Wine Tasting Part 2

Saturday morning we got up and decided to drive across the hill to the Napa Valley since I'd never been wine tasting in Napa and Carina loves the Dutch Henry chardonnay (which they are no longer producing).  They did, however, have a really cool bocci ball court that we hung out at and admired the view of the vineyard and the rest of the valley beyond it.  

 We also really liked their wino-crossing sign.  Carina even took a cute picture with it and the bottle of wine Mom bought her.  

After Dutch Henry, everyone agreed that we had to go up to Sterling, which is on top of this little hill in the middle of the valley.  You take an old gondola up from the parking lot on the valley floor and ohmigosh it's really something.  

When we got into the winery, they had a self-guided tour of the facilities and as you walk through and learn about the wine-making process they have tasting stations where you sample the wines.  It was definitely an operation that is geared toward the tourists- which was kind of neat even if their wines weren't remarkable.  I did like their Riesling, which I've purchased at the store before, and their 2009 Cellar Club Malvasia Bianca. Mmmm it was good!

 

Gianna, Carina, & Mom on the terrace

After Sterling, Carina wanted to check out the sparkling wines.  She's been to a couple different wineries with Mom and Dad, but they decided to take me to Mumm which they agreed has the superior wine.  

Dad was our DD again, and we girls enjoyed some of the bubbly!  It was interesting for me, because I'm not a huge fan of carbonated beverages.  I did enjoy the Santana Sparkling Wine, which was very sweet and fruity and not at all dry.  

From there, it was back home- with a quick stop and In-n-Out so Carina could get her fix while she's in California.

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