A wine day; all about flash

We tasted some nice wines today but our day was filled with visual as well as alcohol overload. We started the morning at Castello di Amorosa and wondered if we had taken a wrong turn somewhere that had landed us in Europe. This place is seriously over-the-top in a fun way but Italian style wines aren’t our favourite so we didn’t actually buy any after the tasting. But we took photos!

Yes, seriously, a castle!

the entry

the cozy dining room

lord of all he surveys

the gift shop was enormous

the courtyard

Gary Wilson suggested Sterling, so we went there next and really enjoyed their tasting style. Instead of going to a tasting bar there were several stations set up around the winery following a self-guided tour route. The tram ride up was fun and the wines much more to our liking. Did I mention that we lucked into unbelievable weather; 25-28C for the weekend and sunny? Wow.

surrounded by glasses at Sterling

this is a decent sized patio!

50 year old French Oak barrels, and huge

the tram

the view

The third fabulous place we went to was Chateau Montelena from the movie Bottle Shock fame which we had only watched last week. The winery sits on a shady hillside which wasn’t the impression I had from the movie but the grounds are gorgeous. The signature building was built in 1882.

facade of Chateau Montelena

Jade Lake for private tasting parties

the forecourt

We checked out a couple of more modest places with nice wines and are now tucked in for a nap; a nap in Napa. We realize that we are spoiled for choice in BC with our very good wines and very good prices. Napa wines are pretty darned expensive by our standards with a range from $30-$150 at the tastings. We picked up a couple of lesser bottles and it will be supermarket shopping from now on.