Saturday, we woke up early and headed to Napa Valley. I'm not going to lie, this was the part of the trip that I was most excited about. Kimmie and I had started doing Texas wine tasting 4 years ago and it became something we enjoyed together. I was so excited to go to see what Napa was like. Kimmie was such an amazing host. She spent lots of time searching blogs and websites to find the wineries that we would. And she did an outstanding job at selecting.
The first winery on our stop...Castello di Amorosa. WOW! I was in awe. We drove past many wineries on the way, but none had compared. It was a castle! Kimmie had signed us up for a tour and we were a bit early (due to having reschedule for being a bit late) so we looked around and took a few pictures.
Castello di Amorosa
Us standing outside the castle
Me in front of the castle
The view from the castle
When our tour started, we were relieved to find we had a wonderful tour guide. The tour was about an hour long. We saw the chapel where they actually hold Mass. We saw the dining room and other various rooms. But, my favorite part was the tunnels and caves. The owner wanted this to be just like a "real" castle so he had created underground tunnels and caves. The caves were build in the side of the hill and were used as cellars to store the wine in the oak barrells.
If you are a Bachelor watcher, you may remember this castle from Jake's season. The show had the girls staying the night in the castle and sneaking through the caves. I was very sad to learn that the girls didn't realy stay the night there, as the castle doesn't allow overnight guests. They had just pretended.
If you are a Bachelor watcher, you may remember this castle from Jake's season. The show had the girls staying the night in the castle and sneaking through the caves. I was very sad to learn that the girls didn't realy stay the night there, as the castle doesn't allow overnight guests. They had just pretended.
Oak barrels in the cave
Chapel
The dining room-all handpainted
Inside the castle
After the tour, we were able to taste the wines. Our tour guide was so kind and suggested we each share our wines so that we could taste more of them. She even let us try a few extras. In addition to our pairing, Kimmie had signed us up for some chocolate pairings. Very yummy! I think both of us decided our favorite was their muscat cannelli- Il Raggio del Sole. A nice "bubble bath wine" as we like to call them.
Our Chocolates
It was by far my favorite winery of the day. If you are lucky enough to to go Napa, I strongly suggest going to Castello di Amorosa. I would recommend though, that you save this tour for the last, as no other tour or winery will compare.
Us in the grapes
I had originally planned to fill you in on all the wineries we toured on Saturday, but that would end up being one long blog. So stay tuned for the other wineries and for day 3. And if you want to see more pictures or read Kimmie's take on it all, head over to her blog and check it out.
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