrounded by a ton of appetizers, soups, and incredible dessert. After dinner, everyone was able to take the wine list and order their favorites to have shipped home.
Meanwhile, back at home, the girls had Young Women in Excellence. I was really sad that I had to miss it. It was the first one that I have ever missed. They did a great job pulling together what they worked on throughout the year. This year, they asked the moms what flower each young woman represented, and so Angela was up there a bunch in front of everyone talking about how wonderful each of her three daughters are. 🙂 I dont’ have any pictures, but if I do find any, I’ll post them!
Well, I’m beat but not drunk from all the wine! I’ll sleep well tonight. Tomorrow I fly back home and am excited to see my family!
