Calistoga

We decided to celebrate Pat's birthday with a trip to Calistoga.  Not sure how it happened, but we did not get up to the Napa Valley at all in 2012.  

We made reservations at the Washington Street Lodging, where we always stay in Calistoga.  The weather was great and we were able to enjoy time on the deck as well as dining outside.

We picked a few new wineries to visit as well as a stop at our old favorite, Vincent Arroyo.  When we were in Phoenix we were talking with Jonny about Napa and he told us about a winery up there that he really liked.  He mailed up two passes for a tour/tasting at Jarvis Winery.  Neither of us had ever heard of it, but we made reservations for a tour on Thursday.

We did some wine tasting at Raymond this time, as we have always enjoyed their wines.  We made a stop at Rombauer for some of their wonderful Zinfandel's and visited with Gayle and Glen at their winery, too.

It was a wonderfully relaxing 4 days!  What an awesome birthday!

Lee at Raymond Winery

 

Jarvis winery is entirely underground with 45,000 square feet of caves!  There is a natural spring that flows into the cave, which creates a year-round steady humidity and temperature for the wine 

 The waterfall

 Some of the huge wine vats

The bottling machine

 The large bottles are hand-dipped in wax

 Large French oak cuve barrels

 Small French oak wine barrels

Crystal room - the winery contains several large caves for gatherings and parties - the Crystal room is one of them

 Some of the amazing crystals

 Wine tasting at Jarvis.  Each person had a "flight" of 6 glasses to taste the wines that Jarvis produces.  There was also crackers and cheeses to go with the tasting

 Our tour and tasting guide - Rob

 What a delightful time we had at Jarvis!  The tour and tasting lasted for two hours!  Thank you so much, Jon, for the tour and tasting passes - we would have never discovered Jarvis without you.