When my Dad & Stepmom were in town, I knew Napa and Sonoma had to be on the agenda!  Now that it was August, the grapes were getting plump.

One of the most fun tours was the Sterling Vineyards tour.  I would definitely recomemend it, mostly for the Aerial Tram ride!  You take a ski lift type contraption to the top of a hill where you go on a self guided walking tour with wine at certain stops.  They had a huge outdoor area for the fermenting process.

Plus barrels, barrels everywhere!

The next day we went to Sonoma.  I personally like Sonoma better than Napa… 1. it’s cheaper 2. less pretentious.  The tour at Benziger was probably the most informative wine tour I have ever done. The tour guide takes you on a “tram”, which is pulled by a tractor, and takes you all around the vineyard.

They explained the vineyards are biodynamic… meaning that they use all natural and self sustained ways to grow grapes. They talked about everything from having certain flowers to attract beneficial insects to planting certain wildflowers to prevent erosion.

… and we got to check out the caves!

For lunch there was one place I wanted to try, Johnny Garlic’s, the local chain owned by The Food Network star Guy Fieri.  They started us out with some yummy garlic bread.  Loved the onions on top!

The garlic fries tasted great, but left me with a massive case of garlic breath for the rest of the day.

My meal of choice was the American Kobe Beef Dip.  It was piled high with tender meat and had  plenty of melty cheese.  It hit the spot!  I would definitely go back and eat there again.

Tomorrow, Lake Tahoe!  Then back to regularly scheduled programming