Napa – Long Weekend in Wine Country

DAY 2: EXPLORING SAN FRANCISCO

Golden Gate Bridge

Before heading to Napa for the weekend, we explored San Francisco for the day. We checked out of the hotel at 10 AM and drove to the Golden Gate Bridge. To avoid paying for parking, we parked at a sports store 1-2 miles away from the bridge. We walked along a path to the bridge and took a staircase part of the way up.

Golden Gate Bridge

Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square

After spending an hour there we drove to Fisherman’s Wharf. We found expensive ($40) parking where we could leave our car for the day. We waited in line for lunch at In-Out Burger (because when in California) and then walked around the wharf for a few minutes. Following a quick walk, we headed to Ghirardelli Square for chocolate ice cream.

Cable Car Tour and Lombard Street

After our afternoon snack, we walked a few minutes back to Hyde Street to take a cable car tour of San Francisco ($14 for a roundtrip ticket). We waited in line for 20 minutes before we were able to get on a cable car. We rode it to the end (by a huge Macy’s) and then took it back. On the way back we got off at Lombard Street, the infamous, windy street and walked back to our car from there.

Full House House

We then drove to the Full House house (1709 Broderick St) for pictures before heading to Live Sushi Bar for dinner at 5:30. The fish was super fresh! Following dinner we stopped at Whole Foods to pick up meat and cheese before heading to Napa. It was an hour and a half drive (with some traffic leaving San Francisco) to the Springhill Suites, which was 10-15 minutes south of downtown Napa.

House from Full House

DAY 3: WINE TASTING IN NAPA

Many popular wineries require appointments and are booked weeks (or months) in advance. Therefore, we planned part of our trip before heading to California. We pre-booked two wineries for each day of wine tasting (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). We then left time to go to two additional wineries each day.

Although we had a rental car to drive from San Francisco to Napa, we used Uber to get to each winery. We decided not to opt for a bus tour since we wanted the flexibility to decide our own schedule.

Morning Wine Tastings

We started off the morning with the garden/cellar tasting ($25) at Frog’s Leap Winery, which was a 25 minute drive from our hotel. It was a beautiful, rustic winery. The scenery would have been amazing if the weather hadn’t been cold and rainy. The tasting was in their wine cellar, where we tasted one white wine and a few red wines. The lady there was very helpful and suggested a few places where we could picnic afterwards.

Note: Most wineries do not allow outside food (since that requires a separate license). However, there are a handful that do allow people to bring their own food for picnicking.

After spending an hour and a half hour there we ubered to Rutherford Hill Winery, one of the wineries that allows picnicking. We sat at one of their outdoor cabanas to eat our lunch. They weren’t allowed to serve us wine out there, so we ate and then went inside for the wine tasting. We did their classic tasting, which was a mix of reds and whites.

Rutherford Hill Winery

Afternoon Wine Tastings and Dinner at Brix

We went straight from Rutherford Hill Winery to our 3 PM tasting at Cakebread Cellars, which was recommended by several people we know. We did the white wine tasting there ($30). Following that tour we hit up a fourth winery/Italian market, V. Sattui, which someone recommended. They took walk-ins and had an Italian market. We tried an amazing artichoke cream cheese dip (which we bought for the next day’s picnic) and then did a tasting at their bar ($15 for 5 tastings).

We were there until 6 when we headed to Brix for dinner. The restaurant was very lovely and rustic/modern with beautiful views of vineyards. We all ordered burgers (which were really good!) and split a bottle of wine. Following dinner we ubered back to the hotel and passed out early.

DAY 4: WINE TASTING IN NAPA

Morning Wine Tastings

The weather could not have been more beautiful for our second day of wine tasting. It was sunny and warm, but not too hot. We started off the day by going to our 10:15 AM sparkling wine tasting at Domaine Carneros, to the southwest of downtown Napa. The winery was in a beautiful building up on a hill that overlooked several vineyards. We were seated at a table on their outdoor patio so we had wonderful views while sipping on wine. We all decided to do the sparkling wine tasting, since that is what they are known for. We tried four wines (plus a bonus one since it was my birthday).

View from Domaine Carneros

Following our wine tasting there we headed 25 minutes to David Fulton Winery for our next tasting. We hadn’t made a reservation but decided to go there since they allow picnicking. It was a very cute, rustic winery with an amazing outdoor patio. We set up our cheese and crackers outdoors and enjoyed our food and wine with amazing views of the vineyard.

David Fulton Winery Patio

Afternoon Wine and Dinner

We originally had an afternoon booking. However, we went to the wrong winery, which had no available tastings. As a result, we instead went back to V. Sattui and split a bottle of wine and a brownie.

Around 6 we headed to Foodshed for a low key Italian dinner before calling it a night.

DAY 5: EXPLORING DOWNTOWN NAPA AND FLIGHT HOME

For our last day in Napa, we celebrated with brunch at Fume Bistro & Bar, a cute restaurant not too far away. We then drove to downtown Napa where we spent a few hours walking around the cute shops and downtown area. In the early afternoon we headed back to San Francisco for our evening flight out.