Travel Blog: A Weekend In Wine Country

Red plastic cups, a diet chaser and some flavor of Burnetts are the three ingredients necessary for a successful college pregame. It often doesn’t matter how the drink tastes, just as long as it’s consumable. Don’t get me wrong, some of my fondest memories in college have stemmed from the red Solo cup. However, as we grow and mature through college, so do our tastes.

I don’t think icing out two blue guys at a work happy hour would go over too well. Therefore, we are almost forced to evolve and develop drink preferences. Some people enjoy craft beers, and others prefer gin and tonic, while I have developed a taste for good wine.

Just this past fall, I had the opportunity to explore wine country. I spent one day in Napa and the other day in Sonoma. Both cities are relatively close to one another, yet the wines the different areas produce taste quite different. 

On the first day, I visited five different wineries in the Napa region. Napa is the most famous wine region in the U.S., and produces wines that rival French and Italian. It’s best known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, a red wine that can be described as sophisticated and rich—often thought of as one of the finest wine varietals. Of the five different wineries I visited, not one Cabernet Sauvignon tasted similarly. It was so fun to explore the grounds of each winery; they were all so extravagant with their perfectly manicured lawns, marble entranceways and finely decorated rooms.

I visited the Sonoma region on the second day, and I found this area to be more authentic and not as commercial as Napa. To reach several of the wineries, we traveled through family farms and on little winding roads. The wineries were quaint and more intimate than the Napa Valley ones. The Sonoma region is best known for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. I visited five different wineries and they all varied in presence, but my favorite stop was our first one where we had our wine tasting in a cave.  

Every winery I visited (a total of 10!) was totally unique. It was an incredible experience, and now I can say that I am more knowledgeable about different wines. Hopefully, when that work happy hour approaches, I won’t completely embarrass myself. But for now, I’m going to stick with blue guys.

Cheers!