The past 2 years I travelled to many different wineries. I thought it would be fun to reflect on all the places I visited and pick some of my favorites…Thus the “Best of Series”
So here goes the first one!
Best Tour: Pride Mountain, on Spring Mountain in Napa
My tour of Pride started at 10am, and my husband and I were the only ones! It was such a treat. We had made the drive over from Healdsburg that morning through the winding forested back-roads up to Spring Mountain. Spring Mountain is quite …
Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill, Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley, Sonoma-Carneros, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma Valley and more…
WIth 4 AVAs: Santa Maria Valley, Santa Ynez Valley, Sta. Rita Hills and Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara, this area brings lots to the table. Within each AVA you come across smaller areas named more for the tourists but I think you can gleam characteristics easily from these classifications as well.
What do you do to prepare for a wine weekend getaway? Typically for me it is just the typical clothes, toothbrush, etc. But this time I decided to pack a little more. I am thinking SNACKS! When headed to the wine country you plan on tasting many different wines. You must eat throughout the day and drink lots of water.
So my plan is to hit up Whole Foods tomorrow for some delicious sliced salami’s and cheese. Unfortunately we haven’t found anything similar to the Dry Creek General Store or Oakville Grocery …
Recently my hubby and I made 2 trips up to Santa Barbara County. These two trips were back to back weekends. These trips were our first trips up to Santa Barbara Wine area because we were not looking forward to the drive. I am not sure where I stand now as I am not a fan of a long drive, but I do have to say- Santa Barbara County is exactly what I expected. I would simply describe it as something between Temecula and Sonoma. As a final clarification, it was closer to Sonoma, but uniquely.
So we tried a new recipe last night inspired by a local San Diego restaurant, Solare. I went a Junior League meeting last week and we visited the Old Marine Training Center in San Diego. The land since is not being used as a marine facility any longer has reverted in ownership back to the city (original owners). Well the city has leased the property for $1 a year to a non profit promoting the arts in San Diego. They are rebuilding the area with shops …
So this day didn’t start off as planned. We flew into Oakland which always has worked out for us, but not this time. We landed at 9:30 and by 12:30 we had gone less than 20 miles. I’ll skip past the rest of our frustrating morning but know that is why we only ended up going to 2 wineries. We were meeting my parents in Napa and they had to carry one while we sat in traffic. They visited Robert Keenan on Spring Mountain. …
So my family is going to Sonoma and Napa for the first time together. My husband and I have been a couple of times. We spend most of our time in Sonoma but usually one day in Napa. There are so many neat wineries in both counties that is hard to decide which to visit. One of our favorites in Napa last trip was Pride on Spring Mountain. We are planning to visit Spring Mountain again this trip since my parents have toured any wine caves. We also will be at Chateau …
