- May 16, 2022
- 4 min read

let's go to Napa!

After the craziness that Covid has caused the last two years, my family and I decided to take a trip for Spring Break. Where better to go without kids than to Napa Valley 🍷?? If you have never been, I highly recommend you go - not just for the incredible wine but for the scenery, the food, and the experience of it all. Below I'm going to share what we did and what I recommend if you do make a trip to the West coast. (All winery and restaurants are linked at the bottom).

Travel Day

We flew into San Francisco and then took a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a stunning drive over the San Francisco Bay where you can see Alcatraz Island. Across the bridge you will find the city of Sausalito, which could not be more beautiful. The homes are nestled up the sides of the hills and the streets are lined with shops and dining options. We decided to have lunch at the Trident, a restaurant on the water with breathtaking views of the Bay and San Francisco city skyline. We had lunch, drank cocktails and watched the sailboats go by ⛵.

After lunch we drove up to downtown Napa, which is about an hour drive. We spent the night in downtown Napa, where we had dinner and drinks on the rooftop bar at the Archer Hotel. The next morning we checked out of the hotel and began our wine tasting journey!

Wineries

Nearly all of the wineries are reservation only, but some do accept walk-ins just for tastings. We made reservations at all of them since we had a large group and wanted to do the food pairings too (it's SO important to eat because you start drinking wine at about 10am😂).

B Cellars

When we arrived to our very first stop at B Cellars, we got a tour of their remarkable property. We visited their gardens and chicken coop, which they use when cooking meals. They even had rubber trees on site for making wine corks! We then moved underground to the caves where all the wine is stored, and were seated for a private tasting. It was such an amazing experience, and couldn't have been a better way to kick off our stay in wine country!

Krupp Brothers

Driving up to the Krupp property was like a movie. The grounds are just stunning and exactly what I imagine Italy looks like. We had a great time learning about their history and naming of the wines, and of course, tasting it all😋

Del Dotto

If you go anywhere in Napa, you've got to go to Del Dotto. They have a few different locations but for this trip we went to the Piazza Del Dotto, which instantly transports you to Italy.

Their wine is TOP notch. We got to taste it directly out of the barrel which is always the coolest thing. We had a fantastic food and wine pairing, where we got to taste things like truffle mac and cheese, caviar, and dessert with actual gold flakes. Highly, highly recommended stopping here, and make this one the last stop of the day bc you will be l-i-t🔥

Raymond Vineyards

Looking for something eccentric? Look no further than Raymond. The vibe is vintage-cabaret-glam.

We booked a class here to make our own custom bottle of wine, and that was so fun! We got to design our own wine label, and actually mix the wine depending on how much percentage of Merlot, Cab, or Cab Franc we liked. It was a total science experiment!

Sequoia Grove

This winery is literally surrounded by giant Sequoia trees...so beautiful! They have a courtyard perfect for sitting and having a glass of wine, or they do a lovely food and Cabernet pairing, which we did.

MUMM

This is a bar-type setting that offers tableside champagne tastings. The outdoor terrace overlooks the surrounding vineyards. Beautiful way to spend an afternoon🥂

O'Brien Estate Vineyards

One of my personal favorites, O'Brien offers a casual, relaxing garden setting and feels like you're at a friends house having wine.

Domaine Carneros

Welcome to the Castle. This property will take your breath away, literally and figuratively. When you arrive and see how grand it is you'll be blown away, and then after walking up all the stairs you'll be out of breath #worthit. Inside you will taste fantastic sparkling wines, caviar, smoked salmon, cheeses, and more.

Where to Eat

As I mentioned above, you gotta eat when drinking wine all day! We did food and wine pairings at most places, and cooked a lot at our Airbnb but we did have a nice dinner on the last night and also stopped between tastings to eat a few quick bites for lunch each day. Here are the places I recommend:

Oakville Grocery

This place has it all! Sandwiches, coffee, beer, wine, tons of snacks and plenty of seating. They also have a gift shop with lots of unique gift options or souvenirs. It gets really busy so make sure you have some time to spare when visiting.

Gott's Roadside

YUM is all I can say about Gott's. It's a small place right off the main road and gets BUSY, but the wait is worth it. They have burgers, tacos, salads, sandwiches, milkshakes, beer, wine and more. Great place to grab a bite for lunch between tastings.

Cordeiros Steakhouse

Probably the best meal I've ever had! This is an upscale steakhouse, but you can BYOB to enjoy the wine you may have purchased earlier at a tasting, or they also have a full bar for cocktails and such. Definitely make reservations.

What I Wore

For the trip I packed several items I had already owned but also bought some new pieces from Amazon, which I have linked below. Everything fit TTS, I'm a small in tops/dresses and small/27 waist in pants.

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