Wine Tasting in Napa Valley

Since my blog is called "Quilts, Books and Wine" I figured I should actually post something about wine. 

Over the holidays I took a trek up to San Francisco to see the 49er's play their last season home game at Candlestick Park.  Such an amazing experience and I am so glad I went.  The following day I drove up to Napa Valley to do some wine tasting.  My family is from Napa and have lived there my whole life but I have never done any wine tasting there, pathetic I know. So I made an effort to do it this time.

Our first stop was Beaulieu Vineyards, otherwise known as BV coastal.  A standard winery with a basic tasting room.  Wines were very pricey and tasted "OK".  Nothing exceptional.  My friend liked it and bought a bottle for herself.  It just wasn't that great, I thought.

Next stop was Beringer.  The Beringer property is absolutely beautiful and has been there since the late 1800's.   I have driven by the property my whole life so I wanted to be sure to see it.   The property was all that the winery had going for them unfortunately.  Both my friend and I did NOT like the wine.  Even their special reserve was not that good.   But we had a blast anyway and had to leave fairly quickly to make our appointment for the tour at Castello di Amorosa.

Ah, the Castle.  The Castello di Amorosa was built to look like a castle from Europe.  Every stone and every piece of wood actually came from Europe.  It has been 14 years in the making and is still in process.  It even has a moat!   Simple beautiful property!  Our tour lasted about 45 minutes and ended in the cellars where they keep the barrels.  We even got to taste wine straight from the barrel.  The wine was not expected to be ready until 2015.   But it tasted good even now.  Our tasting happened in the cellars as well and was exceptional!   I paid a little extra to do the reserve tasting and I am SO glad I did.  The wine at the Castle was less expensive than BV or Beringer, if you can believe that.  The Castle does not sell in retail stores so you can only buy it online or in the Castle itself.   And it truly was some of the best wine I have ever tasted.  So smooth and rich.  I bought 3 bottles.  1 of their standard Pinot Noir, which was some of the best I have ever tasted.  And 2 of their reserve La Castellana "The Lady of the Castle" which I will be saving for a special occasion.  I could not have been happier with our visit to the Castle.    The tour was amazing and the wine was superb.  Highly recommend visiting this castle.

http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/

One nights where I just want to enjoy a simple glass of wine I drink my $6 bottle of Castle Rock.  :)  It's smooth but tends to go bad pretty quickly so I have to finish the bottle within a couple of days before we starts to go bad.  But oh well.   Cheap can sometimes be just as good as the better bottles of wine.