Napa girls weekend recap

Also known as Napacation!

Last weekend several of us traveled to Napa to celebrate our dear friend Jill's bachelorette weekend! After a dreary and snowy month in Denver, the California sun was much-needed!

In the vineyard at Chimney Rock.

First things first – how did we get there? We flew in to SFO from Denver and stayed one night in the city. Then we took a California Wine Tours mini bus to wine country! The bus was a little big for just the six of us, and a teeny bit more expensive than renting a car. But, we liked the fact that nobody had to drive (mimosas on the bus, yes please) and they took us to the airport on Sunday.

Sleep 

We stayed at the charming Napa River Inn and I can't say enough good things about it! The concierges, Liz and Laurie, curated a fantastic itinerary for us and we loved the location of the Inn. We were able to walk to all the restaurants and shops in the little Napa downtown area (and also a few tasting rooms). Room service breakfast was included and delivered! Much better than traipsing down to a hotel lobby. The front desk even gave us some free passes for wine tastings (including one in the lobby -- super convenient)!

Nosh

I think the general consensus for us girls was that Oxbow Public Market was amazing, especially for a large group! It's a large indoor warehouse with many gourmet spots (upscale sandwiches, tacos, pizza, etc). We tasted wine at Enoteca, bought Kara's Cupcakes, and had a delicious supper at the Kitchen Door (where you can bring your own bottle and there's no corkage fee)! 

Say "oates!"

We also ate at Carpe Diem Wine Bar, which was a fun tapas-style restaurant. Mussels and flatbread and soup shots – yum! Oh, and a champagne aperitif of course!

If you can believe it we did manage to go to a couple bars – Henry's, a very old school divey-type bar and, Fagiani's,  a prohibition-hipster bar. I (not surprisingly) don't remember much about that portion of each evening ;) 

Sip 

We managed to fit in wine tastings at seven different places over two days! We walked to three tasting rooms in Napa and the other four we did a limo tour around wine country 

These were my favorites: 

Mason Cellars - Trisha was the best of our wine guides! We loved the PPP wine — good for picnics, parties and patios.

Chimney Rock - Jaw-dropping scenery. Our guide even took us out into the grapes on the vineyard. I may or may not have purchased a $100 bottle. Oops?!

Ma(i)sonry - Gorgeous tasting area at a large outdoor patio, plus they brought out cheese, crackers, nuts and fruit! Clearly we were hungry at that point. 

Mark Herold - We loved the awesome labels and our wine guide, Dean, was so, so nice about our multitude of questions.

Outside at Ma(i)sonry tasting room

Cosentino - We were pretty tipsy at this point (i.e. tears and a couple impulse purchases of salt and pepper shakers) but we did like the wine and the guy who explained everything.

A couple of tips: 

• A private driver is essential for safety and convenience! We loved our driver, Bashir.
• Appointments at wineries help a lot, especially on busy Saturdays. We never had to wait.
• I would not recommend Flora Springs or Uncorked – we just were not impressed with the experience at either. 
• I was not planning on buying wine, but if your group buys 1-3 bottles, they will waive your tasting fee. Wish we would have known this before. We bought a lot!
• Ask for a box with Styrofoam so you can check it on the plane. Write down or save receipts if you're traveling with a group - it was hard for us to remember what we bought!

Overall, it was a dream girls vacation! Lots of wine and snacks (lots of snacks) and magazines and girly talk. I also think Napa would make a terribly romantic anniversary trip (ahem, Max)! 

So, even though this definitely isn't a travel blog, I think I will go back and do this for a couple previous vacations; Port Aransas, NYC and Iceland specifically.  The only one I have remembered is the Colorado staycation post. I think it's a good way for me to remember specifics of a trip!