For our honeymoon, we visited as many vineyards as possible that made organic and sustainable wines. Plus, I had no problem finding dairy free and paleo options everywhere I went. I was in foodie heaven with all the fresh local ingredients, accommodating restaurants, and gourmet grocery stores. Even the grocery store had their own vineyard (I’m not kidding) as well as their own jellies and jams. I had their caramelized red onion and fig jam that I ate with some gluten-free dairy-free crackers.
Our favorite organic winery was Frog’s Leap Winery, which had a lovely outdoor patio, a lily pod with frogs, and beautiful organic garden and winery. When we mentioned it was our honeymoon, they gave us a small jar of their own citrus marmalade, although we did buy two bottles and two tastings. In fact, I’m drinking their 2012 Zinfandel as I type this. It’s just as good as I remember, not that I’m a wine expert, but I want to remember what I liked. I mentioned that we were trying to taste all the organic and sustainable wines in the area and they gave us a nice printed list. So be sure to ask for that when you go. We also purchased a 2013 Sauvignon Blac. Shameer and I usually purchased one or two bottles when we visited a winery, but we opted for the less expensive bottles. Since we’re not winos, we just got what we liked, at the price we liked.
Another winery we loved was Mumm Napa Winery. Seriously, we went there twice. Although they are not organic, they are certified under the Napa Green Winery Program that requires certain sustainable practices such as recycling, water and energy conservation, and pollution prevention. Plus, they had a beautiful outdoor patio, where you can relax and drink your champagne. They even told me they were going to renovate and improve it, if that’s even possible. You can order a snack plate with your champagne, which was one of the few things I could eat while wine (or champagne) tasting. It had dried fruit and nuts, which was awesome since most wineries serve bread and cheese. Arghh!!! You can also take your champagne to their photography gallery, which includes an Ansel Adams exhibit. Seriously, it was awesome, but I love landscapes. Notice the lack of selfies on my blog.
We also went to a tasting at Robert Sinskey Vineyards, which is another great organic winery. The tasting was indoors at a bar, but it was still lots of fun and we got two bottles. One bottle was the Abraxas 2012, and the other POV 2010. They had a nice little gift shop too with all my favorite cookbooks. Although, we decided to wait and go to the Culinary Institute for a crazy large selection.
We also visited the Heller Estate on our way to Napa Valley, which was in Carmel Valley. We purchased a 2012 Chenin Blanc, and red one that I can’t remember because we drank it right away by the pool at our B&B in Napa Valley. Anyway, this was definitely one of my favorite vacation spots. We went sight-seeing (which in Napa means visiting wineries) and we still had plenty of time to relax in the sun. We went the first week in June and the weather was absolutely perfect! Good thing too because Carmel was on the chilly side.
If you liked this post, you might like Honeymoon Part: 1 Monterey (which includes Carmel) and Honeymoon Part 2: Big Basin. We drove up the Pacific Coast highway, but our last stop was Napa Valley.