Wine can be created in a bunch of different locations, but in the United States, Napa Valley is where you’ll be able to find the best around. A lot of preparation and specific details go into the creation of wine, but certain temperature, location, and landscape can determine how it will turn out compared to other areas. All of California offers great wine, but Napa Valley has a large variety of vineyards that produce some of the year’s best. Here are five exceptional vineyards to check out if you’re ever in Napa Valley.
5. Truchard
Truchard is a magnificent looking vineyard that has tons of fields along with great architecture. The vineyard only produces 12 mini-bottles of wine each year including a Cabernet, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. Most of these are only available through a tour and their tasting rooms. The tours show guests all around the property and give them a view into the field and wine caves, and if you’re lucky, the tour might even be led by a Truchard family member.
4. Clif Family
The Clif Family is probably better known for their highly popular energy bars, but they also own a large and successful vineyard called Velo Vino. Although they are newer to the wine industry, guests have the ability to check out their vineyards for $110. The tour has you renting bikes and taking them across 24 miles around the property to see the entire wine making process. At the end is a free espresso followed up by a tasting of all their available wines.
3. Robert Sinskey
Robert Sinskey has an organic vineyard that is stunning, and if readers enjoy food tasting, this is the vineyard tour they should be looking into. The tour at Sinskey’s vineyard takes guests around his property and gardens with wine in hand the entire time. Further along guests start to try multiple foods from the property cooked in a wood fired oven by best chef of 1996, Maria Helm Sinskey.
2. Shafer
Shafer is a very popular vineyard with wine that has a waiting list if you want to buy some. The vineyard stretches out as far as the eyes can see until they fade into the California mountains under the sun. If guests are able to book a tour and tasting here, they luckily have the option of purchasing two Shafer wines before they leave, although the choice might be tough to make because of the options available.
1. Pine Ridge
Pine Ridge easily offers the most out of its tour with the combination of a stunning vineyard, a great variety of wines, and food specifically matched with those wines. The vineyard has a 5×5 tasting where a winemaker and chef collaborated to match food dishes up with the vineyard’s wines that are delicious. After taking the tour of their gorgeous wine fields, guests come back to some relaxation time before being able to purchase wine.
Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images for Aloft Hotels
