Sip, sip… (then say something clever about “body” and “aroma”)

It’s the classic underdog anecdote. Up until the mid seventies, Californian wines didn’t have much of a reputation. However, that all changed with the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting Competition. In this blind tasting, Californian wines rated best in the category for both reds and whites, putting Californian Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons on the map.

This Saturday, we decided to go taste some of these delicious grapes ourselves. Dea’s dad was here visiting from Denmark, and going up to Napa seemed like the perfect way to experience the beauty of Northern California.

We started at a place called Luna:

(Roger got to show off his fashion-skills):

After leaving Luna, we made an accidental turn onto a random vineyard. It wasn’t at all as posh as the previous place (in fact, someone said it resembled a meth-lab, but I won’t mention any names…). But thanks to James we decided to give it a go. Well, good thing we did, because this place turned out to be quite a gem.

The man serving us was a genuine born- and raised Californian hippie. Please note his jewelry:

Neither of us were any experts, but we all agreed it was the best wine we’d ever tasted.

The tasting room held a lot of interesting memorabilia:

After about an hour – and several purchased bottles later – we reluctantly went back to our cars:

We drove to a third winery, and now one of the chauffeurs was showing signs that he should lay low…:

The weather was crummy, but it was beautiful anyway:

Dinner was spent at a terrific place in the town of Napa. I didn’t bring my camera, but I’ve asked James and Dea to send me some of their pics.

Anyway. On Sunday, we spent most of the day driving around. We did visit some nice places though:

And then after lunch, we were all so exhausted that we just drove back home. Thanks for a great weekend you guys!