If you follow me on social media, you are well aware that this past weekend was my bachelorette party in Napa! For what felt like the first time in my life, I had no part in the planning process. Terrifying, yes, worth every second of anxiety leading up to the trip, ABSOLUTELY. My ladies know me well and that definitely was reflected in our itinerary, check it out below!

Thursday:

• Delayed arrival into SFO (as a result we missed a tasting, but everything happens for a reason), rented our car
• Pit stop at In-n-Out
• Arrive at our super adorable and friendliest hotel, Calistoga Motor Lodge & Spa. The staff was fantastic, the rooms so adorable, and the spa and mineral pools are the perfect way to end a hard day of trying wine!
• Dinner at Farmstead. This was my ONE request to my girls when planning this trip. Joel and I had dined here a few years back based on a locals recommendation and we still talk about that dinner! Interestingly enough, anytime we asked locals for recommendations, Farmstead was always the first one!

Friday:

• Quick bite to eat at Bella Bakery before starting a full day of tasting. Their Strawberry Balsamic muffin was delicious!
• First tasting at Freemark Abbey. We were able to do a comparative tasting which was a first for me! This meant we got to try wines side by side to understand their differences. Fun fact about Freemark Abbey, it was the first Winery in the valley started by a woman!
• Next tasting at Honig. Their property and tasting room were SO gorgeous! We had a wonderful host and a whole room to ourselves which was so intimate! We all left with at least one bottle, me with two and with some honey straight from their property. If you like dessert wine and have the opportunity to try this, I highly recommend!
• We then stopped for lunch at La Luna, a taqueria and market with AMAZING (I had chorizo and beef tongue) tacos. If you don’t like spicy, ask for the sauce on the side!
• Next stop, Beringer, we got a special tour of their caves which was so fun while sipping on their wines!
• After our day of tastings, we stopped at Sam’s Social Club for a drink and snacks, the Deviled Eggs were amazing!
• We had one last tasting of the day, conveniently located in our hotel lobby! The winemaker and owner of Solorio Family Wines hosted a tasting and it was so nice being able to learn about his passion for wine making and meet his daughter!
• Finally, we finished our night with a delicious dinner at Lovina. If you have the chance to check it out, I highly recommend their oysters and their duck which was cooked to perfection!

Saturday:

• The girls planned a special breakfast for me at Solbar, this may have been one of my favorite meals. We practically ordered the entire menu, but the avocado toast really stuck out for me!
• We headed to our first tasting at the Orin Swift tasting room. If you get the opportunity to check it out, I highly recommend. Unlike any other tasting room in Napa, think rap music playing while sipping some delicious wines!
• Next we headed to Louis M. Martini, I cannot say enough great things about how GORGEOUS this winery is. They’ve just renovated and it’s like Restoration Hardware heaven!
• Finally, we had one of my favorite tastings of the weekend and not open to the public, at The Spire Collection. Here we got to taste wines from the Jackson Family Wine portfolio, but what really made this a treat was our host Dale. He took so much time in not only getting to know us, but in educating us.
• After a laborious day of tasting, we headed back to our hotel for some famous Calistoga mud baths and a dip in our mineral pools! This was JUST what we needed!
• We finished our evening at RH Yountville. If you haven’t heard by now Restoration Hardware has opened up quite a few restaurants and Younteville hosts one of them. Not only do I love Yountville, but this is arguably one of the most Instagrammed spots in Napa! It’s no wonder as your sitting underneath an olive tree with a chandelier!

Sunday:

• On our final day we had some vouchers from our hotel to use for breakfast at Calistoga Roastery. I had a delicious spinach croissant!
• Our one and only tasting of the day was at Chappallet. This was also one of my favorite experiences of the weekend! We tasted Chappallet’s amazing family wines in a private room surrounded by their wine barrels! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to tour the winery itself as it was under construction, but we did get a tour of the property which may be one of the most beautiful grounds I’ve ever seen! Lindsey was an amazing host!
• Before heading back to San Fran, we stopped at a Napa classic, Mustard’s Grill. Highly recommend anything lamb off their menu and hopefully you get lucky enough to try their Pineapple Upside Down Cake (this was a special)!
• San Francisco is not my favorite place to say the least. After some tedious driving around, we stopped at Saru for dinner. No one was hungry, but we had only heard amazing things about Saru and it was certainly not a let down! Super fresh sushi, great recommendations by our waitress as well! I would recommend getting there before their opening time as there is a line to get in! At this point our bellies were full and we were ready to head to SFO for our red eye flights back home.

This weekend was truly a dream for me. Not only was I in one of my favorite places in the world, but I got to enjoy it with some of my favorite people and share with them something Joel and I love so much, wine!

* Note, because my best friend Kamille is in the hospitality business, selling wine specifically, she was able to arrange exclusive tastings, not open to the public. While our tastings may have been different, you can still reserve tastings that are open to the public at all of the wineries we visited!