[San Francisco] Wine tasting at Napa Valley

Week 1

Day 4 (Nov 23rd, Sunday)

Day 2 in San Francisco - Evening in Wine Country

Passing by vineyards on our way to Napa Valley, CA

After visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, we traversed out of San Francisco for our next major agenda of the day -- wine tasting at Napa Valley. San Francisco to Napa Valley takes about 1-2 hours by car, and very soon my parents and brother at the backseat drowsed off, lulled to sleep by the peacefulness of Napa Valley.

Outside, the scenery was excellent as we passed through the Californian countryside, with its clear blue skies and rolling hills of green and yellow, framed by the faraway mountain range. We passed by many vineyards, but didn't stop at any, as our final destination was the Robert Mondavi Winery recommended by Leo's friend, which was located far in the heart of Napa Valley.

Finally, we arrived at a grand-looking Spanish courtyard with a fountain in front. We faster shook away our drowsiness as we climbed out of the car, excited for our first wine-tasting experience.

At the entrance to Robert Mondavi Winery

Interesting statue, also at the entrance - Mother Mary, perhaps?

Wine tasting at Robert Mondavi Winery

Red, red roses planted in the garden of the winery

Unfortunately, some disappointment occurred at the winery because we hadn't done enough research into the price of winetasting. It happened to be expensive - about $10 for 4 different sips of wine. So we each took a sip out of the 4 sips... did a short walk around the courtyard, and then left to explore other vineyards. I can't even remember now how the wine tasted like - just that some were supposed to taste like fruit, others with a tinge of wood; and how the salesperson taught us to swirl the red wine around in the glass to release the aroma, sniff the scent, and then gurgle it in our mouths before we swallowed it.

OK, moving on. We visited a few more wineries along the way, now changing our focus to take more photos of the beautiful vineyards instead of the winetasting. It was late autumn/early winter and all around us the leaves were changing colour...

Bright yellow...

Dark red...

Somewhere near Beaulieu Vineyard...

and somewhere near St. Supery Vineyard.

Somewhere at this point I seriously regretted not buying a DSLR again! It was impossible to catch the beauty of the place with a normal camera when it was nearing dusk... with the whole floor covered with red leaves, the twisted grapevines growing on poles, the evening sun transforming the mountain range into a dreamy state, the lovely tables set with white tablecloths and wineglasses...

It would be a perfect spot to hold a wedding party... in all that romantic-ness... :-)