We just returned from an awesome trip in Napa and Sonoma- a wine lover's dream! We stayed in Napa the whole time, at the Elm House Inn. This is an amazing time to visit the Napa Valley the vines are dripping with grapes ready for the picking. We visited 15 wineries/vineyards on this trip, which was surprisingly not too many. We planned on about 3-4 per day but with the availability and proximity of so many wineries, it was easy too squeeze in a few more. The above picture is the whole family at Jacuzzi Family Winery trying there chocolate port shots. Loved this winery due to their Italian style winemaking.
Here is a quick rundown of the wineries we visited (Beaulieu Vineyards above):
Day One: (Napa V.) Beringer Vineyards, Merryvale, Pride Mountain, Charbay and Long Meadow Ranch
Day Two: (Napa V.) Beaulieu Vineyards, Sequioa Grove, Grgich Hills, Kuleto Estate, and William Harrison
Day Three: (Sonoma) Kunde, Kaz, Gundlach Bundshu, Cline, and Jacuzzi Family
I have very detailed reviews under "winery/vineyard reviews", but would give the briefest reviews in this very technical manner.
Keep: Beringer, Merryvale, Pride Mountain, Grgich Hills, Kaz and Jacuzzi
Toss: Charbay, Long Meadow, William Harrison, Gundlach Bundshu
The best view in the Valley is definitely the Sonoma/Napa county line at the top of Pride Mountain in the Mayacamus Mountains at Pride Mountain Vineyard.
There are a lot of very famous restaurants in the valley and for the most part I would say they are vastly overrated, I had no idea what little interest I would have in eating after an entire day of wine tasting, but the answer is very little, the best meal we had in Napa Valley was Gott's Roadside Burgers. Way better than In and Out, delicious secret sauce and great onion rings. Sacrilegious to some people I am sure, very glad we did not spend the money on Thomas Keller. For all of the reviews on this trip, see each individual page for detailed reviews.
