My hubby and I have been going to Napa religiously since 2006 and have explored an embarrassing number of wineries in California’s wine country.  In the last few years, we’ve been skipping Napa and Sonoma valley and heading further north to Dry Creek for a less commercial experience, you know, the way Napa used to be.  Last week, we headed back to Napa, but this trip was different, serious, intimidating, and exciting  - we were tagging along with a major wine-buff.

We flexed our wine-tasting muscle and visited 7 wineries in one day, compared with our usual limit of 3.  We visited Chappellet, Nichelini, ZD, Hope and Grace, Sullivan, Alpha Omega, and Peju.  We swirled, sniffed, tasted, assessed, and dumped countless glasses of wine… it was a tough day.

For those of you interested in the wine and the wineries, keep a close watch on our friend Greg Barlin’s blog and he will fill you in on all the details.  For a few non-wine tasting related highlights:

1969 Cab in Chappellet’s Library

Meet Stickers, Nichelini’s winery cat

Beautiful Tulips at Peju

from Hawaii with love,