On our very long and hot (the AC was quite up to par) trip up to our new home in Oregon, we took a whole day to relax and enjoy wine country. We stayed in a town East of the wine valleys called Suisin City, CA. There was actually no vineyards around there, but right when we crossed the the hills and got down into what was technically Napa Valley, there was nothing but vineyards.
Our goal was to eat at a good local restaurant in Napa and then go in search of some wineries in the country for some wine tasting. We were definitely newbies. We tried looking for some on the GPS and also drove around looking for one. All we could find and agree on was a Pizza Hut, but hey, it was locally owned...not really what we were looking for.
Now we know that all you have to do is drive up HWY 29 towards Yountville and St. Helena and eventually there are tons of wineries on both sides of the road and a lot of tasty places to eat. Oh well, next time. Even though we didn't find a local place to eat, we had a great time driving up the valley in the center of all the farmland and vineyards. The first winery we stopped at was V. Sattui Winery. Someone at our hotel suggested it and told us it had received many awards in the past few years. It was a very cool place, they do a great job with the grounds and have a lot of flowers and vines on the walls. We tasted some wine, and although we didn't get any wine from their store, it was really good and the guy who did the suggestions for the tasting was great, he gave us extra wine! My mom enjoyed it and found some wines that she likes.
We then drove farther up the valley through St. Helena and came across a castle, yeah that's right a castle in California! It was called Castello di Amorosa. Of course there were vineyards and a winery associated with it (even the smaller houses in the area have their own few rows of grapes and I'm sure some of them make their own vine). They offer tours of the castle and winery but we just walked around the outside and enjoyed the grounds. They even had their own farm animals which Nicole loved!
We also drove to Sanoma where we ate dinner at a local Italian food joint called Mary's Pizza Shack, which was amazing! They make everything from scratch and let you build your own dishes. Sanoma was a cool little town as well with a town square that was just turning in for the night when we finished dinner.
We definitely want to go back to wine country for a longer stay, anyone want to join us?!
