After a great weekend in Napa, sampling wines at the wonderful Cakebread, and eating waaaay too much at Mustard’s Grill (hands up who is as dorky as me about the fact that the owner, Cindy Pawlcyn, has been on Top Chef), which was, to quote another Bravo fave, Rachel Zoe, “bananas”; it’s time for a little detox.

But, honestly, doesn’t water get a little boring sometimes? Especially after a long, grueling day, and an equally grueling workout. Water might be refreshing, healthy and oooh, pure, but I drink it all day. In the evenings, I want something a little more interesting. A little something that might be considered a treat.

Some days of course, that’s wine. And now I have a couple bottles of delicious Napa specials to crack open for a special occasion. But there are lots of days when wine just isn’t a great idea – smack bang in the middle of a busy working week, and with the first, suspicious murmurings of a sore throat, is one of those days.

So what’s a girl to do? Well, i finally cracked open a mini bottle of Wine Country soda. Check the cute bottle in the pic and tell me it doesn’t look delicious! We were given a couple bottles of this stuff on a recent stay at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, and brought them home with us. it’s non-alcoholic, and uses wine grapes. This one is Pinot Noir. Pour it into a beautiful wine glass, add some ice and voila! It has all of the flavor and none of the alcohol (and alcohol calories!) of wine, and you still get the feeling of ‘ritual’ that you get when uncorking a really great bottle of vino.

I think this might become my stand-by treat for evenings at home, when a mere splash of aqua just won’t do.

Vignette Wine Country Soda

Vignette Wine Country Soda