If you have ever put a glass of wine to your lips then you must visit Napa Valley. This is the mecca of vineyards in North America. The valley here is prime real estate for growing these vines that produces world famous nectar of the Gods.
We took a tour of a vineyard to see the behind the scenes of how the process works. It started at the very beginning. In the vineyard. Walking the countless rows of vines and learning about soil, sun and sugar levels. To stand on a hill and look out over acres and acres of vineyards is a sight to see.
Once the grapes are squeezed the juice makes its way into these oak barrels and will remain here for 6 months to 2 years. The cellar felt nice and cool compared to the hot sun out in the valley. The air was filled with the mixed smells of oak, grapes and an ancient cellar. The process still remains very labor intensive. By this point we had seen the process, learned about the process and now it was time to taste the results of the process. Oh, it was very good. We each tried 6 different types of wine. Some were sweet with a clean taste while others were filled with fruity tastes and hints of oak.
When we were leaving the valley we saw a sign on the side of the road advertising a Geyser. A geyser? I thought that was only in Yellowstone. We figured why not. We're here so we might as well do the tourist thing and pay the $7 each to see what this is. My fear was that there would be a hose squirting water. To our surprise we found that this geyser is one of 6 in the world. It blows about every 40 minutes and reaches heights of around 60 feet.
We took a tour of a vineyard to see the behind the scenes of how the process works. It started at the very beginning. In the vineyard. Walking the countless rows of vines and learning about soil, sun and sugar levels. To stand on a hill and look out over acres and acres of vineyards is a sight to see.
Once the grapes are squeezed the juice makes its way into these oak barrels and will remain here for 6 months to 2 years. The cellar felt nice and cool compared to the hot sun out in the valley. The air was filled with the mixed smells of oak, grapes and an ancient cellar. The process still remains very labor intensive. By this point we had seen the process, learned about the process and now it was time to taste the results of the process. Oh, it was very good. We each tried 6 different types of wine. Some were sweet with a clean taste while others were filled with fruity tastes and hints of oak.
When we were leaving the valley we saw a sign on the side of the road advertising a Geyser. A geyser? I thought that was only in Yellowstone. We figured why not. We're here so we might as well do the tourist thing and pay the $7 each to see what this is. My fear was that there would be a hose squirting water. To our surprise we found that this geyser is one of 6 in the world. It blows about every 40 minutes and reaches heights of around 60 feet.
Right on que it started as a small bubbling fountain and soon stretched up to 60 feet of 350 degree water being stretched up into the clear California sky. What a great find and a way to end our experience in the valley of Wine.
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