Vacation! Part 2, Napa

After 2 fun days in San Fran, we headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge to wine country. After all the amazing things we have heard about Napa we finally got to see for ourselves. We didn't waste any time after checking into our resort, the Vino Bello Resort, we headed out for some lunch at the Oxbow Public Market. Then it was time for some tastings!

First, we went to Darioush at the recommendation of the concierge. Very interesting Perisian themed winery with pretty good wine (the most interesting was a Viongier which neither of us have ever tried, we liked it and bought a bottle). Next we went to Hagafen, a kosher family run winery right next door. It was a lot smaller, and in my opinion a lot more fun. We really liked every wine we tried there and they were very generous with the number of wines we tasted. What was also interesting was all of the letters from the White House framed all around the tasting room. Apparently this is the winery the White House calls any time they have any dignitaries from Israel in town for a meal! Very cool. Next was the winery I had been looking forward to ever since Emily told me about it. Del Dotto has two locations and we went to the historic caves location. On the tour we learned about the barrels and how they effect the taste of the wine. They only do reds, and boy do they do them well. We had so much fun tasting the wine directly from the barrels and exploring the original caves built in the 1800's they use for storing the barrels. Highly recommended! We finished the day with dinner at Fume Bistro, really good food and close the the resort.

Persian themed Darioush Winery

Hagafen, the kosher winery

The historic caves at Del Dotto, happy to get out of the rain!

Day 2 in Napa was also Super Bowl Sunday. I totally forgot about it when I booked the trip, but luckily JJ wasn't too upset about it. We were still able to watch the game after a few tastings. We went to Artesa first down in the Carneros area of Napa and stumbled on to a sale for industry people. With a little effort we were able to get an invite and take advantage of 50-70% off the wine that we had just tasted. Talk about good timing! We were able to taste about 8 more wines for free and buy some really great wine at crazy low prices. The view from the winery was spectacular! Next we went to Domaine Carneros to taste some sparkling wines. I love sparkling wines and theirs were no exception! Also, the building was modeled after the family chateau in Champagne, France. Not too shabby! After watching the game at our resort, we went to dinner at Taylor's Automatic Refresher and had fabulous burgers.

The Carneros area of Napa Valley

Artesa winery, built into a mountain

Domaine Carneros, really good bubbly!

Day 3 we hopped in the car and drove up to Calistoga at the north end of the valley. The drive was gorgeous! I can't wait to go back to see it during the fall when ll the grapes are grown. We went to Sterling Vineyards first, where their claim to fame is the arial tram ride up to the winery on top of a mountain. That was the highlight of the tour because the wine wasn't necessarily the best. Still worth it to see the valley from up high though. Next we went toCastello di Amorosa (this is the castle that Jake took Vienna and Gia to on this season's Bachelor!!!). It is a recreation of a Medieval Castle and we realized quickly that it wasn't going to be enough to just taste the wines here, we decided to come back later to take a tour of the entire castle. AMAZINGLY beautiful! To fill our time until the tour we went to V. Sattui for tasting and a gourmet lunch at their deli. After lunch we decided to try some of the wineries of the beaten path and ended up at August Briggs (recommended by Emily). Very tiny family run winery with fantastic wine. We liked it so much , we signed up for their wine club! Another speedy tasting at Cuvaison before heading back to the Castle. Great chardonnay at Cuvaison! The tour at the Castle was worth the wait, and so was the wine. We really liked everything they had. On the way back to the resort we stopped at Redd and ate a quick dinner at the bar. Their bar menu was recommended to us by one of the locals who did our tasting at Artesa. Great fish tacos, but not as good as Fuzzy's in Fort Worth

Driving in to Sterling Vineyard

On the tram to the top of the mountain at Sterling

Castello di Amorosa

In the Queen's chair at the Castle

JJ's new friend

The last day we stopped at one winery before driving back to SF. We went to Domaine Chandon for some sparkling wine. It was a beautiful winery with great bubbly. We had a relaxed tasting and then headed back to the resort to pack up all the wine we bought throughout the trip. We ended up bringing 4 cases home!! Good thing we flew Southwest where they don't charge for checked bags! It was a perfect trip and I can't wait to go back to visit during harvest!