California Christmas: Day 5

The day after Christmas we drove up to Napa to visit our friend from college, Tiara. She lives in Arizona, but was home for Christmas. Her boyfriend was also spending Christmas with her and her family. We decided to do a little wine tasting in Napa county.

Unlike the previous wine tasting, we just drove around and picked places that looked interesting. The first place was called Darioush and it was super fancy (and a bit pretentious). Man, did we every feel out of place! The wait staff didn't even acknowledge our presence and all the other patrons had European accents. It was more like a fancy wine bar than a wine tasting room. We high-tailed it out of there for a more relaxed winery!

Persian palace in Napa Valley

We stopped at Black Stallion and it was much more to our liking. They had pretty good wines although not as good as Ferrari-Carano or Dry Creek. I liked the architecture and gardens, though.

I got excited to go to Chandon, which make some of my favorite sparkling wines. They are also one of the big wineries in the valley with a stop on the booze train. Unfortunately, Inga was not allowed in the tasting room. I guess they didn't want children to disrupt the atmosphere of their 1 star Michelin restaurant. Tiara, Chris, and I tried to get a spot at the tasting bar, but it was too crowded. I bought a bottle of the pinot noir sparkling though since I haven't found it in Ohio.

Tiara and Chris at Chandon

We were kind of striking out on the wine tasting. Napa is just too pretentious (and expensive) for a young family. I would have to recommend Sonoma county over Napa county for wineries.

To finish off the day, we took a walk at the Skyline Wilderness Park outside Napa. The park offers great views of the valley. Unfortunately, Inga did not want to be in the carrier (again) and Sam held her most of the way. We met another dad on the trail who was having the same carrier issues with his baby. I didn't feel too bad after that.

Happiest in Daddy's arms

Napa Valley