When I put "Go to a wine tasting" (#97) and "Visit Napa Valley" (#7) on my 101 in 1001 list, I had no idea I'd get to check them both off on a spectacular holiday trip to California with my family! We were all wondering if it would be weird to spend Christmas away from home, skipping all of our traditions in favor of new adventures and surroundings, but our trip was absolutely lovely (and we're definitely planning on repeating the new tradition!).
While we did so much more than wine tasting on our trip to Sonoma and Napa, one doesn't visit wine country and NOT hit up wineries galore! We spent two full days of our trip wine tasting, with scattered pop-ins here and there on other days in between other excursions. All in all, we hit up over a dozen different wineries all over Napa Valley and Sonoma...and I learned so much about wine along the way!
I'm waiting for my sister's stunning photos (as usual) before doing a full write-up, but a few highlights:
Sunset sparkling flights at Gloria Ferrer on our first night
"Nine Barrel" pinot noir at La Crema's stunning new tasting room
Views for miles and life-changing sauvignon blanc at Hanna in the peak of the Alexander Valley
Tasting the sparkling wine exclusively bottled for President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev as part of talks to end the Cold War
Family fun and a whole lot of pride for sister Meems at Domaine Chandon (Their special edition summer 2017 bottles will feature Emily's design work!)
And generally having barrels of fun...see what I did there?
More to come...but it was sure fun to revisit wine country via photos on my alcohol-free Whole30. Check out more 101 in 1001 here...only three weeks left, eek!