'RHONJ': Whining Continues in Napa Valley

After four relatively peaceful vacation days which have spanned the past three episodes, “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” seemed like it might heat up…next week.

Having concluded the RV part of their journey through northern California, the castmates headed to the posh Lancaster Estates for a few days so that Chris Laurita and Albie and Chris Manzo could conduct their business with Levendi Wine, a new client of their marketing company.

A big topic of conversation through the last RV ride was about the state of their estranged friendship. Although they both agreed they were good again, the two seemed to have different ideas about the end result of the conversation. Giudice still complained that Laurita was prying into her life by responding to stories she saw in the media about the Giudices. Sister-in-law Melissa Gorga tried to explain how issues are no longer “between you and your husband” when they are on the cover of magazines.

“I think where a lot of the hostility lies…is that in these magazines, you’re not just talking about you,” Gorga said. “It’s come out that you’ve bashed me, you’ve bashed Kathy, you’ve said a couple of things about Caroline…”

But Giudice continued to maintain her innocence when it comes to what's written in the tabloids.

“Tell you the truth, once the magazine’s written, I can’t do anything about it,” Giudice said. “It’s like, why cry over spilt milk?”

Yet she believed that her relationship with Laurita could return to where it was.

“Now that we went through this, hopefully our relationship will be more stronger,” Giudice said.

Meanwhile, Laurita complained that Giudice still did not “admit” to any wrongdoing, and concluded that she just “won’t go too deep” with her former best friend. Laurita claimed it’s a difficult situation because her husband and Joe Giudice are still friends, despite the fact that no genuine friendship between them has ever been shown on the show and Giudice actively bashed Jacqueline to Chris Laurita just a few episodes ago.

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Everyone seemed much more cheerful when they arrived at the estate. The Lauritas and Manzos made the decision to take everyone on a tour of Levendi Wine, despite knowing how this crowd tends to get around wine. Joe Giudice made negative comments about the wine and complained about wanting to go eat while Joe Gorga made sexual comments the entire time.

“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Teresa Giudice said. “It’s supposed to be fun, not work. The Lauritas and the Manzos organized this and now they look agitated.”

Later, during a similar tour of Lancaster Estates, the sexual humor and ridiculous antics got even worse. It seemed to be Joe Gorga who got on the most people’s nerves.

“Joe Gorga, I love him for his spontaneity and humor, but not when it’s important, not when it means something, not when we’re in someone else’s house. At that moment I was regretting my brother’s decision to have everybody there,” Caroline said.

All this was forgotten when the Manzo family blindfolded Caroline and took her to a hill overlooking a breathtaking vineyard for a special birthday party. The Manzo kids each gave a tear-jerking toast, but it was Joe Giudice’s toast that was most shocking, if only for its relative coherence.

“We go back a long time. We’ve always been, you know, clients of yours at your restaurant-what do you call it? The Brownstone! So I mean, we’ve been together for a long time. The bottom line is, we should still continue the friendship,” he said.

Everyone toasted to that, but the moment was quickly ruined when Giudice then made a suspicious phone call to “work,” which could easily be interpreted as a code word for mistress. Teresa Giudice’s response to this was to drag him into the grape vines and attempt to have sex with him.

“All I kept hearing was, 'Come on, we can doing it here,' and all I was thinking is, 'This guy doesn’t even want you in the bedroom, what made you think he’s going to do it on gravel?'” Rich Wakile said.

The following evening, when everyone was getting ready for dinner, Jacqueline Laurita did Teresa Giudice’s hair, while Kathy Wakile did Caroline Manzo’s. Talk in both conversations turned to how everyone has been getting along on the trip, specifically Giudice and Wakile.

Giudice told Laurita about her tiff with Wakile over the recipes in her book earlier in the week, but said she was happy she talked about it with Wakile.

“My priority on this trip is my brother and Melissa, but if Kathy stops making malicious comments, of course we can have a relationship,” she said.

Meanwhile, Manzo told Wakile, “I see [Teresa’s] movement towards Melissa, but I don’t see movement towards you.”

Wakile agreed.

“I’ve grown to really care about Kathy, and I feel bad for her because it appears she’s been pushed out by Teresa,” Manzo said. “But I think she’s compassionate enough to step aside and let the Gorgas do what they need to…she’s willing to take the hit; it shows character.”

Laurita suggested Wakile sit next to Giudice at dinner. She did, and almost magically, Giudice decided to give a toast which reinforced the earlier conversation.

“Chris and Jacqueline, thank you for inviting us, we had a lot of fun. Joe and I loved spending time with my brother and Melissa, and we love you guys very much. Oh and happy birthday to Caroline!”

There was an awkward moment when Manzo refused to raise her glass and everyone but Giudice began to discuss it in whispers.

“You forgot to include me in the toast! I guess I wasn’t worthy?” Wakile said. “Pick and choose when we’re family, when we’re not? Quite honestly, I felt embarrassed.”

Her husband felt differently.

“Coming from Teresa, I don’t care,” he said. “I’m just upset that my wife is making all this effort to make things better and Teresa, she gets nastier and nastier.”

Whether it was intentional or not, Giudice’s exclusion clearly changed the mood of the meal. Scenes from next week indicate that things are about to get much much worse…and possibly violent.

The show airs Sundays at 10 on Bravo.