Napa: Olive Oil and Wine Tasting
When we were first planning our trip to San Francisco, we knew we had to go to Napa Valley - we were so close! We looked into every different way to get there and the easiest we could find was renting a car ourselves. Especially since neither of us are wine drinkers, a wine tour would have been way too much for us. By renting a car, we were able to plan our own itinerary and go at our own pace.
We woke up early, grabbed some coffee, and nervously went to get our rental car. We had already booked it online but since neither of us had rented a car before, and since neither of us are 25, we were sure something would go wrong. Luckily, we were proven wrong, and everything went smoothly!
The drive to Napa Valley was only about an hour away, and it was beautiful. On St. Helena highway, both sides of the streets were vineyard after vineyard for miles! We were able to pull over to snap pictures whenever we wanted, which made us want to always rent a car on trips.
Our first stop was Long Meadow Ranch for an olive oil tasting. We expected a few different bottles of olive oil to drizzle on pieces of bread. Instead, we got a whole olive oil experience! Our host explained the process of making olive oils, the differences between each type, where they’re grown, and more. And then he poured us shots of olive oil. We were a bit confused, and even asked where the bread was. He then taught us how to properly taste olive oil - warming the glass in your hand, swishing it around, smelling it, and finally taking a sip of it. We were both so nervous but it was surprisingly not as gross as it sounds! The oil tasted so good. Our favorite was a citrus infused one - we daydreamed about putting it over salads. Unfortunately, we were only traveling with a carry on (no liquids) or else we would have bought some!
After that, we drove to Robert Sinskey Vineyards, making a lot of stops along the way to explore other vineyards and take pictures. We ordered the smallest wine tasting they offered, five glasses, and luckily they let us share. Neither of us drink, but we had to taste the wine while we were in wine country. We told our server that we didn’t know much about wine, and he was able to explain everything to us. It made us feel really comfortable and definitely made us appreciate the wine more! They even gave us a gluten free fruit, nut, and cracker tray.
The rest of the day was spent in downtown Napa, so we’ll post about that next time.
-Nick + Jess
