Day 6: More Napa Valley

The second day we drove up to Calistoga to start off at Chateau Motelena...a beautiful ivy covered winery. Then we took a fabulous tour at Beringer. We have a friend who works for the company and he was so kind as to get us a complimentary tour with extra tastings. Beringer was beautiful, the grounds, the estate... all of it. The tour was quite informative and included the caves where the barrels are stored. My girls even enjoyed it, and we gave them a sip of the wines when no one was looking...shhhhh don't tell :) The final wine on the tour was a sparkling white zinfandel, haha...that was my favorite...I am so not a wine drinker, can't you tell!!??

Then we got to pick more wines to taste at the main estate. They had a $115 a bottle of reserve Cabernet Savignon...but neither of us likes cabs, so we went for the lesser expensive varieties, including my favorite....a dessert wine :) I know, we are so lame! I did purchase a cabernet chocolate sauce and a coaster style fridge magnet.

Had lunch at a place called Taylor's refresher (Gott's roadside, now). Had very overpriced but seriously yummy food. Some of the best shakes I have ever tasted...
Spent the rest of the afternoon at: Close Pegase (nothing to write home about, the kids found a snail...), and then Castello Di Amorosa...ok that was facsinating! The same guy who owns V. Sattui decided to take his money and build a hand built castle that took 15 years, It is made of stone and has a draw bridge, moat, dungeon, dining hall...you get the picture. It is really quite impressive, although a little “Disneyland-esque”. Great photo ops and views of the valley!

The last winery was V Sattui, they have a great deli and picnic area. Across the street was Dean and Deluca, I have never been in one and so took the opportunity. The most exciting part for me is that they had Mariage Freres tea which is found in Paris...this probably means nothing to most of you, but being the tea snob that I am I was super excited. So instead of expensive wine, I bought expensive tea in Napa. We also we excited to pick up a Yunnan tea...it is hard to find.

Ahhh...so glad we went, wine country is truly beautiful....one more place to check off the list :)

Drove that night to Modesto.....wanted to get started on our drive back south...

Chateau Montelena




Beringer Estate

Hmmm....today's events at Beringer.....

Waiting for lunch at Taylor's Refresher!

A snail that the girls wanted to take home.....arghhh...why don't they want to believe that the snail will certainly die if we take it in the car....

Castello Di Amorosa

There is a chapel in the castel....complete with a confessional. We explained the idea of the confessional to the girls, which they thought was ridiculous...Abigail promptly gets inside pretending to be the priest and has Hannah "confess". Abigail loudly proclaims, "Nope, you're not forgiven, your sin is too bad!!" They cracked me up!!!!...I wonder, would a catholic see this and think it was sacreligious...hmmmm....


V. Sattui
My lovely teas :)