Napa Valley - wine tasting and then some

Warning: This post is pic heavy - Napa is a photogenic place!

So we spent 2 nights and about a day and a half in Napa.
It was very cool, and since travelling and wine are 2 things I love, I knew right off the bat that I would enjoy it. And boy did I.

A couple of tips/ things we noticed:
Napa is very similar to Stellenbosch especially in terms of scenery. Jeremy mentioned a few times how much he felt like he was home!
Most wineries in Napa need a reservation to do the tasting. We realised this the hard way as I had only made one reservation while we were there (which also turned out to be my favourite). It's not to say the others weren't good, but it was a bit hit and miss in terms of choosing a winery that didn't need an appointment.

We arrived in Napa on Sunday to check into the airbnb we were staying at. This definitely is my favourite place we have stayed in so far using airbnb. The space is a converted Airstream trailer set on the property of a guesthouse. The Airstream is true americana (in my mind) and has been done to a really high standard. The guesthouse also looks like the houses you see in movies which is also pretty cool!

Our home for our stay!

The guesthouse

Anyway after checking it out we headed to Oxbow public market for some coffee and to plan where to go. After refuelling it was time to hit the road.

The first place we visited was Clos Du Val winery, which although the setting was great, the wines weren't our favourite. They weren't awful, they just weren't amazing and didn't have us reaching for our wallets.

Oxbow Market

Clos Du Val

The next stop I chose purely on the fact that it had chocolate and wine tastings!  Rutherford winery was great, the people were very friendly and both the wine and chocolate was delicious especially the sauvignon blanc and the dark chocolate & cherry chocolate (both of which were purchased and we have been enjoying!) I would very much recommend a visit.

We went for dinner at Allegria restaurant which was decent fare and then headed home for bed.

Day 2 saw us going to Frog's Leap winery, which was the one I had booked before, and I'm so glad I did. The setting was beautiful and I loved the wine and the way you were under no pressure to drink up and get going. I could've easily spent the day there sitting in the sun sipping on the wine! You can walk around the winery while you are tasting and can see the farm at work, which was pretty cool to experience. By far my favourite, and I would definitely recommend a visit.

Frog's Leap

Yum!

Enjoying the sunshine

Peek-a-boo

Our second and final visit on the second day was Frank Family vineyards, which although probably wasn't the prettiest of the bunch it was the most fun. The winery is owned by Rich Frank, who was a Disney executive. This means the walls are lined with pictures of the rich and famous! The wine was good and we met a really sweet bunch of ladies from Arizona that we got chatting to which made it for me.

Frank Family vineyards

After all the wine excitement we headed to Walmart to get some supplies for dinner. Let's just say all the memes you see about Walmart are true - it was an experience :)