boon's log 3305.03: A weekend in Napa

We drove south west to Napa Valley last weekend to check out the famous wineries there (and IL said that there is also a Factory Outlet over there as well). Anyways, took us about 1.5 hours to reach Napa from where we are and the drive was worth it. There is a small fee for wine tasting in Napa. We don't remember folks up in Oregon charging anything, but perhaps OR is not as commercialized as Napa Valley.

We only managed to cover 2 that weekend - else, we might have to put up the night in Napa Valley *hick*hick*. We went to Luna which charged us USD$5 per person. Really nice setting with old cottage typed setting with a tower at the top as well for the customers to enjoy the view of the vineyard while sipping on their wine. Pretty nice place... And the view is quite nice - makes you wish you'll never leave.


Luna Winery



View from tower

Then we went to this amazing winery called Darioush (linked). This place is like... wow. It's like you've been transported to some Universal Studio version of the Middle East! The building and the setting is really breathtaking. The first few words that came out from us were "wahlau", "wahlau" and "wahlau". :) I guess the packaging of the winery does play a part. The wine sold at this Iranian-owned winery is almost 2x of that in Luna. And so is the wine-tasting fee. We had a fun time there and the guy at the counter that attended to us was really friendly and was explaining to us in detail on the wine that were tasting. At the end of the session, to our amazement, he told us that the wine tasting was complimentary for us. We did not get it at first and I was fishing out my wallet (like a dumb-*ahem*). He went on and repeated himself, it's complimentary. "Excellent!", we said. We should do this more often. And we just walked off not buying anything from them, having nice Shiraz's and Cabernets, and of course a pretty nice time touring the vineyard complex. We may just go back... ;) here are some pictures...


Grapes at Darioush


Grapes at Darioush


Wine Tasting at Darioush


Darioush, exterior


Darioush, interior


Wine-making facility at Darioush

As the Governor of California once said... "I'll be back."

boon out...