Napa Valley is somewhere north of San Francisco in California. When I hear Napa Valley, I immediately think of world class wine. Masasarap daw ang wine dito guys.
We were lucky because one of Lolo Papa’s friends treated us to a wine tasting session there. Mali nga get up ko eh. I thought it would be cold in Napa. Napaka-init pala (see what I did there?! lol!). Anyway, we went this winery called Trefethen Family Vineyards.
Ang soshal lang ng entrance. It made me feel like I’m in a movie. Kinailangan kong umawra because the scenery was beautiful.
Top: UNIQLO; Pants: TARGET; Shoes: KEDS; Sunglasses: DIOR
The Trefethen Family Vineyard is co-founded by husband and wife, Janet & John Trefethen. According to their website, “they helped build the foundations of the Napa phenomenon through decades of passionate work, clear-eyed vision, and joyful hospitality. John was the founding President of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers and later took over the reins at Napa Valley Vintners, where he was President during a critical, transitional time. Janet helped catalyze the development of our local culinary scene by hosting the Napa Valley Cooking Class for 25 years, was the driving force behind the establishment of the Oak Knoll District, and traveled constantly for years, selling not only Trefethen, but Napa Valley.”
It was my first time to do wine tasting in a winery. Excited ako though kinakabahan. Lasingan ba ito?! Hahaha! Apparently, hindi naman pala. They made us taste like 3 kinds of wine. Had I done my research earlier, I would have asked if we could taste the Trefethen Chardonnay. This chardonnay was declared “The Best Chardonnay in the World” in Paris in 1979.
So ganun pala ang wine tasting. We were poured a glass each of 3 kinds of wine. I remember 2 red wine and 1 white wine. Personally, I prefer sweet wine. The 2 red wine I had there were dry. I was surprised because I thought wines from California were sweet. Hindi daw. Nakakatawa because in one of the blogger events I attended before, we were taught how to do wine tasting. So when we were there in the winery, I was swirling the wine and smelling it. And then I took a sip in between my teeth and then parang “gargled” the wine before swallowing. Ayun, na-choke ako and muntikan na lumabas sa ilong ko yung wine. So much for being a wine connoisseur. Lol. Ang TH ko kasi hahaha! In fairness naman to me mga bakla, I wanted to do it right. Para que pa naturuan ako ng wine tasting dati kung hindi ko naman iapply in actual and in Napa Valley, no less. Doesn’t matter kung 2013 pa yung wine tasting lessons na yun hahaha!
Here guys, para hindi kayo matulad sa akin, I googled how to do wine tasting. From Richmondmagazine.com,
See – the wine should be clear and bright
Swirl – para ma-“air out” yung wine because it increases the aroma
Sniff – take one big sniff. Hindi pala yan parang “sniff” “sniff” like what I did. Kaya pala ang weird ng tingin sa akin nung facilitator dun. Hehe.
Sip – ito with the slurping and swishing sa mouth yung complicated kaya be careful.
Slurp
Swish
Swallow – finally
Savor – time to analyze the taste and after taste of the wine if type niyo
You’re welcome =)
We were also told that the Trefethen Vineyard is very environment friendly. They recycle and reuse. See that table in the photo above? That was from a very old Oak tree (if I remember correctly) that used to be in front of the winery. Nung nagkabagyo, na-tumba so they made it into this beautiful table instead. Ganyan ang pangarap kong dining table, mga bakla.
So pretty their barrels of wines there.
Since short lang pala ang wine tasting, we had our photos taken outside the winery too. By the way, of course Anika wasn’t allowed to do wine tasting. Just in case, you’re wondering.
After the winery, we went to the Historic Napa Mill.
The Historic Napa Mill is a 4 star inn in downtown Napa with a lot of restaurants, shops and a day spa.
We walked around checking out also the Napa River which flows beside it.
Napa was a beautiful and quiet place. Next time we go, I hope we can explore more like get a hotel there and immerse in their day to day.