Winery Tours – Make sure you have a driver and enjoy the day.

Our first stop was Casa Nuestra. A small winery on the outskirts of town. Very sweet place with roaming goats & lambs.

This row has zinfandel grapes, really delicious off the vine.

This winery has goats. Photogenic and camera ready!

It’s 10:30 am. And so the wine tasting begins.

Rutherford Ranch Winery – 1680 Silverado Trail S., St. Helena

I loved this winery. Why you should go. They do chocolate pairings with their wine tastings. It was totally unexpected but after today I think I need to incorporate chocolate and wine tastings at my next party. Kudos to our wine expert Gail who guided us through the journey of chocolate and wine pairings effortlessly. Also reminded us of the 4 S’s. Stem, Swirl, Smell, & Sip.

Chardonnay & white chocolate goes very well together.

This green frog was on one of the red umbrellas at the deck. He turned red with the photo.

The Hill Family Estate – 6512 Washington Street – Yountville

The Hill Family Estate Winery is family owned and for the past 30 years has been making fine wines in the Napa Valley.

Why you should go. Well I’ll tell ya. The guy on the left is Ryan Hill and as we were tasting some of the Hill wine in one of their tasting rooms, he comes in, sits down and starts chatting. I call him The Closer. With his charm, movie star good looks, and flavorful wines, the women at the table were mesmerized. As we listened to his stories we sent the men to the register to buy his wine.

Razi Winery – 3108 Silverado Trail – Napa

Fred Razi has owned Razi Winery for the past 25 years or so. Why you should go. To meet and talk to Fred Razi and…..of course taste his wine. He was the highlight of this stop as he patiently (it was the last stop on the wine tour) poured our tastings and spoke to us about his winery and love of the craft. I loved him and appreciated his wine and storytelling abilities. A great way to end the tour. A big shout out to Platypus tours and Luis our driver. The day was perfect!