Recently I flew out to San Francisco for work, but headed out a day early to have a day to spend in the Bay Area. When I landed, my friend Shea texted me and said, “Hey, are you down to go to Napa for the day? I rented a car.” Ummm, yes.
Our first stop? Ledson Winery and Vineyard, a beautiful castle-esque estate. I’m no wine expert, but everything we tasted here was delicious.
Next? Stag’s Leap, the historic vineyard that won the 1976 Judgement of Paris. At Stag’s Leap we met up with German, Shea’s Argentine friend who works as an intern there. Apparently there are a ton of Argentine wine interns in Napa – who knew?
As we tasted cab after cab, I had a blast practicing my Spanish with German. I was surprised to see I had lost almost none of it and was still fluent. Booze helps.
Finally, we capped off the day with a champagne flight at Mumm. Yaaas. Have I mentioned recently how much I love champagne? I believe in drinking it all the time, not just for celebration.
Overall the day was absolutely perfect and fulfilled my Parent Trap fantasy.
If only every Monday could be spent wine tasting in Napa… sigh.
Important info:
If you’re heading to Napa and Sonoma to taste wine, I would highly recommend renting a car. I don’t know how you would get around without one!
Also I would highly recommend all of the vineyards we visited: Ledson, Stag’s Leap, and Mumm. They all provided a lot of wine education and were located on beautiful estates.
Have you ever been to Napa?
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I have been to Napa many times and enjoyed each trip. I live in Colorado and each trip there was a great.
Oh nice! I’ve heard Palisade is another cool wine area, still need to get there :)
Beautiful Pics and nice article!
Thank you dad and thanks for commenting! :)
That second photo is stunning, and love the Parent Trap line :) Would love to visit Cali Wine Country one day.
You definitely should! It’s a great romantic getaway too :)
Glad you got a taste of California wine country. We have many areas throughout the state with great wine estates although Napa valley is the granddaddy.
BTW, there is now UBER WINE available to make wine tasting and indulging easier. Just click on the app and you can get a driver for easy access to tasting rooms around the the valley and then back to your digs once tanked!
Wow that’s super cool! I will look into that next time. That’s kind of a genius idea, haha
Next time you are in Napa check out Frogs Leap winery. Beautiful place, pretty gardens and has organic wine
That sounds amazing! Thanks for commenting, Aunt Mary :)
I need to plan another trip back to Napa! There are SO many wineries it’s impossible to see them all in a quick trip!
So true! I definitely want to return to try more as well :)
Thanks Ashley for this lovely post. I have never testing wine in the vineyard before. But this would be a fascinating idea. Thanks for bringing it up in my head! very excellent photography as usual. Loved it:)
Thanks, Matthew!