Napa Valley: Castello di Amorosa

Copyright 2013 MM.Rogers
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   A photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you. - Brigitte Bardot   
 

Less than 30-minute drive will take you from Downtown Napa to Calistoga where numerous wineries doors are open for wine tasting and tours. St.Helena is also a favorite when it comes to winery tours. To spend a day going in and out of these wineries is enough to tipsy you out so I suggest choose 2 or 3 popular ones, spend some bucks on each tour (about $25-$75 depending on the winery) and come out sober (remember it is 'tasting' not gulping) with several bottle purchases to take home. This is our second trip to Napa and I suggest buy the Castello di Amorosa wines because they are perfect! Napa County is located north of San Pablo Bay, about an hour away from San Francisco, CA.

During our February trip to Napa. The grape trees have been planted. It was still cold and there wasn't much to see around just as yet but it was awesome to just drive around and see what Napa is all about.

Castello di Amorosa is very interesting, modern-day castle. 
Read about how it started.

View from the castle tower

During our recent June trip. It's summer and the grape trees have grown. The weather was warm and it was perfect timing to walk around the castle.

I call them 'baby grapes' - this early June 2013

Napa Valley: Downtown Napa

Copyright 2013 MM.Rogers
All rights reserved.
Find MM.Rogers Photography on Twitter
 
A photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you. - Brigitte Bardot  
 

Napa Valley is the most popular wine country in California. For Presidents' day weekend, we decided to take the San Francisco-Sausalito route to Napa, which was about a 2-hour roadtrip. After some light to moderate traffic, we reached Sonoma county which was just a few miles away from Downtown Napa.

Downtown Napa is where the nightlife is. Many travelers to this tourist-packed place long for a taste of the real Napa wine and being the location of award-winning Culinary Institute of America, a taste of succulent cuisines should not (never!) be missed. The 55-mile long Napa River is situated in the very heart of downtown, as well as where the famous centuries-old Napa River Inn is located. A fine and  brief walking tour around the area led us to a block full of high end dress shops, wine tasting rooms, fine dining restaurants and bars. We found Morimoto Napa, by my favorite iron chef Masaharu Morimoto, for lunch. I love the decors of this Japanese restaurant - using dry grapevines on walls are very authentic Napa!

a small garden by the river

what the grape fields look like in winter

the cool downtown square along Napa river

interior decor at Morimoto

the bar @ Morimoto

Opera House - Napa

that quaint church across from city hall Napa

Next: SAN JOSE FANTASY FAIRE 2013

Madera Wine Country

Copyright May Rogers 2011.
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On our way back from the gorgeous Yosemite, we couldn't resist stopping by and getting a taste of what Madera is about - wine and nuts. Passing through Route 99 constitutes a rather uneventful yet engaging drive along thousands of acres of pistachio, cotton and grape growing farms located on east central California. And just like in any other wine country, you can never say no to tasting and buying wine. I'm not really a wine person so don't be surprised that this marks my very first real wine-tasting time.


Here are some photos from CRU WINE TASTING ROOM. Visit the website.

Valley Pistachio sells the best HONEY ROASTED ALMONDS EVER!!