Napa, California

[Doug11]

photo report:

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These little greenies will turn into red grapes a little later this year:
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[Doug11]

Robert Mondavi Winery

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The winery is a very familiar sight to those who drink these wines, as shown in this image of the wine labels from google images:
http://www.wineaccess.ca/files/imagecache/default/files/articles/Robert-Mondavi1.png

[Doug11]

Beringer Winery

I promised this would be a photo report, but want to tell you the Beringer Winery is the oldest, continuously running winery in the U.S., and it was legally operated during Prohibition. Reason? It supplied communion wine to the Catholic Church!

The mansion
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http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd301/MKCP/NapaSanFrancisco017.jpg

The winery
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inside the wine cellar
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Leslie with the Beringers:
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Beringer wine from google images (note the mansion in the label):

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:a7CDbCKK_vU1oM:http://www.murraybrand.com/images/portfolio/beringer_bfe.jpg

[Doug11]

Charles Krug Winery: The oldest winery in Napa, Valley

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd301/MKCP/NapaSanFrancisco021.jpg

from google images:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:UvY8NPrCSPLd8M:http://popsop.ru/wp-content/uploads/cfnapa_charles_krug_new.jpg

Castillo di Amorosa: An "authentic" castle and winery on the north end of Napa Valley

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from google images:
http://www.thegoodwineguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Castello-di-Amorosa-Pinot-Bianco.jpg

[Doug11]

Okay, one more Napa Valley winery - the Turnbull Winery:

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This was a smaller winery but with very good tasting product. Their logo looks like this, from a google search:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:XQniIgAtnwshDM:http://grandcruwine.net/style/turnbull-winery.gif

[Doug11]

After leaving Napa, we drove over to Sonoma Valley, to find a place we'd been told about, the Bartholomew Park Winery.

We had to stop for lunch and ended up in the Swiss Hotel in the Sonoma town square:

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Thank goodness for the GPS, or we would never have found the Bartholomew Park, but the grounds were beautiful and the wine so good we became members of their club. :D

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[Doug11]

With that last bit done, it was off to San Francisco, for dinner with a friend from high school and her significant other and an early Sunday morning flight home. :lookaroun The route from San Francisco to Napa takes you across the Bay Bridge, into Alameda County, but coming back from Sonoma, you get the Golden Gate! :D

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A friend called with a baseball game update on our son's game just as we were overlooking the San Francisco bay:

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One last look, back toward Sonoma County wine country. . .

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Well, that's all the pictures I have for this trip. Having only the big zoom lens made taking the camera around a chore, and made it difficult to get many wide angle shots. I hope you feel like you've taken a little trip . . .

[Doug11]

and just for the hell of it - since it took me all day to get on an airplane to come home Sunday, here is a photo of some moon rocks, taken out the window somewhere over the desert of the United States Southwest:

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd301/MKCP/NapaSanFrancisco082.jpg

[Roxxy]

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!! The best burger I ever had was in Napa, Taylor's Automatic Refresher.

Anyways, If Bartholomew Park is worth you becoming a member for then I must check it out when I go in the fall. :D

[pinkrose]

Beautiful!!!!!! Glad you were finally able to get home. Bless your heart.

[Doug11]

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!! The best burger I ever had was in Napa, Taylor's Automatic Refresher.

Anyways, If Bartholomew Park is worth you becoming a member for then I must check it out when I go in the fall. :D

Burgers? I was really wanting to eat at In-n-Out! It didn't work out though. Next time, I will eat there no matter what! :lol

Bartholomew Winery - Good wine, and not overpriced!

And thanks, for the compliments on the photos, Roxxy and Elizabeth! Leslie had her point and shoot camera, so maybe she will share some of her photos with me and I can post some more pictures of the pretty flowers everywhere. It was awesome out there.

[Regina]

Great photos! Don't apologize about the zoom lens, they still came out fine :lol

[Roxxy]

Burgers? I was really wanting to eat at In-n-Out! It didn't work out though. Next time, I will eat there no matter what! :lol

Bartholomew Winery - Good wine, and not overpriced!

And thanks, for the compliments on the photos, Roxxy and Elizabeth! Leslie had her point and shoot camera, so maybe she will share some of her photos with me and I can post some more pictures of the pretty flowers everywhere. It was awesome out there.
Yes, burgers!! This place used grass fed cows and there’s a difference in taste. I’ll admit that I’m shocked that you haven’t had an In-n-Out burger! Weren’t you out here a few years ago?

[Christy]

:thumbs

[Doug11]

Great photos! Don't apologize about the zoom lens, they still came out fine :lol

Thanks - looking forward to your So Cal photos this summer!

Yes, burgers!! This place used grass fed cows and there’s a difference in taste. I’ll admit that I’m shocked that you haven’t had an In-n-Out burger! Weren’t you out here a few years ago?
Yeah, somehow I didn't know about In-n-Out back then. It has been a while since I've been out west.


:thumbs

Thanks!

[Lindz]

Wow!! What great photos Doug! I would love to take a trip to Napa like that. It would be perfect for me and my mom. Hopefully someday. Stan can stay home with the kid :)

[erika]

Looks like a great trip! I see some of my dad's favorite labels :)

We have In N Out here and I think most of their customers are CA transplants. :lol

[Doug11]

Wow!! What great photos Doug! I would love to take a trip to Napa like that. It would be perfect for me and my mom. Hopefully someday. Stan can stay home with the kid :)

Thanks - maybe you will do better than my wife and I - it took us 20+ years to get out there! :lol


Looks like a great trip! I see some of my dad's favorite labels :)

We have In N Out here and I think most of their customers are CA transplants. :lol

In N Out in Arizona? Maybe there is hope of getting one here in my lifetime. :) Glad you liked the pics.

[tigsmom]

Beautiful!! I've had Beringer wines and they are pretty good, but I'm going to dispute their claim of being the oldest, continuous winery in the US. We have a local winery called Brotherhood and that was started in the 1830's and has made wine ever since (though owned by different families/consortium over the years they have never stopped making wine) and they also have the oldest & largest wine cellars in America (and a pretty scary place to have a party, believe you me! ) They also survived through prohibition by selling sacramental wines.
I have to say that my favorite California wine comes from the Cambria vineyards in Santa Maria Ca...Katherine's Reserve Chardonnay :cool If I ever conquer my fear of being in a plane for more than 2 hours I would love to make the same trip.

[Doug11]

Beautiful!! I've had Beringer wines and they are pretty good, but I'm going to dispute their claim of being the oldest, continuous winery in the US. We have a local winery called Brotherhood and that was started in the 1830's and has made wine ever since (though owned by different families/consortium over the years they have never stopped making wine) and they also have the oldest & largest wine cellars in America (and a pretty scary place to have a party, believe you me! ) They also survived through prohibition by selling sacramental wines.
I have to say that my favorite California wine comes from the Cambria vineyards in Santa Maria Ca...Katherine's Reserve Chardonnay :cool If I ever conquer my fear of being in a plane for more than 2 hours I would love to make the same trip.

:D Perhaps the guide exaggerated . . . or perhaps I misheard. :bag Here is the official plaque description of the Beringer winery:

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd301/MKCP/NapaSanFrancisco007.jpg

From what I was told, Krug was the first established in Napa Valley, but ceased operations for a time during prohibition, making Beringer the longest continually operated winery . . . in Napa Valley at least. :D

[TheQueen]

Great photos, Doug!! I always get misty eyed when I see the Golden Gate Bridge.


Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!! The best burger I ever had was in Napa, Taylor's Automatic Refresher.

I meant to tell Doug to stop there but I forgot! By the time I remembered he was already gone.

By the way, they changed the name recently. It's now called Gott's Roadside Tray Gourmet. And of course the name change has resulted in a lawsuit.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/27/BA1M1CLPV5.DTL

The new website.

http://gottsroadside.com/

[Doug11]

Gott's? It was literally across the street from our hotel. There were always crowds there every time we walked or drove around.

We were never around for lunch, but ate dinner the first night at aka Bistro where we wandered in just before the kitchen closed and the second night at Cindy's Back Street Kitchen, run by Chef Cindy Pawlcyn. http://www.cindysbackstreetkitchen.com/ Both were great meals!

[maggiegrace1]

Gorgeous Doug!..Looks like a great time..:D

[Doug11]

Gorgeous Doug!..Looks like a great time..:D

You should go some time - it would probably be hard for you to resist the urge to go a little farther south to a certain place where Mickey Mouse lives. Heck, it was hard for me, too, but I am glad we took this trip.

[erika]

You should go some time - it would probably be hard for you to resist the urge to go a little farther south to a certain place where Mickey Mouse lives. Heck, it was hard for me, too, but I am glad we took this trip.

Probably a little less fun for Dana or I, with the little people :lol

I do really want to go but... maybe when the kids are older!

[Christy]

Doug only had to wait til his youngest was about to graduate high school :lol