Category Archives: Napa Valley

Silverado Vineyards

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Silverado Vineyards

Silverado Vineyards

6121 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558

Website:  http://www.silveradovineyards.com/

Silverado Vineyards is located off the Silverado Trail in the Stags Leap district.  The Mediterranean style winery sits atop a hill.  We drove up a long driveway to the parking area that looks out over the surrounding vineyards.  There is a pretty stone stairway leading up to the winery.  Before entering the tasting room area, there is a hallway off to the side with a window that looks down into the barrel room.  Visitors can open the window and get a whiff of the wonderful aroma of wine fermenting in barrels.  I love this smell!  It’s one of my favorite things about visiting wineries.

Silverado Vineyards Tasting Room

Silverado Vineyards Tasting Room

The tasting room is bright with its white walls and large windowed doors leading to the terrace, but it also has a little bit of a lodge feel with its wooden bar, wooden beams, and chandelier on the ceiling.   There is a fireplace at the opposite end of the room from the entrance, and there were a few tables set up in the center of the room with some wine accessories.  One of the best features of this winery is the outside terrace with French style tables where guests can see a spectacular view of the valley down below.

Silverado Vineyards Terrace

Silverado Vineyards Terrace

The winery was worth seeing but our tasting experience was not the best.  The person pouring for us was not very friendly.  My husband and I were the only ones at the tasting bar at the time.  There may have been one other couple in the tasting room.  The server handed us a menu and said “this is what we’re pouring”.  As she poured a wine, she told us the name of the wine and little else.  She didn’t seem interested in striking up a conversation.  I also didn’t find the wines to be spectacular, even though they have some Cabernet Sauvignons that have received over 90 points by Robert Parker in The Wine Advocate.  My impression of the wine may have been tainted by the service we received.  It’s unfortunate that the service wasn’t as nice as the winery itself.

Sequoia Grove

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Sequoia Grove Winery

Sequoia Grove Winery

8338 Saint Helena Hwy, Napa, CA 94558

Website: http://www.sequoiagrove.com/

Sequoia Grove gets its name from the towering trees surrounding the winery.  The winery is not actually situated in a Sequoia grove.  It’s located in Rutherford off of Highway 29, but there are a few Sequoia trees that tower over the winery.  My husband and I passed between two Sequoias as we entered the doors to the tasting room. 

 

Sequoia Grove Tasting Room

Sequoia Grove Tasting Room

The tasting room looks like a mountain lodge made of all natural wood.  The tasting bar is carved from a single piece of wood.  Two large wooden casks called puncheons flank each side of the entryway.  Each puncheon was made in France and assembled at the winery.  A skylight provides natural light to the tasting room.  It was created after a Sequoia tree fell on the roof during a lighting storm.  The skylight came in very handy while I was visiting because there was an unexpected power outage but the natural light allowed us to continue our tasting.

 

Large puncheons in the Sequoia Grove tasting room

Large puncheons in the Sequoia Grove tasting room

Behind the tasting bar, the wall is covered by a large wooden rack filled with bottles of wine, and on the top shelf are displayed the largest wine bottles I have ever seen.  The centerpiece is a super-sized bottle called a Goliath that is equivalent to 36 bottles of wine.  It is impressive to see. 

I greatly enjoyed my time at Sequoia Grove.  Despite the fact that we walked in during a power outage, our server was very gracious.  After pouring a couple of wines for us and listening to how we described them, she realized that we knew a little about wine and offered to do a blind tasting for us.  It was the first time I did a blind tasting and I had a fun time trying to guess each type of wine.  She even poured us a few extra wines that weren’t listed on the tasting menu and then told us we didn’t have to pay for the tasting.  This is definitely a place that I plan to return to because of the friendly staff and laid back atmosphere.  The wines were also very good.

Napa Cellars

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Napa Cellars

Napa Cellars

7481 St Helena Hwy, Napa, CA 94558

Website: http://napacellars.com/

Napa Cellars tasting room is located in the Oakville section off Highway 29.  This is a small tasting room that serves wines from both Napa Cellars and Folie à Deux.  The tasting room is located inside of a small dome-shaped building.  There is a pathway to left of the tasting room that leads to a picnic area in the back.  There’s a little fountain out front.  I felt this place had more of a fun, social atmosphere and is probably not the best option for true wine enthusiasts.  Most of the wines they were pouring when I visited are widely distributed in my area, so it was a bit of a disappointment to me that I wasn’t able to sample something I hadn’t tried before. 

The tasting bar inside the tasting room is in the center of the room.  There are gifts and wine along the walls of room.  We had an Australian guy for our server and he was talking about moving to Colorado to do some snowboarding.  We had already tried some of the wines before visiting.  I stopped in mostly because I was curious if they would be serving anything I couldn’t find back home.  The tasting menu was pretty basic.  On the plus side, the wines are very reasonably priced between $10 to $32.  There is a nice little hang-out area outside.  I’d say that this may be good for a quick stop with friends at the end of day.  It is open a little later than the majority of other tasting rooms.   For me, it’s another tasting room to check off my list but not one I’d go back to.