In our local gay-friendly supermarket, Molly Stone’s, Pat asked a sales assistant to recommend a good, moderately-priced Napa Valley wine. The assistant said he couldn’t because there weren’t any. After our visit, that was the agreement of the wine experts in our group (i.e. everyone except me) but we still had a very enjoyable day.
In comparison with Australian wineries, we found the Napa Valley to be much more developed, structured and tourist-oriented. As Arend said, every square foot of this (very expensive) valley has something on it – if it’s not a vineyard, winery, shop or house, it’s a garden, pond or fancy fence. For example:
Garden sculpture, Domaine Chandon.
Wine barrel rubbish bin, Domaine Chandon.
Mushroom garden sculpture, Domaine Chandon.
Wind sculpture, Domaine Chandon.
Floral barbecue and picnic area, Vincent Arroyo winery.
Swan pond at Montelena winery. There is actually a swan in the distance.
Stretch limo rounding a shed, Castello Amoroso winery.
The shed has been built to match the purpose-built Italian castle.
We enjoyed wine tastings at the Domaine Chandon and Vincent Arroyo wineries, went to the Montelena and Castello Amoroso wineries for a look, had a drink in the yuppy St Helena village, then had a wonderful dinner at this magnificent Italian restaurant in St Helena. Thank you Laura and Arend for a great day!
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