My husband and I just came home from our honeymoon in Napa Valley. Our wedding and honeymoon were effected by the pandemic so when we rescheduled our wedding we didn’t even think about going on a honeymoon. About a month before the wedding we decided to plan a trip to Napa Valley! Our original honeymoon plans weren’t possible at the time but we still wanted to do something special. We both love food and wine—our first dates consisted of walking to Whole Foods and picking out a wine and cheese we’ve never tried before, so Napa Valley seemed like the perfect fit for us!
I’m going to share details of our trip and the places we went that truly made it remarkable!
GETTING THERE
We flew into San Francisco and rented a car. Be sure to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and get a glimpse of Alcatraz if you don’t plan on staying long in San Fran. The drive to Napa from SFO is about an hour. We stayed in downtown Napa where there are plenty of shops and restaurants. We drive to all of the wineries and restaurants with our rental car—getting around the Napa Valley area was super easy! There are a lot of car services available in the area if you aren’t up for driving.
ESSENTIALS
I did a lot of research before our trip because you can never be too prepared! When we arrived in Napa, we drove to a Target and picked up a case of water. This was crucial for us! We put some water bottles in our car each day before heading out to wineries and it helped us save money and stay hydrated! I also packed sunscreen, an umbrella, a first aid kit, and some snacks. Thankfully we didn’t need the umbrella. I packed some snacks because after drinking all day I knew I would need a snack to get me through. I packed my favorite Chomps beef sticks (Italian beef and jalapeño are our favorites) and some Chex mix. I highly recommended making sure you are prepared with these essentials for long Napa days!
WINERIES
One of our tour guides told us there are over 400 wineries to choose from in Napa Valley! Since there are so many options the planning process can be challenging. I came up with the wineries we visited from blogs and friend’s recommendations. I think 2-3 wineries a day are sufficient to have the best experience!
The order I put the wineries in this list are ranked from our favorite to least favorite.
Schramsberg
We did the sparkling wine cave tour at Schramsberg and it was amazing! This was definitely our favorite experience of the trip. It includes a tour of the caves where all of the sparkling wine is fermenting. It was carved out by hand back in the day and you can still see the axe marks on the cave walls. It was fun to go on a tour specifically about sparkling wines too! We thought all of the wines here were delicious and would definitely rate this winery a MUST go if you are traveling to Napa Valley!
Piazza Del Dotto
There are various Del Dotto locations in the Valley but only Piazzo Del Dotto was opened while we were visiting due to COVID and staffing issues. This winery has a marble cave to tour and all tastings come straight from the barrel! The property itself is magnificent and definitely worth checking out. The marble caves are beautiful and drinking wine straight from the barrel is a really unique experience! If you love red wines this is definitely the place for you. They make some incredible cabs and red blends. One of my favorite parts of the barrel tasting experience was being able to try wines from both French and American Oak barrels side by side. It really allowed us to get a sense of the difference in flavor profile with each barrel. We loved this tour so much! After the tour the guide brought us to a table where they served us a delicious pizza and we were able to try more wines if we wanted to. We tried a few wines from other vintages which we really enjoyed. I may or may not have bought various bottles from this winery! This winery is also a must go in my opinion!
Tank Garage Winery
This isn’t your typical Napa Valley winery and we loved it for that reason! This winery was an old gas station and motorcycle repair shop that was revamped to be a cool winery spot. Every wine we tasted was so delicious here! We became wine club members because it was affordable and very drinkable wine. Not only are the wines delicious— the labels on the bottles are really unique! I couldn’t even contain myself with all of the Instagram content I could capture here. If you are a millennial and like to day drink— you need to try this unique winery out because you will love it! This is another must go winery if you are visiting the area!
Cakebread Cellars
This winery is known for its Chardonnay, which is unique for the Napa region since most wineries in the area focus on red wines. However, we loved the pinot noir the most at this beautiful winery. The tour was really unique at this winery because we were able to walk through the vineyards and try a grape straight from the vine! It was super sour but a cool experience. We also were able to try pecans from a 100 year in pecan tree on the grounds. This was the first winery we heard about cement egg fermented wines amd were able to see one first hand. I loved the experiences at this winery!
V. Sattui Winery
This winery is really popular. We scheduled a tasting in which was in a beautiful garden area. For the tasting, you could choose what you wanted to sample from a long menu, so if your looking for some freedom to choose what you drink, this winery is a good option. We thought the wines were just okay.. nothing blew us away during our tasting experience. However, the ambiance was really beautiful!
Castello di Amoroso
I found this winery on TikTok and it was really cool because it is a castle and museum! the downside to this winery is that is VERY touristy! We had limited time with our tasting attendant and we didn’t enjoy the taste of many wines we tasted. The upside to this winery is the unique architecture, especially if you are interested in medieval stuff. I wouldn’t visit this winery if I went back to Napa Valley.
FOOD
Napa Valley is home to some of the most well known restaurants in the world. There are so many Michelin star restaurants! Since we planned our trip so late we couldn’t get a reservation at any of the Thomas Keller restaurants we had hoped for but we still had some delicious meals that I can share! So if you are wanting to go to French Laundry or another of Thomas Keller’s restaurants, make sure to make reservations months in advance (yes, months).
Model Bakery
For the BEST English muffins ever, make sure you head to this bakery. We went for breakfast sandwiches before a day of wineries and it was incredible!
Bouchon Bakery
This bakery is next to one of Thomas Keller’s restaurant, Bouchon Bistro. It’s an amazing French bakery in Yountville. I recommend getting there early to grab a coffee and pastry. We got a croissant and cream cheese danish and both were absolutely amazing!
In and Out
Since we don’t have In and Out near us, we really wanted to try this west coast fast food joint! Definitely not a necessary stop if you are visiting but it was fun for us to try it because we don’t have one close to home! My husband got everything “animal style.”
TORC
This restaurant is in downtown Napa and it was one of our favorites! We went for dinner one night and tried squash blossoms, soft shell crab with kimchi, and the steak for 2! Every dish we had here was amazing and the service was spectacular. Our waiter was really helpful in helping us make great choices from their unique menu. I highly recommend eating here if you are in the area.
Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch
Farmstead is a farm to table restaurant in Napa. The cocktails were really unique and delicious! We loved the al pastor tacos and would go back just to eat them!
Sam’s Social Club
We went to this restaurant for lunch one day and it was pretty good, but what really made this restaurant stick out to us were the amazing deviled eggs! A must try if you go to Sam’s Social Club.
V. Sattui Deli and Marketplace
At the V. Sattui winery they have an incredible deli store and picnic area. They do not allow any outside food or beverage but the marketplace has everything you will need! We had lunch here after our wine tasting and it was amazing! They have a variety of deli sandwiches, tons of meats and cheese, and even have fresh bread from Bouchon bakery to enjoy with wine and cheese. The marketplace alone is a great reason to visit V. Sattui.
THINGS TO DO
There are plenty of other things to do in Napa Valley that don’t include wine! Here is a list of some things we enjoyed
Take a stroll through downtown Yountville
Visit the French Laundry gardens
Visit Oxbow Public Market
Walk around downtown Napa
Take a picture at the famous Napa Valley sign
Visit the Culinary Institute of America
Watch the sunset at the Wine Crusher statue
Napa Valley was such a beautiful place to visit, especially since my husband and I love wine and food! I would definitely recommend visiting with your partner or girlfriends!
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