Napa Valley Wine Country

In the beginning of July my family went to Napa for a long weekend. It was our first time being there. We had a great time! Napa is just beautiful and the wineries are so amazing! All very unique with distinct branding, which I happen to love. We went with my family and my parents friends the Mathis's. They were our escorts for the weekend; they had everything planned and set up so nicely for us, we just went from one stop to the next with no wait. It was quite lovely, I must say :)

Our first stop was lunch at the Napa General Store. I would recommend this place if you visit the Napa area. Inside the store you can shop around for Napa souvenirs, eat at their cafe or you can eat outside. The weather was great, so we ate outside. It's right on the water and in a great little area. There is another restaurant next door that looks really cute to dine at and some fun shops next door.

After lunch we headed to our winery stop, Domaine Carneros Winery. It looked like a mansion! It was just beautiful. They are known for premium sparkling wine aka champagne. We had a beautiful spot outside and had a great time tasting!

The next day we visited Paraduxx, owned by Duckhorn Vineyards. They had a very cool outdoors area that made it seem like you weren't in Napa at all. They had some of the best branding designs, going off the duck theme ;)

After Paraduxx we headed to Round Pond, our last stop before lunch. From the deck, it was a beautiful view of the vineyards surrounding them. I tried to soak up every bit of the beauty that I could. They had a really cool indoor wine tasting bar/room as well. I loved all the wine boxes they had on display.

For lunch we went to Rutherford Grill, which had the grilled artichoke Levi and I have ever had. They literally melted in your mouth.

And lastly, what we really came for was the Napa Valley 2010 Lobster Fest at Signorello Vineyards. It was quite the experience to eat lobster, potatoes, shrimp and corn, all with your hands! They cooked all the food together in large broilers and then basically threw it on the table. It was messy but fun!

(you have to do what?!)

We had a great time with the fam and can't wait to go back again, some day!