Wine Tasting in Napa

I will admit if I am going to drink anything it is going to be beer over wine; not into wines unless they are of the sweeter variety and not dry. Not dry in the sense that they have a slight bitter taste to them. Now why did I decide to go wine tasting when I do not particularly care for wine? It goes back to my brother and his family who were visiting for the weekend. My brother wanted to drive to Napa since he has a friend who owns a winery there and he wanted to visit it while he was in California.

Off we went to our first winery for the day; Frog’s Leap Winery.  You will need to make reservations for the wine tasting at this winery. Reservations were made for the signature seating tasting on the back porch of The Vineyard House. We had our own private table for which to taste the four wines set before us.

The first one I tried was the Chardonnay and then I tried the Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. If I were to decide on which one I liked the best than it would be the Chardonnay. It had a lighter taste than the others and had a hint of citrus to it. As for the other wines, the Merlot was too strong. Along with the tasting, we had dried fruit, cheese and crackers to sample. I would have chosen cheese over wine tasting if there was a choice to be made. Can you believe I enjoyed the cheese more than I did the wine? You probably can since I mentioned I do not care for wine.

Forget the wine; it’s all about carmody cheese for me. I would have bought some if they had any on hand; found out it can be purchased at Bell Wether Farms.  No, I didn’t have the chance to stop at the farm and pick up any of this cheese. You know me, I will find out how I can purchase it. If you are a cheese fanatic, like me, than you will find out where to locate it online. I found out that the farm has partnered with Cowgirl Creamery  which is good since I can order it online whenever I want.

As for the wine, I did swirl it around in the glass and sniff it before tasting it. Before you ask, this winery did not have any buckets next to the tables where you could spit out the wine if you didn’t like it. What could I do but drink the wine set before me or leave what I didn’t like in the glass? After the wine tasting, we were able to walk around the winery on our own.

I enjoyed seeing the winery with my family instead of with a group. You may not learn as much but you can take your time seeing it instead of following along with others. That is what made spending time at this winery great; fruit orchards, winery garden and arbor along with pond on my own.

I knew it was time for lunch after we left Frog’s Leap Winery behind us. We stopped at Rutherford Grill  which was worth the thirty minute wait before we sat down. I usually order the same type of food when I eat out; chicken, of course. This decided to order something different and it turns out it was better than the chicken would have been. Can I say the veggie burger with Monterey jack was the best? It is nothing like you would attempt to make at home or buy at the store. I recommend this place if only for the veggie burger.

I knew I could make it to the next winery now that I had eaten something. Our next stop was at Miner Family Winery   which is owned by my brother’s friend. At this winery, you can choose from five wines on the list to taste. I tried the Marsanne; realized I couldn’t try another dry wine. Since stopping at the first wine and not going further, I walked around the room and noticed this one is set up differently than Frog’s Leap Winery. At the first winery, we had our own private table. At this winery, you stood at the bar while you tasted their wines. Another thing about this winery is that if you don’t finish the wine than they take the glass from you, dump the rest in the sink or you can dump it or spit it out into the buckets located at each end of the bar.

Have you thought about reserving a table at one of these wineries or showing up for the wine tasting offered? Did you decide you wanted to sample the food instead and schedule one of those types of tours? Where did you go for the wine tasting or food tours? Was it in France? Rome? Was it another country that may be known for their wines and food and you scheduled something there? I would love to know what you thought of the wine and food if you did something similar to this.