Vineyard Photo Tour

A week in Napa can cause trouble.  Not because you start wine tastings at 10:30 and not even because you are always so full from steel cut oatmeal and scrambled eggs with cheese at breakfast that you can't eat another thing! The trouble comes when you want to buy every single wine you taste.  Planes, high altitude and wine are not the best combination.  So, instead of buying an extra piece of luggage jammed full of deep purple liquid, we snuck a few bottles into the family case(s) being shipped home.  We all fell victims to this deliciousness. Christmas will come early this year when our shipments start rolling in... :) C and I even became wine club members at one very special vineyard (details to come!). We had to! We considered it an early anniversary present to ourselves.  

On Tuesday of last week we took a large bus, complete with disco lights, leather seats and champagne and visited three vineyards as a family. We had such a fantastic time. At Cliff Lede, Alpha Omega and Quintessa we had private tastings, a picnic lunch and a plethora of wine knowledge from those who do it best!

Here is a photo tour of that day and a few other vineyards we enjoyed throughout the week!

A great breakfast makes for a great day!

Cliff Lede

An early start

party, I mean wine tasting, bus!

Cliff Lede - listening AND taking notes :)

"take a picture of me drinking this one!"

Right off the vine, they taste exactly like a pepper.  Slightly spicy and tart.

Alpha Omega

Look at the chandeliers - so neat! As is the huge wooden table, the spread of glasses on the table, the view, the comfy chairs...well, you get the point :)

Tasted straight from the barrel (an oak barrel, not the stainless one beside us).  This reserve was the BEST wine we had all day.  See our wide smiles? That's just wine love!

This sandwich was DIVINE! The salami and provolone reminded me of a European lunch (and so I liked it that much more:) )

Our view from lunch - Alpha Omega tasting room to the left and vineyards to the right

Quintessa

A natural beauty.  Quintessa is unique in that it makes only 1 wine every year.  It is a varietal blend of what their wine makers think makes the best wine (for example, they do not have to hold to the guidelines of what percentage of a certain grape goes into making a Cabernet, because they are making a blend and not a Cab...tricky, tricky!).  They use a different blend each year and then sell their remaining vineyard production to other vineyards in the Valley. 

The secret science room where they make the perfect blend (we weren't allowed to take a picture of this - hence the blurry, on the run look...rebels!)

Quintessa tasting room (after everything has been enjoyed!)

Grapes go from the vine into this funnel that, using gravity, drops them into tanks.  Very, very little handling.  Nature does the hard part.  Then we get to enjoy :)

Stainless tanks at Quintessa

MUMM - in all caps because I LOVE IT!

I love, love, love anything sparkling.  Mumm was great. We were given a set of unique Mumm champagne glasses for our wedding that are really special to us.  Those glasses made this trip even that much sweeter :)

Sterling

Amazing views from Sterling.  How did we get such a great hilltop view you may wonder? Here is the answer...

a cable car! hehehe

The youngest one on our wine tour.  You should have seen the deals he got! Lucky guy.

Nickelson Ranch

In Sonoma - rolling hills of vineyards. Lovely :)

I miss you, Napa Valley