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 a site and has a very different feel from the rest of Napa.  Many Napa visitors spend the day on Spring Mountain.

Pride is actually an estate winery but cannot advertise as such since their grounds fall into 2 counties.  Since they are estate in the sense of what most consumers expect, they handle all of their own growing, harvesting, crushing, bottling etc.  The tour starts in the tasting room where you get acquainted with your guide and some of their history.  They explain the tour and then you are off with your glasses!  With glasses in hand they walk you outside and explain a little about the property and equipment.

Then they wind you back to their caves which really is what makes this tour stand out from many other tours in Napa or Sonoma.  They explain the hows and why of the caves and take you to a few areas to taste out of selected bottles and barrels.  The caves make for great pictures.

After we were done in the caves we took a few pictures outside…

Then we headed back inside to taste a few other wines and make any purchases.  They also allow you to sign up for free tot heir mailing list to receive updates on new releases.  Their wines are highly esteemed and very delicious so many wines sell out.  We ended up taking home a delicious Cabernet and a Chardonnay, ver typical for Napa Valley visitors.  Although we didn’t purchase it, I really was surprised by their Merlots.  They are very good and not at all what you expect when you hear about Merlots.

All in all, I would NOT visit Napa without visiting Pride Mountain and taking their tour. Their tour is only given on certain days at certain times so please always check with them.  At the time of my visit, the tour was free but it is always nice to show how much you like the wines by purchasing your favorites.