Let's Drink Wine!

Here we are at the final post of our fabulous California adventure (it only took me 2 months to post these), which happens to be my favorite part of the trip! On day five we packed up breakfast to go and all our luggage and drove north toward Napa Valley.  We weren't in the car too long before we stopped to take it all in, just after we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge.  

And if you missed the earlier parts of our journey, catch up here: San Fran and Highway 1

Day Five: We planned to get to Napa in time for our first reservation at 12 but thankfully got motivated earlier and squeezed in another winery to start the morning.  Winery hoping from Berringer to Robert Mondavi and then Joseph Phelps with not much time in between for a real meal led to an over-whined couple with rumbly stomachs.  Three was the perfect number for us to hit in a day, I have no idea how people go to more and actually remember anything about the wine (besides that they liked it of course)!

Northern View of the GG

Hello mature husband 

Winery 1:  (and ended to be a total favorite), Berringer Vineyards.  This is the original vineyard house that the Berringer Brothers lived in and now graces their wine bottles. 

About the time we realized it was only 11am and we had tasted 7-8 wines already.  

After tasting in the old Berringer house we headed up the hill to taste in the old barrel and bottling house turned sweet wine tasting room.  Did someone say sweet wine tasting room? I immediately thought of you Jo & Katie! Yes, we joined the wine of the month club.  Nerds. 

Winery 2: Robert Mondavi.  (This one was for you Allison Brooks!) We scheduled a tour and tasting of one of the largest Napa wineries to get a peek into how they do things.  

Enjoying New Years Eve amidst a few bottles of wine 

This was just one of their many barrel rooms.  We toured all around the facility and followed a grape from the vine to bottle.  We were in awe of the sheer volume of wine these places turn out compared to our little Virginia operations.   

We sat around, family style for our tasting- quite a cool concept.  Our wine guide was knowledgable and so friendly- she taught us a lot about how they keep up with supplying the entire country with RM wine from this very Valley. 

Our flight of wine was surely enjoyed as you can see 

Winery 3 and final stop of the day: Joseph Phelps Vineyards, where a bottle of their wine will cost you more than $80 or your first born child.

B really wanted to taste a JP because the wine is apparently at another level above the competition.  Now I don't think our palates are refined enough to know, especially at this point in the day but their views were the best we'd seen for sure! We left with a coaster instead of an overpriced bottle of wine.

Goodbye 2012

New Years Eve dinner- we left our BEAUTIFUL resort and headed into the tiny town of Napa to grab dinner and celebrate all the blessings of the year.  If you notice, neither of us were up for drinking anything more than water at this point! 

The Meritage Resort and Spa: apparently we were rocking the purple for the grapes (or JMU) 

 Day Six: After a glorious sleep at the fabulous Meritage Resort and one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten we were ready to drink some more wine.  We went to another three wineries: Castello Di Amorosa, V Sattui Winery, and Trinitas Cellars but not before we fell into one of the worst tourists traps of the Valley... 

Good Morning 2013! Regretting not flying in lemon trees for the wedding (haha)

Having never been to the West Coast or the National Parks to see the Red Woods, we heard the Petrified Forest was a short drive up the mountain from the Valley, so we thought we'd check it out.  

$20 a piece later, we saw many petrified trees scattered around the farm and that's about all.  My Earth History teacher in HS would have been proud that we learned about what volcanic lava and ash can do to living things but our advice is forgo the $40 admission fee and buy a few extra bottles of wine instead! 

Winery 4: Castello di Amorosa: B was pumped for a castle wine tasting, you know how he loves all things big and fancy so this was right up his alley.  

Touring the property: the castle was made using all ancient building practices and all the materials were brought in on boat from Europe to keep it as authentic as possible.  Tasting in their dungeon, I mean cellar was cool but a little too commercialized for my liking.  

Winery 5: V Sattui Winery: Voted Winery of the Year 2011, 2012, and 2013
This one was B's favorite vineyard 

We found some DC friends wandering around Napa to help celebrate the beginning of a new year with.  Todd and Sara helped us enjoy a picnic in the gorgeous Cali and some wine too.  Too bad you have to fly to Cali to spend time with DC friends.. 

Winery 6: Then B and I headed back to our resort to chck out our growing wine stash, wonder how we'd get it all home and get something to eat.  Of course we couldn't pass up just one more winery since it was literally in our backyard.  The Mertiage's owners are wine lovers and decided to start a small operation vineyard, Trinitas Cellars.  They are devout Christians and Catholics and even named their wine accordingly: RatZINGer (after the Pope), Mysterium, Rose'ary, and Psalms! Their wines were great and their hospitality even greater! 

Day Six ended with a glass of wine by the fire pit, under the clear black Cali sky recapping our trip and dreaming of what 2013 has in store for us! 

On our last day of West Coast travel we left Napa early in the morning, headed back into San Francisco and enjoyed the Japanese Tea Garden, The Presidio and some famous movie sets (The Tanners and Mrs. Doubtfire ring a bell?) 

We were initially nervous about going to California and Napa in the winter when there weren't any grapes on the vine but I really think the winter was the perfect time to go: everything was slower paced, no crowds and we had time to talk to the staff and learn about each vineyards' history and their wines.  Even in San Francisco, the weather was perfect every day (not a single day of rain)! And in true Napa fashion we somehow managed to get all 16 bottles of wine home on the airplane without breaking a single one! And now with a stocked wine fridge and rack we're ready for visitors, so common by.  We'd be happy to play tour guide to anyone who wants to head back out to Napa with us in the future!