Ahhhh, Napa. There’s few places better. It’s kinda like adult Disney world, but with wine, and food, and not nearly as many lines. Also, mostly without children too 🙂

I’ve been dreaming about going back to Napa after I went a few years back for a long weekend for a friend’s wedding. At first I had ambitions of going back for my 30th birthday, but it’s not so warm and beautiful mid-February as it is in the spring, summer and fall. So after a late night at work with a few of my co-workers, we decided that we should plan a trip to have something to look forward to – and Napa quickly made it to the top of the list. Better yet, my friend/co-worker Mel has an uncle who lives in Napa and was willing to host us, which made the trip even more lovely and affordable. So we booked a flight and planned out all the wineries we had to go to. Or I should say, they planned all the wineries we needed to go to (I’m not actually a great planner, so I usually leave that to the super-planners I usually travel with!).

Here’s a few of our favorite wineries, restaurants and pit stops we enjoyed while we spent a long weekend in Napa a few weeks back! Obviously there are a million places that are worth going to, so this isn’t an exhaustive list by any means – just our well-researched favorite spots we visited while we were there. A big shout out to Melanie and Shannon who really planned the whole thing – I just got to enjoy the fruits of their labor, literally and figuratively with a glass of wine in hand!

Day 1: 

Day #1 was really day #2 – but I, for the firs time in my life, missed my flight by 15 minutes – so I ended up spending an extra 6 hours in the O’Hare airport (shout-out to gate C11! I hope I never see you again…). Even with my minor (okay, major…) set back, I still had a blast and met up with my friends just in time for a full first day in Napa.

We started the morning by grabbing pastries at Buchon Bakery around 9AM to miss most of the crazy lines. There’s a lot of hype with Buchon, and it lived up to it – the croissants were amazing, the blueberry muffin was the best I’ve ever had, and I enjoyed a strawberry and cream scone that I savored for a few days because it was just that good. The lines get a little crazy, so definitely recommend going on a week day if you can, or showing up earlier to get a good spot on the patio too!We then headed to Robert Craig, one of the highest wineries in the area. Our host, Mel’s uncle, has a friend who gives wine tours at Robert Craig, so we got the ultimate experience touring the vineyards and tasting in their beautiful tasting room. Robert Craig is known for their full bodied reds – and I bought a bottle of their famous Affinity red and chardonnay. I’m usually not a huge chardonnay fan, but their version wasn’t oaky and tasted more in-line with a Sauvignon Blanc than your typical chardonnay, and it was delicious. It’s definitely worth the trek up Howell Mountain to check out the winery – but make sure to make a reservation in advance here! It’s advised not to take an Uber up the mountain because there’s isn’t great service, but I promise – it’s 100% worth the trip!

Next up we had lunch at Auberge du Soleil, a resort, spa and restaurant that’s known for being one of the best (and fanciest) places to stay in Napa. They have a beautiful back patio that overlooks the valley, and it’s an amazing place for lunch or a fancy dinner while you’re visiting. Everything was delicious – and I highly recommend splurging on desert, the key lime pie tart (below!) was an amazing compliment to our salads and halibut. Definitely make a reservation if you’re planning to go – and make it a long lunch so you can sip wine and enjoy the sunshine on a beautiful day.   

After lunch we headed to Mum Napa for sparking wine on their back patio, which was the best way to spend the afternoon. We each did a sparking wine flight, and then spent some time in their museum (with sparking wine in hand, of course!) checking out their impressive Ansel Adams exhibit. We didn’t do a reservation in advance, but called a few times to see what the wait was for the patio to make sure we could get a good spot! It was definitely a fun place to go to as a little break from bolder Napa reds.     After a day exploring, we took a little break at home before going back out to enjoy downtown Napa. We grabbed more wine downtown at Archer Hotel to check out their new rooftop bar, and then headed to Mini Mango on Main for the most delicious Thai food (it was so good, and affordable) before heading home early. It’s amazing how tired you can get from sampling wine all day 😉

Day 2: 

We kicked off the morning with breakfast at home, and then headed to Grgich Hill Estate for a late morning wine tasting. My friend Shannon was a wine member, so she arranged a tasting for us filled with lots of delicious reds, white, and cheese (mmmm).  We tasted a ton of tasty red wines, and I ordered another chardonnay that was surprisingly delicious too. If you go, sit in the courtyard for your tasting and enjoy the views to the winery – the vines on the side of their main building are gorgeous. It was a super nice sunny day, which made the views all that much more enjoyable. 

For lunch, we went to Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, right down the road from Grgich Hill Estates. They have a super cute general store, restaurant, winery and ranch that makes it the perfect place for lunch, and to dawdle a bit afterwards too. Farmstead is a delicious farm to table style restaurant where they’re famous for their cheddar biscuits and caramelized beet salad with creama that was completely worth the hype. We walked around afterwards and admired all the cute buildings around it (covered with Wisteria in the spring), and walked by Gotts roadside which was super busy, but looked delicious! We weren’t able to go to Gotts in the short time we were there, but I was told by a ton of people that it’s worth the wait! Next we went to Paraduxx winery, who are part of the family of winemakers that make wine like  Decoy and Duckhorn. The ambiance was amazing – and we sat in the back on the patio overlooking the vineyards and farm. It was like sitting on a friends back patio, drinking wine, eating cheese and chatting with the super sweet staff who hooked us up with a lot more samples outside of our tasting. I loved their Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé, and ordered a few bottles to send home to enjoy back in Chicago! Definitely make a reservation, and carve out a few hours to enjoy their backyard/patio.   Our last stop (and probably my favorite winery of the trip!) was Silverado Vineyards. Owned by the Disney family originally, this every wine they make is absolutely delicious. We did a tasting of red wines that were made different years where the weather was completely different – rainy, dry, and one that was made when there was a year of fires that went through Napa, and each wine tasted amazingly different. The winery is beautiful – and had some spectacular views of Napa and a beautiful patio. We were with Mel’s uncle who was part of the club, so we got a fancy private tasting with a wine educator, which was amazing. Again, we definitely bought a few wines to send home to pretend like we’re in Napa all summer long 🙂     There’s so many amazing places in Napa, this is really just a handful of places worth exploring! If you have any favorite wineries I missed, I’d love to know – I’m planning another trip late summer/early fall and can always use more recommendations 😉 xx