Hi! I am back with the final post of our California wine adventure. If you missed the previous posts I will link them here: How do you plan a trip to Napa?, Napa ~ Day 1, and Sonoma. The last day in Napa was an unforgettable experience. We really visited a variety of places, big and small. I am so pleased with how our itinerary worked out!
Clif Family was our first stop of the day and was probably our favorite Napa spot. It was relaxed and so cool. We had a seated tasting at the bar. If you think you recognize the name, you definitely do. Clif Family is actually owned by the same guy who invented Clif bars! They have an old world approach when it comes to wine making because they love Italy and everything from their decor to labeling has little nods to their fitness and biking background. During our tasting they had an assortments of jams, nuts and chocolates for us to taste with their wines. I absolutely loved how they paired their wines with their specialty food items. We had so many favorites we shipped three bottles home and are contemplating joining the wine club! Some of our favorites included their Rte Blanc Sauv Blanc, Grenach, Howell Mountain Zin, and their Rose of Grenache. Another amazing thing about Cliff Family is their Bruschetteria food truck! Talk about AMAZING food… it was the perfect lunch before our next appointment. We shared the Caprese Bruchette and the Porchetta Bruchette. I highly recommend this place for lunch and wine!
Our next stop was Hall Wines. We did the HALLmark tour and tasting and let me just say, it was quite informative! Hall is known for their amazing Cab Sauv and their art work they have displayed around the estate. I really enjoyed walking around and seeing all the art work. Hall definitely had the best Cab Sauv we got to taste on this trip. We tasted four different Cabs and we brought one home. Our favorite was the 2014 Hall Ellie’s ~ this vintage was a 80/20 blend of Cab Sauv and Merlot. It had an amazing aroma and was so smooth. I can’t wait to open this one up!
Our third stop was Honig Vineyard and Winery. Honig means ‘honey’ in German. I am totally obsessed with their bee logo and labels. Our tasting was seated on their outside patio. It was so lovely. Honig specializes in Sauv Blanc and Cab Sauv. We really enjoyed their Classic Sauv Blanc and their Napa Valley Cab Sauv. Honig has been making wine since 1980. They have 50 acres of vines and partner with 20 other growers in the valley. They produce 80,000 cases of wine in total and their Classic Sauv Blanc is 50,000 of those cases! It was THAT good! Cool, crisp, and refreshing on a hot California afternoon!
Our final visit for the day was St. Supery. Chanel, yes THAT Chanel, actually has been the owner for the last three years! St. Supery grows all their grapes and the winery is NAPA certified green. We had a BEAUTIFUL private tasting in one of their wine rooms. We tasted so many phenomenal wines but fell in love with their Cab Franc. It was so different compared to Virginia Cab Francs. It definitely had higher alcohol and fruit but the aroma smelled of jalapeno peppers. It went great with chili when we got home to Virginia!
Post tastings we got to meet up with some friends who came up for a quick trip from San Fransico. We hit up Cadet for drinks and had dinner at Compline. These were recommended to us throughout our visit and I am so glad we got to visit these trendy spots! Cadet and Compline both had amazing wine lists! I was SO pleased to see ONE Virginia wine on Compline’s list… RdV. I still need to visit this winery but it is high on the list!
Writing this made me want to go back and relive the entire trip all over again. I can’t wait for our next trip, there is just too much to do in one quick weekend! Please subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a post and follow along on my wine adventures on insta @sipsandtripswithpaige!
Cheers, Paige
Sips and Trips with Paige 