Full Report: Napa Valley Vacation!

I finally made it home from Napa and it was one of the greatest vacations I've had....besides my honeymoon of course :).  For any of you out there that think that Napa is way too expensive of a vacation spot think again!  I was very surprised at how affordable the trip was so don't count it out as your next vacation spot!

I come from small town rural America where we have some local wineries that are pretty delicious.....shout out to Satek Winery and Stoney Ridge Winery!  However I really only had a taste for sweet wines such as your moscato and flavored wines like Satek raspberry and blackberry.  I was told that I wouldn't find those out in Napa so I was kind of concerned that I wouldn't like any of the wines and Napa would be a complete bust!

I couldn't have been more wrong!  On our first day out there we started off at Robert Mondavi winery and here are a few pics from the tour and this is kind of a staple if you go to Napa that is a good one to start at and they give a great tour and a lot of history.

Robert Mondavi Winery:

Here is a fun fact...Did you know that they stain the center of the barrels with the skins of the grapes so that when they are testing and taking samples you don't see the drips and runs from the wine....genius!!

The next winery we went to was...Hall Wineries-Kathryn Hall:

The view from the balcony.  We had the opportunity to visit the Kathryn Hall winery which is a smaller winery up on the mountain by the owners home.  The big winery is actually down on the main road to Napa so this was a great experience.

The owners of this winery are really into art and they had neat pieces throughout the winery which makes it very unique and great eye appeal.  It is also great marketing because you will definitely remember this winery not only for the wine but the cool art.

This is the chandelier in the cellar of their tasting room.  By far the coolest thing I have ever seen!  Those are real crystals hanging from that tree root!!
The next day we had the hot air balloon ride which I blogged about earlier and then had a group wine tour with Platypus Tours.  If you are going out to Napa and have never been I definitely suggest taking one of these tours!  It was an awesome experience and they take you to the hidden smaller local wineries that don't mass produce a ton of wine so it is really neat to try wines that you can't find anywhere but at the winery.  They pick you up around 10:30am and take you to 4-5 different wineries provide a picnic lunch and return you around 4:30-5.  It was great!!!!

Here is me and my cousin Lauren at the picnic lunch while on the tour

The scenery is just amazing out here and it was actually pretty dry just like much of the country but the grapes made the scenery very green and lush.  I hope you enjoy the review and plan yourselves a trip to Napa because you won't regret it!!