Best places for Wine tasting in Napa Valley, California

Napa Valley is located in the San Pablo bay in California, Unites States and produces some of the most popular New World wines. In fact the region is now known as the premier region to produce wine in the entire world. The production of wine in the Napa Valley started in 1858, and despite many ups and downs, the region only grew in fame for its wine.

One of the best ways to sample the wine produced at Napa Valley is by a visit there for wine tasting. I visited the valley when I was a student at Stanford and here is the story of my experiences there :)

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Wine is surely an intoxicant, but sometimes even a discussion of the subject can make you do unusual things.

Like two good friends who love to trek, Abhinav and me started early morning one Sunday and were deciding on the mountain to climb. This went on absolutely fine, till we passed a road sign which said - Napa 'x' miles. Within minutes, the GPS device was updated with a new address and we were zooming towards Napa valley for wine tasting and possibly some interesting experiences in the wine country tours.

Well, in the beginning the place did kind of disappoint me as I was expecting the valley to be a cozy, and more personal. However, its pretty big and everything is far apart. Of course, goes without saying that having a car is must.

Wine rack with some recently discovered old wine at Beringer

A souvenir shop at Mondavi, beautiful space...

Well...a wine rack

Its a famous landmark at the Mondavi winery, nakedness works always :)

Inside the fairytale castle (The Rhine House) at Beringer

We visited two wineries - Robert Mondavi and Beringer. Beringer was especially fun, as we got to walk around in the very old caves, some of which are still used for storing wine in barrels as it matures. The wineries always have some really interesting stories about their past and its past owners, and they are always rather mesmerizing. Beringer is oldest continuously running winery in Napa, and its also one of the most famous (often credited with starting the wine tourism in the valley in the 1930s).

Another famous vineyard which we couldn't go to is called Castello di Amorosa. This place is special as it's actually a family friendly vineyard :)

We (read I) did most of our wine tasting here. Abhi was the designated driver, so he had just one glass while I had about nine in total. It was simply fantastic to be drunk in the middle of the day, when you originally start it with the idea of trekking and surviving on protein bars and water :) Visiting the very cold San Francisco and walking around on the streets later in the day was even more fun!

Jazz performances like these are common on weekends

Not so tough to find pretty people anywhere in the valley :)

Inside the cave (these were mainly built by the Chinese workers in the 19th century)

Stored barrels in the cave

Ah...the tasty wine ;)

The Rhine House!