Napa Valley Wine Time!

Napa is an awesome place to visit.  After a couple nights in Sausalito it's a quick jump up the highway to the Napa area.
As you head north towards the wine center of the USA you see the terrain change and can feel the palpable taste of the grapes in the air.  
The Napa area includes many other towns which often get left out of the convo - probably just because it's just easier to say "I went to Napa".  We visited St Helena, Calistoga and Napa.  Saturday afternoon we hit the ground running and after checking into the Meadowood hotel http://www.meadowood.com/ it was off to Newton Vineyard http://www.newtonvineyard.com/. 

The Newton Vineyard has that tree in the fog at the top of the mountain as their company logo.

The lobby of the Meadowood was serving Schramsburg that evening for their tasting.  Their sparkling wine was tasty.  http://www.schramsberg.com/

The view from the room was a nice bunch of the usual trees of the area with their unique fauna growth.

The next day we started out to Quintessa.  They gave us a wonderful tour of their facility which is impressive both inside and out.
http://www.quintessa.com/

These are some neat "eggs" which are used to store some juice in the winemaking process.

I jokingly call these a bunch of dipsticks - but they are neat glass tools for sampling the wine.

Every great vineyard has a great stash of barrels in their caves.

The next stop was off to Joseph Phelps.  Unfortunately their main building is under major renovations so we tasted their wines on the temporary tasting patio. 
http://www.josephphelps.com/

This bottle is a nine liter.  Or another words a whole case of wine in one.

After a few tastings we are jumping!

Next stop was a highlight which many are familiar with.  We went to Auberge du Soleil.  A fantastic meal was had by all!
http://www.aubergedusoleil.com/napa-dining/restaurant

A special place to put on the hit list is Swanson Vineyard.  They have a fabulous spread and a very warm feeling to their tasting.  Check out the table and room where they host you...
http://www.swansonvineyards.com/

Tasty truffles paired with wine - perfect!

Sunset at Napa.

Sundown at the Meadowood.

Breakfast started out at Mumm.  They have an amazing photo gallery there which I recommend you visit if in the area.  A huge facility housing over 3 million bottles is also part of the gallery.
http://www.mummnapa.com/

The next stop was over to Groth.  A great place with lots of interesting growing methods including onsite bees for their pollination and nature assistance.
http://www.grothwines.com/index.cfm

We tasted a white right out of the production containers.

Groth is unique since they have their own onsite bottling facility.  Many of the vineyards rent the bottling trucks during the season which roll in and service them.

Everyone always says pick up lunch at the Oakville Grocery - so we did then headed out to Chateau Montelena.
 http://www.oakvillegrocery.com/
http://www.montelena.com/

Then why not make a pop in at Rutherford - they have a large patio for walk ins so that was great as the sun went down.
http://www.rutherfordwine.com/

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The statements, comments and opinions expressed here represent my own, personal views and are not endorsed by, or affiliated in any way with, FUJIFILM North America Corporation or its affiliates.
bremler@fujifilm.com