June 18th–26th, 2013

    • Behind the castle walls was a very modern winery.
        • The castle came complete with its own dungeon.
        • Actually, the 12 tastes barely made up a glassful.
        • Emus, outside the castle. Not very medieval, but very cool looking.
          • Niche in the castle wall
            • A Sicilian Cart. How Nick’s father traveled to the ship headed for the New World.
            • Bouchon Restaurant, two doors down from our B&B in Yountsville.
            • Very French!
            • Mumm Napa Valley—home of sparkling wines
            • Our very gracious host. An interesting way to spend a retirement.
              • Yountville had interesting art all over town.
              • An Olympic Torch bearer came by while we were standing outside our B&B. What an odd coincidence!
              • Robert Mondavi Winery. It revolutionized California winemaking and the Napa Valley in particular.
              • Adorned with contemporary art. This is a California Bear.
                • Robert Mondavi himself, was given this jacket made out of wine corks at an anniversary of the winery.
                • Our knowledgable and exuberant tour guild.
                  • Mission style exaggerated.
                  • Giant oak casks used for fermenting. Other wineries use Stainless steel.
                  • Even the aging rooms made an architectural statement.
                  • Nothing was out of place.
                  • The bottling room was sterile with careful bottling, not to upset the wine.
                  • Our host was having a blast! She brought out extra limited edition wines for us to try and ran way overtime. We used up any extra time we allotted for getting to the airport.
                  • Quick photo before we left for the airport.