Wine, wine and more wine

There are some things in life that I appreciate a little bit more. Hiking, running and singing are some of them. To drink great wine (not wine in general - it has to be great) is another. The last time I was in California with my brother and nephew I didn't make it to Napa Valley. So this time I stated it from the start - there will be a trip to Napa Valley and everyone has to come. :-)

Before we went on the trip I called my friend and sommelier Michel to ask for some tips. He gave me a list of 3 vineyards to visit: Chateau Montelena, Duckhorn and Darioush. He also gave us the tip to visit the hamburger place Gott's Roadside. So we made a plan with all these places and then we added one more winery: Clos du Val.

The weather was, as always, beautiful in California. The sun was shining from a clear blue sky and we headed off from Silicon Valley to Napa Valley in my sisters very nice Lexus SUV. My sister's friend Jerry came along for the trip.

The first stop in Napa Valley was Gott's Roadside for lunch. I LOVED my burger. It was pure angus beef with cheese, avocado and a nice mixture of chopped tomatoes and onions on top.The other's seemed to be happy with their burgers, but not extremely impressed. (There are many great burger places around)

Linus and Jerry look, at least, like their enjoying their burgers.

Next stop was Chateau Montelena. I just had to visit a winery that almost has my name. It was a funny place, which looked like a castle, but it was just the fasade. Behind was just a big house. We tried 4 different wines: Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and their famous Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. I loved the last one, but for 150 dollar/bottle I though it was just a little bit to expensive for me.

It looks like a real castle, but it isn't.

Wine tasting in Chateau Montelena

At Duckhorn we tried 6 different wines were 4 of them cost around 90 dollar/bottle. In other word quite expensive wines, but ooohhh so good. Here I loved the Merlot Rector Creek for 95 dollar/bottle. Again I wasn't sure it was worth that much for me. So I didn't buy any.

There were a lot of discussions about wine going on....

The wines we tasted at Duckhorn

We spent the night at Holiday Inn Express. I thought it would a very simple hotel (since we only paid 112 dollar/night/room), but it had big rooms with all the things I want to find (hair dryer, iron/iron board, big nice beds and so on), fitness room, pool & jacuzzi and even a good breakfast. Of course Linus and I enjoyed the pool & jacuzzi in the afternoon.

The next day we continued with Darioush where I only tried a couple of wines. Both good, but not as mind blowing as the ones the day before. The architecture was interesting though, since it looked like a persian temple.

The final stop was at a winery that my sister's friend Jerry proposed. Clos du Val. He had been there many times before. He also knew the guy that took care of our wine tasting, so I think we got better service due to that. Here we tried in total 9 wines and ended up buying some. I bought a bottle of their Three Graces White (Sauvignon Blanc/Roussane/Viognier). Jerry bought the same wine, but also an additional Three Graces Red. The Three Graces White is an excellent white wine for 35 dollar/bottle.

On our way home we stopped at a fantastic italian restaurant and had lunch on the balcony. So we were 4 very tired happy people that fell into bed in the evening.