Travel Guide: Napa Valley, California
/Your Guide to Wine Country
We spent one day in Sonoma and one in Napa, overall the Sonoma wineries felt like you were visiting a friend’s home. You know that feeling when someone welcomes you with open arms and you instantly feel at home? That’s Sonoma.
Napa was stunning, we could have sat and looked at the wineries for hours. From the wine to views, Napa stole the show for us.
What I Wore
Sonoma Wineries
Roche Winery: Roche ended up being one of our favorite wineries from the entire trip! We went for the Sonoma Valley Winery Experience tasting and left as wine club members. They have the cutest tasting patio, are family-owned and operated, host special events for their members, and overall have created a very unique experience.
Mayo Family Winery: We visited Mayo Family winery for their two-hour, 7-course meal with wine pairings. The food was absolutely delicious, the sparkling wine tasted unlike any bubbly we have had before and their pairing garden was the perfect way to break up the day.
Matanzas Creek Winery: we visited Matanzas Creek winery for the Comparative Tasting. They had one of the coolest patios that overlooked their vineyards. Overall this was an okay experience, they were busier than the other wineries so the tasting felt a little rushed.
Napa Wineries
Rutherford Ranch - Our friends are wine club members at Rutherford Ranch, so we had the opportunity to try their wines for free. After the tasting, we had a tour of the grounds and learned more about their wines, (the Chardonnay won the award) and were in awe of the olive gardens.
Farmstead Long Meadow Ranch - Farmstead Long Meadow Ranch is a must-visit if you’re planning a trip to Napa. We went for a delicious food & wine pairing - the food pairings were small but so so delectable! When we go back we’ll most likely skip the food pairing and go straight for a reservation at their restaurant.
Trinchero Napa Valley - Trinchero is another winery we are now proud wine club members of. We had an unreal wine and cheese tasting, and the scenery was to die for! Their winery is the perfect mix of rustic with outdoor experiences, aka bonfires and cornhole.
V. Status Winery - our last stop on the Napa adventure was V. Status Winery, The wine was great, but definitely was a more “commercial” winery experience than the rest.
After three days in wine country we’re already counting down the days until heading back. Here’s a few things to keep in mind and some stuff we would do different next time:
Have two days dedicated to Napa - there are so many wineries in Napa and one day truly did not do it justice.
Split up where we stay between Napa and Sonoma. The downtown Sonoma area was laid back, had amazing food and it was easy to get a reservation anywhere. Downtown Napa was a little more hustle and bustle, but on the flip side we would have loved to stay closer to the Napa wineries.