Last Day in Napa Valley

Mumm Winery was our first stop this day. They also offer champagne tasting here; they specialize in fine wine and champagne. This was another beautiful location. You choose from two different options for tasting - one more expensive than the other because you receive more food with the tasting. You sit on a deck overlooking beautiful Napa. While we were here we toured their art gallery.

Next, we cruised over to Frog's Leap Winery and Vineyards. This was another one of our favorites. They are known for their spectacular gardens. After the tasting at our table outside, we toured the gardens and winery. I must say this is one place you don't want to miss.

Our table

Our view

My last stop of the day was Honig Vineyard and Winery....

About 5 minutes into our sit down tasting at Honig I got sick [not from the wine - I wasn't drinking] and we had to leave. So, unfortunately I do not have a fond experience at Honig. The group said their wine was okay.

We had dinner reservations scheduled at Botega, a nice restaurant in Napa, however I wasn’t able to make it. Justin got Duck and he said it was alright. Matt and Rachel love this restaurant.

Napa, Day 2, Part 2

After lunch at V. Sauttui our camera battery died, so these are the photos of the rest of our second day from Matt (our photographer).

We had heard before we left town that we MUST go see Sterling Vineyards, and once again, thanks to Matt, it was on our list of vineyards to see!! An unusual feature of this Winery is the one-of-a-kind aerial tramway, which carries guests from the parking lot to the winery at the top of the knoll.

Riding the aerial tram

Once you get to the top, you tour the beautiful building, viewing art, as you sip the wine. The last tasting is a dessert wine (typical) and you sit on a patio overlooking gorgeous Napa.

You can tell it's the end of the tasting...look at my man's face! :)

For dinner we decided not to make reservations and headed downtown to see what we could find. We decided on a restaurant called Tuscany, and it was tasty. When we got back to the hotel the boys had to get a picture with "manneken pis." Matt named the statue becuase it looked similar to the one in Brussels.

Castello Di Amorosa

The Castello Di Amorosa was designed to mix the romance of Italy with the wines of Napa. We did the self tour and heard bits and pieces of what the tour guide was saying. We heard that each stone was imported from Italy. This was over a 4 million dollar project. The owner also owns V. Sattui Winery - the lunch spot we ate at this particular day.

Entry to the wine tasting down in the dungeon

Shopping down in the dungeon.

When you go to Napa, you must see this beautiful castle!!

Napa, Day 2, Part 1

If you ever go to Napa Valley, I highly recommend that you do everything that we did on day 2! This was an eventful day, so I will save the castle (Castello Di Amorosa) as it's own post, tomorrow.

We began our second day at Goosecross Winery. This was a small winery with a homey feel and very friendly staff. The group loved the wine at this tasting. We ended up buying a bottle, and Matt and Rachel so kindly gave us a "congratulations" bottle to save for later. Very neat!

Next, we ventured to Duckhorn. This just might be my favorite spot in Napa. It had a huge wraparound porch where you sit and they bring the wine to you. They also offered an assortment of crackers, almonds, and cheeses. J, Matt, and Rachel thought this was one of the best tastings. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

On our way to Castello Di Amorosa, we stopped to take a picture....



After the castle [I'll have tons of photos of the castle to show tomorrow], we stopped for lunch at V. Sattui Winery. Thank goodness for Matt and Rachel because I would have hated to miss this spot. This is right up my alley. It’s a beautiful park area set up with tons of oak picnic tables. You go inside this cute brick building and order either sandwiches or just wine, cheese, bread, meat, dip, and crackers and sit outside under huge trees, eat and take in the gorgeous scenery. There was actually a wedding party arriving to take pictures when we got there. Once again, I'll let the pictures do it justice.

[taken from www.inetours.com/Tours/Images/V-Sattui_09946.jpg]

[taken from luxist.com]

More to come!