This week’s Travel Tuesday takes you along on our girl’s trip to the Napa Valley wine region! Britt and Kim meet Robin there for four winery and tasting experiences, three days, two nights, and one wholesome, silly, and cute weekend. We loved Napa, and you will too!

Napa Valley Trip Planning Resources

• Our Napa Wine Trip Itinerary available for FREE download
• Hotels in Napa: Hilton Garden Inn Napa, Napa Winery Inn, Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa, or The Cottages of Napa Valley
• Places to Stay in Yountville: Napa Valley Railway Inn, Mason Fleurie, A Four Sisters Inn, Napa Valley Lodge
• St. Helena Hotels: Vineyard Country Inn, El Bonita Motel, Harvest Inn
• Napa Valley wine experiences, tastings, and tours: If you want to do Napa escorted, we highly recommend hiring a local private vehicle through Viator to take your group.
• If you plan to buy wine from the vineyards and estates, we recommend these reusable wine packing envelopes to keep the bottles safe while traveling home.

Here’s what we did on our first weekend in Napa Valley:

Priest Ranch Winery – Tasting room in downtown Yountville for the Taste the Terroir Experience; this experience is a seated tasting in which 4 wines are accompanied by hand-crafted chocolates. The Priest Ranch Tasting Room also has an intriguing bacon and wine pairing experience, perfect if you prefer a more savory pairing experience.

Squad Tip: If you are hungry, hop over to their restaurant: The Kitchen at Priest Ranch, which has one of the only rooftops in Yountville!

St. Supery Estate Vineyards – One of the few 100% estate grown and Napa Green certified Vineyard and Winery locations in the region. The winery is in Rutherford and they have several interactive wine experiences & tastings. We did the From Grape to Garden Wine and Vegetable Pairing Experience, this experience is a seated tasting in which 4 wines are accompanied by a seasonal vegetable-based dish pairing.

Round Pond Estate – A family-run sanctuary in Rutheford that offers exceptional wine-tasting and culinary experiences. The Estate is a 468-acre haven filled with gardens, vineyards, and olive groves. We did the Gourmet Experience, a guided tasting of the estate’s fresh oils paired perfectly with seasonally-inspired small bites at the Olive Mill. Afterward, cross the street to their winery to indulge in the Portfolio Tasting Experience, a selection of captivating estate-grown wines from their current releases.

Sterling Vineyards – The only winery in the world that uses a gondola to take you to the winery. The winery is on the outskirts of Calistoga, it is a beautiful white stucco building modeled after the white villages of Mykonos, and has panoramic views of Napa Valley below. We did the Hilltop Experience, which is a seated tasting of a selection of exclusive wines paired with local cheese and charcuterie.

Winston’s – Family owned neighborhood cafe & bakery dedicated to using fresh ingredients. We highly recommend all the pastries and the loco moco, but you can’t go wrong with any meal there.

Napa Valley Girls Trip – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey, squaddies.

Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast.

Today we’re taking you wine tasting with us in Napa Valley, California.

0:51

Kim and I went to Napa in late October for a girls trip.

Fortunately Jamal could not make it and we had a great time wine tasting and visiting Napa Valley.

We’re actually all from Northern California and from our hometown.

Napa’s only about an hour, hour and a half away and I had never really spent any time in Napa and so it was actually really nice to go and visit it and see what it was all about.

1:17

Honestly, I could envision myself living in Napa like I fell in love with it.

It’s gorgeous.

You’re on that main road in Napa Valley and there are vineyards on both sides of you and it’s just cute and quaint and I fell in love.

1:32

If I move back to California, it’s Napa.

You know, I’m really excited to dive into this episode because of course, you know, Kim, yes, now you are in Texas, but when you lived here and of course, Brittany and I still live in San Diego.

We are very close to Mexico’s wine region, which is only about an hour and a half away, right?

1:51

Very world renowned for Mexico.

Napa is the United States area of famous wine region and making as well as maybe like Bordeaux and France, you know, so there are specific regions around the world that are well known.

Napa has to be #1 within the United States.

2:08

And like you mentioned, Brittany, it is very close to our hometown.

I’ve driven through Napa before, but never did any wine tasting or anything like that.

And of course, we’ve spent a lot of our lives down here in San Diego now, so we will have to get back up all as a squad.

I wasn’t able to go, but it’s one of those things, even if you don’t like wine tasting, you can just appreciate being in the environment.

2:30

There’s a culinary scene out there, the nature of the foothills and the greenery of the green on the hills or the green of the grapes growing on the vines.

You know, you just get this vibe when you’re out there or within wine region.

So I’m really excited to have you ladies dive into that and get me excited.

2:47

Of course, everybody else excited if they haven’t been to Napa to know what it’s all about.

We do have a Napa Valley Weekend itinerary for you all.

The Napa Valley Weekend itinerary is completely free, so you can go to our website, travelsquadpodcast.com and download it there.

3:04

We will also link it in the show notes for you so you can get that.

And you can follow this exact trip that we took with the optimizations that we learned along the way.

And as always, we have a few tips for you guys to make your trip successful.

So starting off with tip number one, I would highly recommend either having a designated driver, hiring a driver.

3:25

But if that’s not an option, you could also probably use like Uber and Lyfts to get from one place to another.

Safety first.

You are going to more than likely obviously be drinking, so you do want to travel safely from vineyard to Vineyard and of course back to your hotel.

Luckily we had Robin, our best friend who filled in for Jamal since he couldn’t make it and Robin is not a big drinker, drinker at all really.

3:49

So she was our DD and that was really, really nice to have it.

Was amazing, couldn’t have done the trip without her.

One thing that we learned on the first day, very important tip, make sure you eat before you go wine tasting.

Yes, I feel like some of the pores were a little heavy and.

4:06

Which I’m not complaining about, I like a big.

No, I love a big pore, but going in on an empty stomach, that wasn’t the best thing we did.

So we learned and we’re sharing with you.

And as we were building out this itinerary, we were trying to hit 3 or 4 places per day, but that is impossible.

4:24

I would say 2 is very doable. 3, You’d have to be really strategic and make sure you’re on schedule because the at least when we went in October, the wineries were open from about 10 or 11 in the morning and most of them closed around five once it started getting dark.

4:41

Maybe in the summer they stay open a little later because there’s more light.

Not sure about that, But you really can’t fit more than three in per day and you don’t want to.

Well, and depending on how much you are drinking and doing tastings while you’re at each winery, a third one can be a stretch for a lot of people.

4:58

So I think too is really that sweet spot.

And spend time at the wineries.

They’re all really gorgeous, book unique experiences.

You don’t just want to go to a winery and do the same type of tastings over and over again.

You want to do like wine tasting and food pairings, wine tasting and chocolate.

5:13

Different experiences at each of the wineries because they all offer something unique.

Another thing about how many wineries to do in a day, Napa Valley is big.

I didn’t really realize this before we had gone and started planning.

I thought Napas Napa, we want to stay in Napa, but actually Napa Valley extends all the way up into Calistoga and even beyond that, right?

5:35

And so depending on where your wineries are, there could be quite a drive in between.

And there is a lot of traffic in Napa.

It’s gotten a lot more popular.

And so it might take a little bit longer than you think to get from winery to winery.

What’s the furthest stretch real quick, ladies, that you drove from one point to another point?

5:54

If we’re talking about time, Kim. 30 minutes, I think.

Yeah, about 30 minutes.

That’s a good.

To Calistoga.

That’s a good stretch.

And so that’s 30 minutes up, plus you’re tasting 30 minutes back to whatever direction.

So again, you could see that time adds up.

6:09

And if you’re talking, you know, two to three wineries on the Max end, you know, that kills a lot of that time.

So plan accordingly and do know about the traffic.

And then the last tip is to dress nice when you’re going to the wineries.

We, of course had our outfits on fleek and we looked adorable.

6:26

And we walked into one winery and the host there said thank you so much for dressing up for the occasion.

We really appreciate when people look nicer.

Napa, he was saying how some people, you know, just wear casual outfits and jeans, and he just likes to see what people dress up and it’s fun.

So give in to the moment.

6:41

He was actually really nice.

He thought I was 24 and I felt amazing because I just turned 35.

Yeah.

We really liked him.

That was guy at Round Pond Estate, go see him.

So before you ladies dive into exactly what you did, we’ve kind of talked a little bit about Napa.

6:58

We’re going to talk a little bit more about it.

So Napa Valley is located just one hour north of San Francisco and about an hour West of Sacramento.

So we’ve mentioned on this podcast many times, if you haven’t heard it, we are from Sacramento region.

7:14

So again, this is just in our backyard, but at the time when we were growing up, our palates weren’t sophisticated.

We didn’t go wine tasting.

We we’re younger, but now that we’re older, it’s one of those things that we can appreciate about our region.

So just to give you perspective of where it is, north of San Francisco by an hour, West of Sacramento by an hour.

7:32

There are over 400 wineries in the Napa Valley region, and all of them are unique in their own way.

They have unique tasting experiences.

There’s boutique wineries, family owned vineyards, huge sprawling properties, small tasting rooms, really everything you can imagine under the sun, including some internationally recognized estates and varietals.

7:55

It’s known for Cabernet Sauvignon, but it has a lot of really good wine there that we tried.

In fact, some white wine wines that we’ll get into the white.

Wine that we tasted was actually my favorite.

We both came back with two bottles of white and no bottles of red.

So.

And I’m I’m a red girly, but something’s changing.

8:12

And that’s exactly what I was about to say.

Brittany came back and said, oh man, Kim was all about the whites.

It’s like really, she’s the Malbec girl.

She loves her Reds.

But you know, as we get older, things change or it’s not even necessarily changing.

Maybe you still like red, but the whites were just that good out there, right?

8:28

I mean world renowned wine growing region so.

In Napa’s, you know, known for its wine, but it actually has a wonderful gourmet food scene that you should check out while you’re there.

It’s a great weekend trip, perfect to celebrate birthdays, anniversary or classy Bachelorette parties.

8:44

During this weekend trip, we were hosted at four different wineries and one cafe for breakfast.

So we’re going to get into all of it.

Sure.

Details on the experience, other experiences that they offer because of course, we only did one and they offer many and they’re all really unique.

9:00

And so let’s get into it, Brittany.

So Kim, you flew out a little bit earlier.

You flew out on a Thursday because as we mentioned, we’re from this area, so you wanted to spend some extra time with the family and friends.

So you got to do that.

I I did.

I went to see my friend Jamie who lives in Lodi and I did not realize Lodi is also a huge wine growing region, just vineyards everywhere.

9:23

I thought I would never move back, but the more I learn about the wine up there, I don’t know.

You know, I always say that I could move back to Northern California, not at this point in my life, but closer to retirement or when I’m older, because it really is a nice area nevertheless with the nature of the agriculture, etcetera.

9:42

But yeah, you know, lots of good wine growing in Northern California.

Napa is the star on it.

But you got to spend time with family the day before, Brittany.

You flew out the following day, and you ladies hit the ground running after that.

Yeah, I I flew in Friday morning.

9:59

I landed in the 8:00 AM hour.

Kim picked me up from the airport.

We used Grandma’s car.

Thank you, Grandma.

And we drove to Napa.

We made a little pit stop for Dutch Brothers on the way because when you’re in Norcal you have to get a Dutch Bros.

Dutch Bros is coffee, by the way.

10:15

If you are unfamiliar, everybody who has Dutch brothers loves Dutch Brothers, so if you’re in this region, give it a go.

And our first stop was at Priest Ranch Winery.

It was their tasting room in their downtown Yachtville location and we had a chocolate and wine pairing booked for 12:00.

10:33

In hindsight we maybe should have eaten something before this, but we just dove right in with the chocolate and not complaining.

This place was amazing.

I think we had it all to ourselves for the most.

Part Yeah.

We were hosted in a private tasting room, and it was such a beautiful room.

There was like a fireplace.

10:49

There was like leather chairs.

It looks so sophisticated and classy.

And there was no one else in the tasting with us, so it was the three of us and our guide.

And everything was set up for us here.

And most of the places we went, it’s just like they know you’re coming, they’re expecting you, they greet you, and they’re so happy to see you.

11:09

We actually had amazing service here at Priest Ranch Winery.

I know when you think of going to a winery, you think of going to the vineyards.

And they do have their vineyards and that they were telling us about, but I kind of like the tasting room experience.

Yeah, it was a beautiful tasting room.

11:24

So a little bit about Priest Ranch.

They were established in 2007.

They have a Somerston estate which is a 1600 acre ranch in the Vaca Mountains just on the eastern edge in Napa Valley.

They actually have like a little video playing that showed the estate on video so we could visualize being there and what it looks like.

11:44

And then they have a wine maker, Cody Heard, and he makes stunning single varietal wines and proprietary blends.

All the wine here was amazing.

So when we walked in, all of our glasses were already set up and then they brought out a board with four different chocolates.

12:02

And so on arrival, I believe we got a rose to taste.

And then the wine tasting came with four wines paired with four chocolates.

But they told us that we could mix and match how we drink and ate our chocolates.

But they did pair really well together, and you could tell that they’ve taken the time to see what would really enhance the palette of each.

12:24

One was our host for this tasting experience and I just loved his personality.

He was so friendly, so kind.

He gave us the information about the wines and the flavor notes and the chocolates and the stories behind them.

But then.

He let us.

Do our thing.

And I really appreciated that because some tastings they go 1 by 1 and they, they wait until you’re done with your glass to move on to the next one.

12:46

And Juan made it very clear, I’m not going to tell you how to drink your wine.

I’m not going to tell you how to eat your chocolate.

And he gave us just the right amount of information and love and care and freedom at Priest Ranch Winery.

We did the taste of terrier, chocolate and wine pairing experience.

13:02

Yeah.

So each wine, like I mentioned earlier, was paired with a chocolate pairing.

And so they called it like a clump of dirt, but wasn’t a clump of dirt at all.

So that we had four of them lined up and the first one was called Loman Lemon and it was a Meyer lemon white chocolate that was so good paired with a Sauvignon Blanc.

13:23

And this was my favorite pairing.

It just hit so good together and that chocolate was amazing.

I would have bought it just by itself.

I wish they sold just this chocolate by itself.

It was so good.

We actually did take home a bottle of this Sauvignon Blanc.

It was like fruit forward exploding in our mouths.

13:39

It was really, really good.

And then we moved on to a sweet and salt tea, which was a Raspberry milk chocolate with matcha and cocoa powder dirt with a 2019 double barrel that was also delicious.

Then we had decadent ash chocolate paired with a 2019 coach gun.

13:58

And then we ended on a clay and cocoa paired with a 2019 block 136 Cabernet Sauvignon.

And this was more pomegranate, pink peppercorn in the chocolate and just absolutely amazing.

And then we ended it with a special tasting of their snake oil wine.

14:17

It’s a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Everything you want from the Cabernet.

That dark plum, cedar, tobacco, spice, even just a little hint of fresh mint.

It was a really, really good wine.

So you think you’re going to this winery and you’re going to do 4 wine tastings with this chocolate, but in reality you get the Rose to start the four wines and then you end with the snake oil.

14:41

So we ended up with 6 tastings and this is how Napa can easily get away with you and how things can progress very quickly.

It can easily get away because you said each place has different tastings.

If you love it so much, there’s other tastings that you could do here.

You guys went with the sweet side, with the wine and chocolate, but they have a savory, right?

15:00

Don’t they have a wine and bacon tasting too here?

Yes, they do have a wine and bacon pairing and honestly I would go back and do that too.

This is how much I love Priest Ranch.

And Kim, you had mentioned we should have eaten beforehand.

And right next door they actually have the kitchenette Priest Ranch, which we didn’t know about when we first went, but they do serve breakfast all day.

15:22

And then they do have some like salad and sandwich options.

So if you wanted to go there afterwards to get a bite to eat, that’s a good option.

And it has a rooftop, which is actually one of the only rooftops in Yountville.

So good place to go and grab some food.

And Juan gave us the option to revisit wine, so if you wanted additional tastings past that sticks, you absolutely could.

15:43

They they really, really take care of you here.

They’ve been sent us home with a little package of these two cute stemless wine glasses that are branded and then a branded little mini cheese board too.

I’m definitely going to be back to Priest Ranch Winery and I can’t wait to the do.

16:00

The.

Wine and bacon pairing.

After Priest Ranch, we headed over to Saint Suffrey Estate Vineyards.

So along this weekend trip we’re really getting different types of experiences.

We just did a very centrally located downtown tasting room.

16:17

Now we’re going out to a massive estate, really, really beautiful property.

Yeah.

So this was located in Rutherford and the tasting that we had booked was called from grape to garden and it was a wine and vegetable dish pairing.

16:32

And we had this booked at 1:00.

And I feel like we booked them too close together.

Like we really should have spaced them out a little bit more, but we didn’t know at the time.

We just kind of did our own thing.

Give yourself at least two hours for every tasting.

If you have more time, make a little bit more time than that.

16:49

Yeah, on the free itinerary that we mentioned, we spaced everything out two to three hours.

So that gives you time at each of the places so you’re not rushing and you can really enjoy your experience.

And let that first set of wine go through you before you drink more and get a little out of hand, because apparently that did not happen for Brittany.

17:08

Maybe we’ll get into that later, but Brittany got a little wine drunk from my understand.

Priest Ranch got us wine drunk for sure.

I love it.

So St.

Supere is one of the few 100% estate grown and Napa Green certified vineyard and winery locations and their staff is super friendly.

17:27

You definitely have to go and experience a tasting here.

I didn’t know it, but when we walked in, my name was up on the board saying happy birthday.

It’s like, Oh my gosh, how sweet.

Yeah.

So if you’re celebrating a special event, you may see your name on the board.

And beyond just the wine experience, they have the tastings.

17:46

They even have an art gallery with changing exhibits.

And then they can mention their grounds are beautiful.

That’s a huge estate.

The vineyard is so beautiful.

And then outside, they also actually have tables and chairs.

And so definitely wander through the vineyards and the gardens because it’s a very beautiful property.

18:07

So when this experience was suggested to us, I tried to do a little bit of research to find out what are they going to serve?

Because when you first think grape to garden, my mind’s going to vegetables.

We’re just going to pair wine with vegetables.

But no, no, no, no, no, no.

18:22

This is an extremely culinary experience unlike anything you can even imagine.

It must be a NASA thing because once we got here they also gave us a rose tasting to start.

Yeah, that was really nice.

So we started with that and then we were shown to our table upstairs.

18:39

What I liked about our table was that our table was open.

We’re not in an actual room, but we were separated from the other tables by curtains, so it also.

Felt very private and there was this big beautiful window at the end of our table so we can see out into that beautiful property with all the trees and get natural lighting and what’s a beautiful little setup.

19:00

For us, for this experience, the chef was Vince and our host was Miguel and we went through four different wines and food pairings with them.

So they brought it out on these gorgeous boards too, and it was such a beautiful display to look it into it, the wine pairing with the food pairing.

19:19

So the first one is a 2022 Napa Valley Estate Vineyard Semion paired with a tomato arancini that was stuffed with mozzarella.

So the star ingredient of the whole tasting experience was tomatoes.

Everything had a tomato flair to it’s tomato season in that area, which we all know very well.

19:40

And so I think out of all of them, this was my favorite.

That delicious little RNC ball with the mozzarella inside was so good.

Yeah, that was really good.

Then we moved on to a 2022 Napa Valley estate Virtu, which is a blend of semion and Sauvignon Blanc, and it was paired with a smoked tomato chevre soup.

20:02

It was smoky, delicious, warm, amazing.

When I’m here in chevre, that is the soft goat cheese, Yes.

So you had that.

Oh my gosh, that sounds absolutely delicious.

It was served in a little like shot glass.

It was so cute and it was very, very good.

20:19

Could have eaten a whole bowl of that.

The third one was a 2018 Napa Valley Estate ELU, which is a blend primarily of the Cabernet Sauvignon that the area is known for, but it also had Merlot, petite or dough and a Cabernet frog.

They paired this one with a very interesting stuffed tomato.

20:37

It was stuffed with lentils.

It was really good.

It had a bunch of cheese on top too, right?

Yeah, it was really delicious.

I really enjoyed that too.

Everything that we had was absolutely amazing.

I think the last thing was the most interesting.

Yes, we had a $2022 Hide Estate Vineyard Muscat Canelli paired with a tomato cheesecake that was made with ricotta and basil and some people might say a ricotta cheesecake with tomato.

21:06

It was delicious.

It wasn’t super tomato Ford and the tomato that they had on it was a little sweet, so I really liked it.

And this is the bottle that we purchased.

Kim and I both purchased a bottle and we asked to revisit this wine.

21:22

That’s the tip.

If if you want that additional tasting, ask may I revisit the musket?

And then they know you mean business.

And this was a really, really good bottle of wine.

And by this point we’re definitely wine drunk being at our second spot and we liked it still that much.

You know, you’ve mentioned that you got this mascot and then from the previous vineyard you picked up a Savion Blanc.

21:43

They have not been opened yet.

They are chilling in our wine fridge and I am ready for the special occasion to open them because you ladies are just typing this stuff up and I’m excited to try it.

So I don’t know if we’re going to save it for the next time you’re in San Diego, Kim, and open it up when you’re here.

Brittany and I are going to bust it out on her own depending on what Jamal cooks.

22:01

But I’m eager to try these wines that you ladies are raving about.

Well, I think that we might, I might have better luck if I can hold on to my bottles and I’m not promising I can.

I have an open mind either.

And more likely, y’all are coming out here to me and Austin before I’ll see you again in San Diego.

22:19

That’s true.

That is very true.

I love that we all live near wine regions.

Like you’re in Austin near Fredericksburg, our hometown was near Napa and then Shamala near Via Guadalupe.

Like we can’t get away from these wine regions and I love it.

Sign me up.

I loved this winery, I loved Napa, but St.

22:37

Supriya.

I do wish we had some more time there.

We did spend 2-3 hours here between the tasting and then exploring the property a little bit afterwards, but it was so pretty.

I would have loved to even just get a glass of musket and sit outside under the trees.

Yeah, it was a really nice like open air area where you’re just right on the edge of the vineyards and even riding down the driveway with a property, it’s just so beautiful.

23:03

You see all the vineyards and then it’s like a long tree lined driveway.

And we went in October, which is actually harvest season for Napa.

So it’s actually a little bit busier, but it didn’t feel extremely busy.

No it did not.

And you start to see the fall colors change in Napa as well, which a lot of people don’t think about.

23:21

You think of like mountainous regions where the fall foliage is, but we saw I’m a Napa.

I also really liked that Miguel and Vince both came out multiple times to talk to us about the wine and the food pairings.

It made it feel like a really personal experience, as if we were the only customers in the place.

23:40

It felt exclusive.

We felt like family.

Yeah, I definitely can’t wait to go back.

I know they have some other wine tasting and experiences that they have there and so I would go back and try something different.

Absolutely.

Well so after all of this wine, I have to imagine you ladies were a little sleepy.

23:57

Not necessarily ready for bed, but needed a more quiet place to relax.

So what did you guys do?

So we didn’t have a lot planned for the evenings.

Like we we knew we were going to go out to dinner.

We had a lot of recommendations from our squatty Patrick, who goes to Napa all the time.

24:13

So we had a ton of different dinner places in mind.

But on the way from Saint Sulbury back to our Airbnb, Brittany needed to revisit the wine.

And they’re not.

In a good way.

And the moon.

I revisited everything we had earlier.

24:29

We had to stop on the side of the road so he couldn’t revisit her tastings.

You know, when Brittany told me that she had a little plastic bag moment after having too much wine in the car, it reminded me of the Christmas party we went to Kim where you had a little too much wine that night.

24:46

And then you did the same thing in the back of our car and put a plastic bag.

So, you know, moral of the story is pace yourself, eat food ahead of time.

That’s why it was in the tips.

You know, you don’t want to go into that on an empty stomach.

But the point of my question really was to try to figure out, were you ladies in a hotel?

25:03

Were you guys in an Arabian?

Why you guys decide on that?

That way you could give our squad.

He’s a little bit of insight on what you guys recommend as a place to stay in Napa.

Well, NASA is interesting, right?

Because we were saying where do we stay?

And to me it was Napa, of course, but Napa’s at the very South end of the valley.

25:20

So if you’re going all the way up to Calistoga and whatnot throughout the days, that’s kind of a long drive.

Yountville is a great middle place I would say in the valley they they probably have a lot of good Airbnb options.

The hotel options too are quite expensive in Napa so I would go the the BNB route whether that’s an Airbnb or your traditional bed and breakfast.

25:42

They have a lot of those around Napa as well.

And more than likely if you’re going to Napa, you’re going with friends.

Yeah, you’re maybe obviously going as a couple, but if you’re going with a group of people, maybe then maybe the Airbnb is a great way to save on cost in an already expensive region, right?

25:58

And of course, a little bit more space to relax and enjoy yourself I feel.

Definitely and if you are planning to go to Napa, try to book as early as possible.

I think maybe if we had booked six months earlier we could have found more options ’cause even a lot of the B&B’s we were looking at were already sold out by the time we were searching there.

26:17

But I’m happy with where we stayed.

We had a small 2 bedroom Airbnb and it worked out perfectly for us.

It was for about 5 minutes from downtown Napa, so we made it there.

We checked in, I took a little Naparu and Kim and Robin went out to go grab a bite to eat.

26:35

We ended up getting a spot at Charlie Palmers in downtown Napa, and downtown Napa is a really, really cute place.

Like if we when we go back, I’ll say not if when we go back.

I would love to explore more of downtown Napa.

During the day.

Everything closes early there.

26:52

By sundown, all the shops are closed and there’s a lot of shopping there.

So I would like to do that.

But we ended up getting a spot at Charlie Palmer.

They do have a rooftop there, but you do need to make reservations.

We were just walking, so we did not go to the rooftop.

We sat at the bar, We had espresso martinis.

27:09

We ordered steak with chimichurri and fries.

We talked to a bunch of people, made friends, and we had a good time out there without you, Britt.

It’s OK, I got my rest.

I woke up and I was refreshed.

You guys made it back to the Airbnb.

27:24

So we mentioned before we went in October at the very end, my birthday is about mid-october, Kim’s birthday is mid November and then Robin’s birthday is at the end of October.

So all of our birthdays are kind of like clumped in this time frame.

27:41

And so whenever we get together around that time frame, we always like do a little something special.

So when we got back to the Airbnb, we had gotten to our matching PJS, which were a beautiful red wine color to match our trip.

Brittany surprised me and Robin and herself with matching PJ’s, long sleeve buttoned down PJ’s with pants and they were so cute.

28:03

Brett, that was a great gift.

I loved it.

I just wanted us to match for the weekend.

I loved it too.

And so that concluded our Friday.

We had a very good day.

And so coming into Saturday we knew we were going to do things differently.

We’re like, we are not going to be revisiting the wine on the side of the road today.

28:21

We are going to eat.

We are going to pace ourselves.

And we did.

We started the warning with a really nice breakfast at Golden Bagel Cafe.

Yeah, I got the golden scramble, which was eggs and cheddar’s and you get to pick what bagel it served on.

So I ended up doing a jalapeno bagel and I added bacon and garlic and chive smear.

28:42

It was delicious.

I also got a bagel sandwich like that and it was really good.

I saved a little bit to snack on as the day went on, so I maintained food in my stomach all day today.

We had a reservation at 11:30 AM at Round Pond Estate, so after our breakfast on our drive there, we stopped off at the Napa Valley sign.

29:01

Yeah, this is just a quick little stop.

It just says like, welcome to Napa Valley.

And it’s right on the edge of a vineyard.

So you can take pictures in front of the sign and actually in the vineyard as well, which is really pretty.

I would say you’d probably spend anywhere from like 10 minutes to, if you’re taking a few extra pictures, maybe 30 and before continuing on to a winery.

29:20

Definitely stop here.

It’s a it’s an easy stop.

There’s parking all around.

There’s the railroad tracks there too, which would also make for some cute pictures.

And I’m I’m glad we stopped here.

I didn’t know if we were going to make it, but I’m glad we did.

So you had the 1130 tasting at Round Pont in the state.

Obviously you learn from the day before your lesson and you ladies are satiated and ready to go with full stomachs for breakfast.

29:43

Tell me about the experience at Round Pond Estate.

So Round Pond is another really cool property, very big, gorgeous entryway, long driveway into the estate.

I would say there’s three different parts of it, right?

There’s the gardens, there’s the winery, and then across the street is the Olive mill where they actually grow olive trees and make olive oil there.

30:05

Yeah, the estate is huge and very, very beautiful.

It’s like 468 acres and they’re really committed to sustainability.

We actually started our day in the gardens, just kind of exploring, walked through the vineyards and then we headed over to the Olive mill and we did an olive oil tasting and.

30:25

So before we go on to the olive oil tasting, the gardens were beautiful.

They had chairs, they had tables there, they’re growing all sorts of things.

There’s grapes hanging from the terrace above you.

You could really spend a good amount of time just perusing the flowers and the vegetables and the vineyards and taking pictures like we did.

30:44

We probably spent like an hour just in the gardens.

We did, yeah.

One of their workers walked by and he had just hand picked some cherry tomatoes and we took one to try and they were so delicious.

They were like so full of flavor, juicy, sweet.

31:01

And Robin had asked like, are you guys going to use that to, to cook with?

And he said, Oh yeah, we are.

So I love that they have a garden where they can just pull from their own local ingredients.

But then we headed over to the olive mill and we did an olive oil tasting.

31:16

So we actually had five different olive oils that were all laid out where we could dip into bread.

And then we started with a olive oil that was in a shot glass.

But before we even sat down to do any of this, we got a tour of some of the trees and how the olive trees grow.

31:34

And then we went through the production process with our guide, Jeannie and everything they do to make the olive oil on site.

They do everything on site.

The only thing they don’t do is bottle there.

I have never really thought about how olive oil was made, but it was really interesting.

31:52

It wasn’t harvest time.

Harvest is usually run February, so the machines were not running, but they did have a video going of what it looks like when it is.

It’s a really fascinating process.

It’s a shame that you weren’t able to see them actually make it in person because I haven’t seen it made in person.

32:11

But of course, beforehand, I’ve seen videos.

I know how olive oil is actually made.

Being a Middle Eastern olive oil is something very, very important to Middle Easterns, so I appreciate it.

But when you guys are doing this tasting, it didn’t come with wine, right?

It’s just the bread and olive oil.

And then you moved on to wine tasting a little bit later, yes.

32:28

Yeah, but you’re doing it a disservice.

It’s not just olive oil and bread.

We’re going to get into it.

Well, I.

Don’t know and that’s why I was ask.

It’s infused like all the olive oil is infused with different flavors and things.

So I was trying to pry that out of you ladies so you could give us a little bit more information about really the experience.

32:46

Well, the part of the experience is that tour, we were like actually in the olive trees, learning about the two different Italian and Spanish varieties that they have, how it’s grown, how it’s been impacted by drought or by rainy seasons, and how much olive oil is actually produced from one tree, which surprisingly isn’t that much.

33:07

If you actually Google how much olive oil in the world is sold, there aren’t enough olive trees to meet that demand.

So a lot of olive oil that you actually buy in the stores is synthetic or half olive oil with other stuff.

So it’s very important to really realize like, yeah, a lot of times when you think you have olive oil, it’s not really true.

33:26

And I’m glad that you actually said that, because you don’t get a lot from one tree.

Yep, and then we got more information about the history of the winery and the the Olive Mill here.

It’s a family deeply rooted in family heritage.

Ryan and Miles McDonald, they’re really carrying on the legacy of their father Bob and their mother who had a dream to build this place and has has just watched it grow over the years.

33:52

So that was really cool.

I loved getting the history lesson.

Jamal, had you been there, you would have loved that part of it too.

I’m sure of it.

After the tour, we were sat down down right where the machines are on, out on the patio.

So it’s a beautiful background to be in, vineyards all behind us.

34:09

And it was very private.

There was nobody else here during our tasting, and Jeannie was with us every step of the way explaining things, which started with that shot glass of olive oil.

Jamal being Middle Eastern, have you ever drank a shot of olive oil?

I actually have, but not just because I’m Middle Eastern, but olive oil is a good natural medicine too.

34:29

It really helps if you have acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion, because it will coat the lining of your stomach.

So I’ve just taken straight shots of olive oil to kind of soothe a little acid reflux and heartburn.

So that’s a little natural remedy, but I am not a doctor to give advice, but it does work for me.

34:46

So I’m just throwing that out there for you guys.

Yeah, this one that came in the shot glass, It was an Italian varietal, extra virgin olive oil oil, and we just sipped on it.

It was really rich, very buttery, but it had a peppery after taste that kind of surprised you.

Yeah, just kind of popped a little pepper in your mouth.

35:03

A little surprise there.

And then that was the only one that we tasted like alone.

The other five we actually were served with bread and we could dip into it and they were olive oil infusion.

So there was a garlic infused 1, Rosemary infused, basil infused, chili infused, and blood orange Kim Out of the five they brought out for us, what was your favorite one?

35:26

By far my favorite one was garlic.

I loved it.

I also loved the blood orange though.

Yes, garlic is like a great everyday one.

I really like the chili infused one as well.

But the blood orange, it’s a great one to try which we tried also with our food pairing.

35:44

She also had mentioned they do have other flavors so there was like a Meyer lemon infused one as well.

That she did bring out and let us try.

Yeah.

So we actually tried more than the six that we originally started with.

And then we also tried two different types of vinegars.

36:02

Kim, what did you think of those?

The vinegar tasting was interesting because it comes out in a really cute plate and there’s two different vinegars in these little square bowls.

I like the aesthetics of it.

It was really pretty.

In addition to the two little bowls, there are two sugar cubes and how you do a vinegar tasting is you take that sugar cube, you dunk it in the vinegar and then you suck it out.

36:26

It helps so that you can really taste the the flavors in it and not just the vinegar part of it, just the experience of tasting it.

Overall, I really enjoyed.

It was fun.

The two different vinegars that we tried were a Savion Blanc white vinegar and a Cabernet Merlot red wine vinegar.

36:43

I liked them both, actually really did.

I bought 1.

Which one did you buy?

I bought the Savion Blanc white wine vinegar.

I don’t know what I’m going to use it for because I’m not the best chef.

I’m not Jamal, but I’m going to create a dish specifically so I can use it.

I also bought the garlic olive oil.

36:58

I bought the garlic one and also the chili one because our guide was telling us how she uses a chili one to top over some of her eggs and that just sounded so good.

So I had to get it, and I really liked it when we tried it.

To round out our tasting experience here at the Olive Mill, we ended with five small bites.

37:17

And these are just small bites that you could get down in like two or three bites, I’d say.

I also like how they brought this out.

It was a very long plate with a little spot for each one of these five tastings, so the aesthetics of this experience I really enjoyed.

37:33

The first one was a cucumber and radish served with pesto and topped with the basil infused olive oil.

Really liked that.

Then we moved on to the red bean paste with sunflower seeds and topped with the chili infused oil.

So good.

Our third one was the Maitaki mushrooms that was covered with bread crumbs and a lemon pepper olive oil.

37:55

I know Kim’s not a mushroom fan, so Robin and I got to eat her extras.

Thank you very much.

The next one was a lox with a Creme fresh and and the Meyer lemon olive oil on top of it.

I ate The LOX, actually some of it, even though I don’t eat seafood.

38:13

I am so shocked to hear that Kim, that you ate some of the fish.

Good for you.

How was it not your thing?

I could.

Tried it, but yeah I don’t know if I’ll be ordering a bagel and lox anytime soon.

There you go.

Well, Robin and I again got to enjoy Kim’s leftovers and then we ended with an olive oil cake with a Berry frosting, watermelon chewy and topped with the blood orange olive oil.

38:39

And this was my favorite thing that we had on there.

Oh my God I love an olive oil cake and this one was amazing.

It was cute, it was delicious.

I think Robin and gave me a piece of her olive oil cake since she wasn’t feeling it, which is weird for her because she loves sweet so much.

38:56

I know.

Yeah.

And you love olive oil cakes?

I love olive oil cakes.

So I requested that the next time we come visit you in Austin that you make an olive oil cake.

I make a killer olive oil cake with fresh berries and whipped cream on top.

39:12

It’s so damn good and I’m kind of kicking myself for not buying a bottle of their just regular olive oil because it would go so good in that cake.

Well, I can’t wait to try your cake in April.

Just remind me because I’d already forgotten that I promised that.

So our tasting here, probably about an hour and a half experience, took it pretty slow and relaxing and it was a beautiful day.

39:35

Yeah, it was a really beautiful day.

And then what we ended up going back over to the winery side of things and just getting one single glass of wine going down their property back to the winery is it’s palm lines.

So you’re kind of wondering like, are you in SoCal or are you in Napa?

39:53

And then there’s the vineyards and the olive trees on the sides.

When you get inside of the building where you do the tasting, it’s a two-story building.

And we were let upstairs, they had both indoor and outdoor seating, and they had a beautiful patio space that overlooked the vineyards.

40:10

So that would be a really great spot to do some tastings if you’re out there.

Yeah, I’m glad we had a glass of wine here because up until this point we haven’t had any wine on a Napa day.

So, you know, if you’re not a drinker or maybe day one was enough wine for you, you don’t want any wine on day 2.

40:26

I would highly recommend this olive oil and food tasting experience.

I loved it.

Yeah, it’s really unique.

It’s one of only two mills in that region and you could tell how fresh it is.

It’s so good.

And you could tell, all passionate they were about their olive oil and their wines.

40:44

They’re extremely friendly here as well.

Well, it sounds like Round Pond was a great experience for you ladies, more particularly if you’re on the culinary side of things, which I know Robin not really drinking, that was making a great experience for her, I’m sure.

But tell me about your second vineyard of the day.

41:02

Yeah.

So this is the last vineyard that we visited on this trip.

We went to Sterling Vineyard.

Sterling is known for its unique architecture.

It actually has a gondola and it has amazing panoramic views.

41:18

It’s located on top of a 300 foot rolling hill.

And then so when you look down below.

You get to see.

All of the views in Napa Valley.

It’s actually the only winery in the world with the gondola.

That’s what makes this place so unique, the gondola.

You actually get in the gondola and that takes you up to the top of the hill where the winery is.

41:37

What a cool experience, right?

And Napa a few years back was affected by a fire and so they actually had to replace their gondola.

So these are like really big, beautiful.

They could probably sit well, like 6 to 8 people in there on the way up.

41:53

They’re brand new.

It’s amazing.

We actually saw what the old gondola look like and it was like half the size I feel like.

And we also saw pictures of what the area looked like before the fire.

It was a very devastating fire that hit this area.

42:09

And Sterling actually closed down for three years.

They only recently reopened and got their gondola back working.

I’m glad that we got to see it now that it’s reopened and energy was high and it was a full bustling place with tons of people, huge parking lot, huge beautiful drive on the way in and out to, especially with all the fall colors there.

42:31

So it was a story of resilience, like you can’t keep Sterling down, and I’m glad that they’re not down because I loved it here and it was one of the best places to go to end our map experience.

Well, minus the gondola and being on the hilltop.

Tell me a little bit about the estate in the building where you’re doing the wine tasting, because from my understanding, it’s designed to look like something in particular, is it not?

42:55

I was getting a lot of grease vibes from the building here.

Yeah, it was modeled after the White Villages of Mykonos, beautiful white stucco building, and it was founded in 1964 by Peter Newton and Michael Stone.

There’s so much to see and explore on property, but like I said, you get to see all of the vineyards below.

43:13

You actually even look out to another winery, which is a castle.

So it’s just an amazing experience getting to see.

All of that we did want to go to the castle but we just ran out of time.

We, there’s no way we could have fitted in unless we had more another day.

43:29

But Sterling is beautiful and we did do a tour.

Damon, the manager came to us and took us on a tour of the property.

Had we not actually done the tour, we would have missed out on so much.

So I would highly recommend the tour.

And if you do one of the other experiences like we did, that’s amazing as well.

43:47

But do the tour, the whole building, the photography there, the, the views, the the history of it.

I really like the tour.

Yeah, they actually have one hallway that you walk down and they have like a wine paired for that year and a historical event that either happened at the winery or in the world.

44:06

So as you walk down, you get to see just like the history and how things evolved.

Over time, there’s also a big bell that goes off every hour.

We got to hear it.

And they have 4 different experiences that you could choose from for the public.

And then there’s two additional experience.

If you’re a member.

Every experience that you do does require you to take the gondola up to the tasting room and the terraces.

44:27

They have one experience called the Founders Experience.

This is the most premier tasting and it’s paired with food and wine.

But we ended up doing the Hilltop Experience and it was in a tasting room called the Hilltop overlooks Napa Valley.

And then we tried 5 wines and it was paired with a local cheese and charcuterie board.

44:48

I’m glad that we did the Hilltop tasting experience.

It was a a beautiful room that we were sat in bustling with people.

Again, right when you check in they give you a starter glass of wine.

I think it was a white, though not a rose this time.

Switching it up on you.

So that was what they gave you as a starter.

45:04

But tell me about the wines that came with the Hilltop experience.

I know you said it came with five, but what were they?

Just real quick.

The five wines were the Savion Blanc, which is what they give you as the starter wine, so you have that glass as you’re walking to go sit down at your table.

45:20

Got it.

So that’s part of the tasting technically.

Yes, Sir.

So the Savion Blanc there was a reserved Chardonnay, a Platinum Merlot, a platinum Cabernet, and a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Diamond Mountain.

The final one was my favorite.

45:37

My favorite as well.

Also the most expensive.

So now you know I have expensive taste.

It was amazing though.

And then we had a local cheese and charcuterie board.

We had like a midnight moon, manchego, Gouda, sage Derby.

And then we had some meats on there like prosciutto and then golden raisins, dried cherries, cornichans and flatbread cracker.

46:00

Our host was Stacy.

She went over what cheeses paired with which wines, and they paired so well together I really loved.

It they bring out one board for every two people, so there’s plenty of food there to eat.

We had two boards for three people, so we ate well.

46:17

And then other options they have for you guys if you didn’t want to do one of the other tastings where they have like the tour and terrorist experience where you get to like guide yourself through the wine tasting and stroll around the vineyards and stuff and get the tours of the property.

46:32

So whatever when you choose, you’re going to have a great experience either way.

Everyone that does the tour experience also gets a branded wine glass to take home, and they told a funny story about that being that rather than do all the dishes of all the wine glasses from all the tours and tastings, they just decided hey, it’d be easier to give everyone a wine glass so everyone wins.

46:53

I love that you get a little present to go home and no one has to do the dishes.

I love that.

So we probably spent two or three hours here and we spent a little extra time on property because as Kim mentioned, they have a lot of foliage as you drive in through the driveway and it makes a really great photo spot.

47:14

And we were shutting the winery down like we were taking one of the last gondolas down to the parking lot.

And then we pulled our car to the side and right in front of the driveway.

We got out and started taking some amazing pictures.

Amazing photo spot.

Even if it wasn’t the fall colors, it would still be really beautiful with the mountains behind you and the vineyards on both sides of you.

47:36

I loved Sterling I I’m a think I could live there.

It was amazing.

The service was super nice actually everywhere we went.

I will say that about Napa, everyone was so friendly, welcoming, inviting that I want to live there.

I want, I want to be there.

I want to work at a winery.

Manifest it, Kim.

47:54

That’s what you could do in retirement, Kim.

Just be a winery worker.

Oh, I’ve always thought that.

But maybe even early.

Maybe I can retire in my 40s and then just go work in a winery.

There you go.

And we were there as it was closing down and it was sunset, so to see the sun and just change the colors of the sky with the mountains in the background and the veneers in the forefront, it was so beautiful.

48:17

I think we spent like 30 minutes taking pictures just in the driveway there.

Well, it sounds like a great experience all around these two days doing the wine tasting.

So that concludes that.

But what else did you ladies do in Napa?

Anything that night or was it just wake up the next day?

48:32

Because I know you guys were getting going here on Sunday, which is the following day.

We ended the night by going out to dinner in downtown Napa.

We went to Zuzu, which is a Spanish tapas restaurant.

We did not have a reservation.

We got in very quickly.

We got a table and the outside patio was everywhere.

48:49

Was bustling in Napa and honestly there’s so many good restaurant options you would need weeks in Napa to really try it all.

So you have to make a decision and stick with it.

I loved our place.

I mean, there’s Michelin starred restaurants out in Napa too.

I mean, that’s the type of culinary scene.

49:05

So you could go extremely fancy, casual, but everything in there is going to be good because that region just lends itself to be a culinary region.

So you’ll always find something good to eat that you want for your own the only.

Thing that wasn’t good were these weird shrimps that Brittany ordered.

49:21

Oh my God they were good.

Canyons don’t like seafood.

And that concluded our night.

We were done by them.

We were ready to go to bed.

And when we woke up Sunday, we had a very special experience that we were planning to go to at Winston’s Cafe and Bakery.

49:39

Brittany, you really wanted to do this?

Yeah, Winston’s has been on my list for quite some time 1 because I’ve just known about it, but two.

And I actually with one of the owners worked with her down in San Diego before she moved up to Napa.

But Winston’s is a neighborhood cafe and bakery located in the downtown Napa area.

49:59

They serve a farm to table style breakfast and lunch cuisine with a focus on seasonal and local agriculture.

And then they also have the cafe side of things where they have Polly’s bagels, so they do like breakfast sandwiches and a ton of amazing pastries.

50:16

Winston is actually named after the owners dog, which is a pit mix.

His name’s Winston.

So Alex and Kasan named the cafe after the dog and we tried to three different breakfast items and three different pastry items and everything was so good.

50:32

So first of all, we’re standing in line and we got lucky.

The line was not long and it was quick moving.

So we came in at a good time.

I think we got there at 8:39.

So that was a good time to go because it got really busy after that.

So as you’re waiting in line to get up to the cafe register to order, they have all their pastries on display.

50:53

I zeroed in on the apple fritter and might I tell you, it was delicious.

We also got a citrus bun and a cream cheese pumpkin muffin that was delicious.

To eat as our actual entrees we got the pork belly loco moco which is rice, 2 sunny side eggs, chicken gravy, Pickles, scallions and we actually upgraded our rice to garlic rice which I highly recommend doing.

51:18

It was so so good.

We got the Wuebos rancheros plate.

It had crispy tortillas on the bottom, 2 poached eggs on top, garlic, a lot of really good black beans, salsa Verde, crema Pickles, cilantro, corn salsa.

Really like all the the different ingredients.

51:35

It wasn’t overpowering in any of these dishes.

And then Robin got the chicken and waffles, which were the crispy sprained tenders, Pearl sugary crispy waffle, Maple syrup and a chili hot sauce.

Everything.

We got huge portion so we did not.

51:51

No one finished their food.

I ended up taking it home and then eating it for lunch.

Amazing.

It was really good.

I also got just a a drip black coffee here.

It’s food came out fast.

Yeah, it was fast.

The tables, they don’t do reservations.

So you walk in, you order as you go to down the line and then you find a table.

52:11

So there are people waiting for tables it when it gets really busy.

And they do have like a really long community table as well.

But we were able to score a four person table up near the window.

And then they also have an outdoor little patio and they had their heaters going for the patio as well.

52:28

Well, I’m really anxious to get up there and try it.

You know, Winston’s has been on Brittany’s radar for a long time.

Like you said, Kim, one of the last times we were at home visiting my mom, Brittany was like, well, let’s wake up early and go to Napa for breakfast.

But my mom just wasn’t necessarily feeling it that day.

52:46

Not that she didn’t want to go.

She’s like, oh, next time, just not this time.

So we kind of postponed it.

So you guys got to try it.

But I know we will be going up there to try it one of these days when I go back to visit my mom or even when we all go to Napa.

Kim is moving there, so we’ll be visiting her in.

Napa, yeah.

Once I’m done with Austin, catch me in Napa.

53:03

I’ll be at Winston’s all the time because I loved it.

It was good.

I loved all the places we went.

And we were talking about this as we were ending our trip.

Like what was your favorite?

And I can’t even choose a favorite because they were all so different and so good.

You know, it’s one of those things where as I get older, I really do appreciate wine tasting.

53:21

I’m sad that I wasn’t here with you ladies on this one, although happy at the same time because of course it made for your annual girls trip that you always do with Robin.

So in that sense, I’m really happy that you ladies got to experience that had.

Robin lived close enough to fill in for you, She was just in Fairfield so 20 minutes away, so how convenient.

53:41

I know well and she used to live in Napa, so there’s that.

I know recently back in Fairfield, but not too far away at all.

But nevertheless, it sounds like your trip was an amazing experience.

I hope it’s inspired you squaddies to go out to Napa.

If you’ve never been, or if you have and haven’t tried any one of these estates or vineyards that you ladies mentioned, be sure to check it out because from how you described it and even the photos I’ve seen, looks like a spectacular time.

54:06

It was a spectacular time.

And now for another spectacular time.

Cool Westia, tons of the week.

We have 3 juicy questions this week.

First one coming from Monica out of DC.

Monica is asking where would you recommend staying?

54:22

So we finally talked.

About how Napa is actually at the very like bottom end of the wine region.

And so we’re talking about other places to stay, but one place that really caught our eye was called the Cottages of Napa Valley.

These are really cute cottages.

54:38

They have a heart of wine country.

They have a fire pit and other cute perks like a little breakfast and snack basket.

It’s in between Napa and Yountville and we wanted to stay here, but they only actually have a single bedroom available and that wouldn’t fit all of us.

54:55

So next time we’re going to have to make reservations early because as Kim had mentioned when we started looking, things are already starting to sell out.

So look early and book here.

We were looking through the California Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns.

I would recommend that as a resource because if you want that more mom and pop type feel, unique experience, not just a standard commercialized hotel or the Airbnb route, I would highly recommend one of these B and these Inns cottages and go to that website.

55:26

Second question coming from Leah out of Virginia.

Leah’s asking what are the best ways to get around to and from tastings?

There are a lot of different options.

We had a car and a designated driver, but I know in every case that’s not always feasible.

55:42

We saw a private driver, he actually gave us his card.

We saw wine, limos, taking people from spots to spot.

And then of course you can always use like Lyft and Uber to get around as well safely.

It’s not as rural as I imagined it would be with other wine regions that I know, so I do feel like Uber and Lyft it’s probably an OK bet.

56:04

I also heard that there’s something called the Yountville Trolley.

So it’s a free service within Yountville, like if you happen to be staying there but only after 7.

So to get from winery to winery, maybe not the best, but something that you can use.

And also there’s the Calistoga Shuttle, and apparently that’s free if you’re staying at 1 of 43 lodgings within Calistoga.

56:26

So if you happen to be staying in those areas, be sure to check it out.

But yeah, what you ladies said about winery to winery while you’re doing your tastings, we’ve kind of alluded to that earlier.

You know, either get those limos, hire drivers, have ADD, etcetera, but experience Napa responsibly.

56:43

Yes.

And then our 3rd and final question is coming from Jim out of Sacramento.

Jim is asking, what would you say is the most overlooked part of wine tasting in Napa?

I would say the pairings because when I think of Napa and wine tasting, I just think of the wine itself.

57:00

But they have so many different unique pairings and tours at barrel rooms and properties.

And I think people don’t really, they think about all of the extra things you can see and do in Napa.

And so every place that we went to had a unique experience.

57:15

There was no place that we went to that offered the same type of experience.

So taking advantage of those unique things I think is really important.

Absolutely.

I would also say I had the incorrect impression of Napa just based on things I’d heard, that it was hoity toity, and I could not disagree more with that.

57:36

Everyone was so friendly, welcoming.

I never got the vibe from anyone around us or any of the staff at any of the places that they were too good for anyone else.

And so if you’re hearing that stereotype or that rumor out there, don’t believe it.

57:52

Napa’s extremely friendly and welcoming, and it’d be a shame to miss it.

With that false perception in mind, and with that hope, we’ve inspired you to go to Napa Squaddies.

Make sure to go on to our show notes or our website and download our Napa weekend itinerary for free.

58:08

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58:30

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