A Taste of Napa!
As is well-known, the Napa Valley is home to some amazing wineries and having never been to Napa before I was very excited for this visit. The reason for our trip was to assist and support the Waggin Trails Rescue Foundation (WTRF) at their annual Napa Valley fundraising party. And this year it was hosted at The Room at Flora Springs winery – which turned out to make the short list of my favorite wines on our trip.
Part of our journey included driving up our brand new transport van! Although the drive took us a little over 9 hours from Huntington Beach, we are so very excited to be able to fit even more dogs, comfortably in the new van. If you don’t know, Waggin Trails Rescue Foundation saves around 50 dogs per month from overcrowded California shelters.
We started our trip off with tastings at both Flora Springs and Peju Wineries. These beautiful locations host and have previously hosted our Wags N Wine events supporting WTRF. On a side note, because you will see lots of pictures of him, all of the Napa Valley and the wineries we visited are very dog friendly. And our puppy, Jedi, had a blast!
PEJU
Peju winery is stunning both inside and out. It’s like walking into a museum. This is also where we learned we are more of the “casual wine drinkers.” Peju is known for its rich and hearty Cabernets, and while they are loved by so many they really aren’t for us. However, our favorite wine there is their red blend, Province that is best served chilled. We took two bottles home, but probably should have bought more. I’ve come to enjoy all my wines with a little “chill” and this one is delicious.
Jedi, loved the beautiful marble floors of Peju the most. He found them quite suitable for sleeping…
FLORA SPRINGS
They were the host of our fundraising party and allowed us to be a part of our their ‘Pick Up Party’ for their wine club members at The Room. We had an amazing turnout and raised around $6,000 for Waggin Trails Rescue Foundation! This will fund an entire month of rescuing 50+ dogs from shelters! Since I was busy “working” at this event, I unfortunately didn’t take too many photos and we have yet to hear back from the professional photographer that day. I did however, make a Facebook Live video on our Wags N Wine Facebook page that you can watch here if you feel so inclined to check out the scene that day.
Like I said before Flora Springs made the short list (my top 2) of my favorites wines. They are full of flavor, easy on the palate and easy to drink. These becoming my criteria to determine wines I like. We ended up purchasing several bottles here including their Flagship Wines, the Soliloquy, Trilogy & of course some of their beautifully etched Holiday bottles that included the Dashaway Chardonnay & the Joy to the World Red Blend. You can see all of these wines here
RUTHERFORD RANCH
Rutherford Ranch was my number two for favorite wines and experience. It doesn’t get much better than a wine and chocolate tasting. Each wine was paired with some delicious chocolate which definitely brought out the flavors in the wine. This was by far the most comfortable tasting room and most enjoyable experience whereas in most tasting rooms you’re standing. You are really able to indulge here. Again perfect for us novice and casual winos. We purchased a few bottles here as well plus some merchandise and of course the chocolate to go with the wines we bought.
HAGAFEN CELLARS
We found a Cabernet we actually liked! The Prix Cabernet Franc to be specific. This tasting room and it’s surrounding vineyards were the most visibly affected by the fires that ripped through the valley. The black charred trees and ground came right up to their buildings. It was sad to see, but they were so fortunate to not sustain any major damages or losses. The staff at Hagafen are wonderful including their new kitten addition, Silvester and Golden Retriever, Lucy. All very important to us animal lovers.
FROG’S LEAP
This winery and it’s grounds were stunning! It had a real farm-house type of charm surrounded by luscious gardens. Jedi surely enjoyed all the persimmons fresh of the tree. As for the wines, they we were unfortunately not for us, but we tried.
DUCKHORN
These wines are for one reason or another highly talked about in Huntington Beach so we were very excited to visit and explore more of their wines. But unfortunately we didn’t have a reservation and were not able to use our industry benefit because they were full. (insert eye roll) We did get to taste the Chardonnay which was amazing and walk the grounds but not sure we’ll go back. They had a very “commercial” and big business type of feel to them.
ST SUPREY
A very modern, clean feel and the wines reflect that. Great for large parties and a nice outdoor seating area. We didn’t stay here too long nor buy any wines.
We had a wonderful time in Napa and are so happy we were able to raise so much money for Waggin Trails. We definitely can’t wait to get back and visit all of our new friends again! And if reading this post has inspired you to drink (more) wine, please visit the links in this post or for a great savings on wines that give back to some amazing causes, please visit https://www.viaonehope.com/thegivingwine and take advantage of their Black Friday Sales event!
CHEERS!
-Serina
Beautiful, I’m jealous! I want to come next time! 🙂