Sunday 9 September 2012 – Napa wine tasting
GO Eagles! What a win against North Melbourne.
Day 150 and 8 days to go
A lazy Sunday morning is the
perfect kind of morning. As we were not moving on today we were able to hang
around in bed little longer, though Paul was eager to get out as the bed is so
uncomfortable that any extra time in it is torturous.
I sat and read for a bit as
he went off to shower and then, figuring he would be back soon, I got on with
my usual routine.
We were ready to tackle the
day ahead by 10.15am. Leaving the park and heading towards Silverado Trail our
aim was to find some wineries to drink at that didn’t charge for the privilege.
After checking the net yesterday I found a blog listing some wineries in the
Napa that were free, however it was posted 11 years ago.
Our first winery was Raymond.
As we parked we could see they had frames all strung out that you could use to
frame photos of the valley covered in vines. I thought that was a neat idea. .
Upon entering the tasting room we were told there was a charge for their
“Flights”. They had a few different ones to choose from. We opted for the
cheapest at $20 that we would again share. 2 whites and 4 reds. I am getting
the short end of the stick as whites don’t appear to be prevalent.
Their wines were nice and
easy to drink but nothing spectacular despite the sales pitch from the over
eager host. They did have a dessert sav blanc that I quite enjoyed but nothing
I would jump at purchasing.
With our money spent we were
back aboard the hippo to the next stop Rombauer. We parked our Ford E350 in the
car park with the other Mercedes soft tops and Porsches. There is obviously
plenty of money here. Again expecting a freebie, we were told it was $15 to
taste that we paid up reluctantly and entered the tasting room where they had
three serving bars.
We were seen to by an Alaskan
bloke who had been to Australia and even Perth, so we were able to have a good
chat while tasting the range of minimal whites and more reds. They are
apparently “World” famous for their Chardonnay which was quite nice, but I
think “World” really refers to US otherwise I am sure we would have heard of
it. They seem to do this a lot. I am sure they think that there isn’t much more
to the world than what they have a hand in.
Anyway, with our money at
this place we were given two full size wine glasses so we were placated
somewhat with having to fork out cash every time we taste.
Following our wine guide in
which we had circled free wineries we made our way over to Frank Family winery
where we stopped in the car park. We checked out the grounds, saw there was a
$20 tasting fee, used the loo and continued on our way.
We crossed over to the
parallel St Helena Hwy where we passed Silverado Brewery. We pulled into the
lot and found our way into the building pulling up a stool at the bar where
Paul ordered their tasting plate and we shared some squid.
When we had finished we
returned to the van and I made some sandwiches to eat for lunch before moving
on.
Our final winery stop was
Heitz where we were pleasantly surprised, a free tasting! The place was busy,
which I guess shows you that free tastings bring in the custom and consequently
the sales of cases. We enjoyed what was on offer, particularly the port, but
with no intention of buying we were out the door when we were done.
We returned to Silverado
Trail as I wanted to stop at Darioush winery. We had past this winery before
and I was intrigued by the building. We entered through Old Greek like columns
to the main building that appeared to be ancient Greek or Egyptian. It was very
ostentatious and completely out of place but I guess it would get people to
visit. We didn’t go into the building instead we returned to the trail.
We stopped a little way down
the road at the shop to pick up some drinks before returning to the campground
at 3pm. I was glad for the early day as it gave me a chance to vege and read my
book while Paul used the computer.
We then played cards while I
loaded pictures before we thought about dinner at 6.30pm .
asas
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