Ceja Vineyards is one of the few Mexican family-owned wineries in the Napa Valley. Pablo Ceja and his family migrated to the Valley in the late 1960s. Pablo and sons Pedro and Armando began purchasing vineyards in the Carneros region in the early 1980s. Today, they have accumulated 113 acres of vineyards across the Napa Valley with most of the acreage in the Carneros. Here in the Carneros, they have a beautiful tasting room, outdoor kitchen, and picnic grounds. The only thing lacking is a winery facility, but they have plans to develop a winery on their Carneros property in the very near future. In the meantime, Ceja does their wine making at another facility. Their case production is 7000 cases per year. The Ceja wines are steadily becoming recognized and the 7000 cases of wine are well in demand.

The wines are all low in alcohol by today’s standards. None of the wines exceed 14% alcohol. Yet the Ceja wines do not lack for full flavors. They are smooth and mellow, almost velvety on the tongue. The Ceja philosophy is to develop wines that accompany food and, in particular, Mexican cuisine.

We visited Ceja on one of the few rainy days in March of this year. The winery is open by appointment only and the tasting fee is $15. We were able to taste four wines. Not all their wines are available for tasting and we were disappointed we could not taste the Sauvignon Blanc or the Merlot. Many of their wines sell out quickly through their popular wine club. All the wines we tasted were very well made. The house white (Vino de Casa) at $19 is the best bargain. It is a unique wine with a blend of 68% Chardonnay, 28% Marsanne, and 4% Viognier. The wine has a short four months in oak barrels. It is quite a delicious and a very easy drinking white wine.

The grounds are beautiful and inviting, even on a rainy day. The landscape is elegant yet simple in design. There is a picnic area and, somewhat out of character for a Mexican-owned winery, a beautiful Bocce Ball court. What a setting for a picnic: a game of Bocce, a glass of Casa de Vino white, and some deli delights.

The winery is hidden in the beautiful back roads of the Carneros region. It is located at the corner of Los Amigos Road and Cutting Wharf Road.

The Good: Wines are made to go with food, the grounds, very informative and inviting staff.
The Bad: $15 tasting fee for a taste of four selected Ceja wines. A choice of four would be better.

If you are visiting wineries on the Silverado Trail side of Napa, Mumm Napa is an excellent choice. Mumm Napa has a wonderful tour, an outstanding photography gallery, and several options for tasting flights of their sparkling wine. The tasting area overlooks a beautiful stretch of vineyards.

During mid-week, we took the 11:00 am tour at Mumm Napa. The two of us were the only ones on the tour. Our tour guide gave us a concise and informative tour. She figured out this was not our first sparkling wine tour and tailored the tour accordingly. The tours at Mumm Napa are complimentary and are on the hour from 10 to 3 pm daily.

Following the tour we went into the tasting room where we sat at one of the window tables that overlook the vineyards. We chose one of the flights that included three samples of sparkling wines. On the Mumm Napa web site, they have a coupon for a two-for-one tasting, and a coupon for a discount on purchases in their wine shop. Coupons are a rarity in the Napa Valley.

Each year, the winery hosts the Mustard Festival’s amateur and professional photography contest in their beautiful photography gallery. The photographs are displayed throughout the gallery for several weeks. Contest winners are announced at Mumm Napa, at the final Mustard event at the end of March. During the rest of the year, the gallery is host to a fabulous collection of Ansel Adams photographs.

The Good: The photography gallery with a permanent collection of Ansel Adams photographs, delicious flights of sparkling wine, and the view.
The Bad: Very crowded on weekends.

Pacific Blues Café is located directly across from Hurley’s and Bouchon restaurants in Yountville. Our heads were spinning as we tried to decide which of the three restaurants to choose for lunch.

We decided on the Pacific Café, a more casual dining experience than either Hurley’s or Bouchon. Besides, the Pacific Café has an inviting deck and it was a sunny day, perfect for outside dining. We were lucky to get an outside table; in just ten minutes time the place was packed. We got the feeling that most of the diners were tourists and that not too many locals were eating here.

Joe ordered the Bullet Train Special, a vegetarian sandwich featuring a Portobello mushroom on a soft roll. As it turned out the vegie sandwich was a disaster. The sandwich was served in halves but the Portobello mushroom was so small it was in only one half of the sandwich. Plus, the roll was soggy and fell apart on contact.

Janelle had a spinach salad with chicken added, which she thought was good. The service was mediocre, although Joe eventually asked for and received another small Portobello mushroom for the other half of his sandwich. The wine list was adequate, not a great list, but one with some decent choices. With two glasses of wine, our meal came to $41.

The Good: The outside deck and seating area.
The Bad: Food and service was okay, nothing to write home about.

ZD Winery has been around since 1969, a time when there were just a handful of wineries compared to the 400 wineries that now grace the Valley. Remarkably, you don’t hear much about this winery. It seems that it is able to quietly go about the business of making really good wines without a lot of fanfare. When we arrived on our visit, midweek, the spacious tasting room had no visitors but us. Later, one single person dropped in but that was it. The winery is easy to miss. It is at a location on the Silverado Trail where it sits below the level of the road and just as you catch a glimpse of the winery you are past the entrance. The winery is located about two miles north of Oakville Cross Road. If you pass Mumm’s, you have missed ZD wines.

You have two choices for tasting, a $10 flight and a $15 flight. We chose to share a $10 tasting. ZD has a long reputation for its quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines. But they also make some dazzling Cabernet. We thought the 2004 Cabernet was wonderful, very soft and flavorful with no knockout tannins on the mouth. The Rosa Lee Riesling is a refreshing wine made in a German style. The winery claims it is a summer wine but we think this wine is fine just any time of the year. This wine is available only at the winery. ZD makes about 30,000 cases of wine per year, mostly from estate vineyards that are organically farmed.

We like everything we tasted at ZD. Our host also opened two wines not on the tasting list, both Pinot Noirs that were totally outstanding. As you might expect, these carefully made and delectable wines are expensive. The majority of their wines are priced above $30 per bottle.

The Good: Beautiful and spacious tasting room, organically grown estate vineyards, delicious wines, family owned.
The Bad: Tasting fee, no picnic grounds, only one bottle under $20
Overall Rating: 4.5 (5 Point Rating Scale)

The Louis M. Martini Winery is one of the oldest wineries in the Napa Valley. It was in 1933, that the legendary Louis M. Martini began operation of this winery. The Martini family ran the winery until 2002, when the Gallo family purchased the winery and vineyards.

Early in our wine tasting days, the Martini winery was one of our favorite places to visit in the Napa Valley. In the late 1960’s a case of Louis M. Martini Napa Valley Cabernet would run less than $30.

We dropped in on Louis M. Martini this week, our first visit to the winery since the takeover by Gallo. A new tasting room has been added along with a new focus. Formerly, the tasting was done in the winery’s barrel room. The tasting room atmosphere is now much more formal, with each seating area arranged with three glasses, a placemat, and tasting notes. The tasting consists of three different flights and the tasting fee is $10, $12, or $15 depending on the flight. We wonder what Louis M. Martini might think about this.

We were pleasantly surprised with our visit. Both hosts were very cordial and enthusiastic. We were greeted with a welcoming glass of Chardonnay, a very tasty and soft wine. We chose the white wine flight, which included a Pinot Grigio and Gewürztraminer, as well as another Chardonnay. We enjoyed both the Grigio and the Chardonnay. The Gewürztraminer was good but a little sweeter than we like.

Louis M. Martini Winery owns one of the most famous vineyards in the Napa Valley, the Monte Rosso Vineyard, located in the Mayacamus Mountains on the west side of the Valley. A bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from this vineyard sells for $75.

Tours are available at 11 am and 2 pm and costs $30. The tour ends with a tasting that includes the famous Monte Rosso Cabernet.

The Good: Cordial hosts, very nice tasting room, picnic tables.
The Bad: A little too much on the chic side. We can’t afford the Monte Rosso Cabernet.

In our last Blog Post, we wrote about our search for wineries in the Napa Valley with perfect picnic facilities. We continue on the same subject but with a list of Napa Valley Deli’s where you can purchase a delicious deli lunch. A delectable deli lunch is the last piece of the puzzle for the ultimate wine country picnic experience.

As one might expect, there are several good places to purchase a deli lunch in the Napa Valley. Here are our favorites.

Dean & DeLuca is probably the most well-known gourmet deli shop in the Valley. Dean & DeLuca can be very crowded and touristy. However, you cannot find a better selection of gourmet food items anywhere. Dean & DeLuca is located at 607 South St. Helena Highway, just before you hit the main downtown area of St. Helena driving north.

The Oakville Grocery in Oakville is another popular spot. We usually call ahead with our order otherwise the wait can be intolerable. They make both hot and cold deli sandwiches and they also have a great selection of gourmet items.

The Sunshine Market at 1115 Main Street in St. Helena is excellent for both deli items and food shopping.

If you are coming through the east side of Napa heading for wineries on the Silverado Trail, there are two good choices. On the corner of 1st and Silverado is the Vallergas Market. This market is top notch although from the outside it looks a bit worn. Don’t be fooled by its exterior; you will find excellent and healthy food here.

The Soda Canyon Store is at 4006 Silverado Trail, just before you find the first wineries and tasting rooms. Around lunchtime, it is popular with the locals.

This by all means is not a complete list of good deli spots. If you have suggestions, we would greatly appreciate your recommendations.

By the way, it is always a good idea to have an ice cooler in your car. Who knows how long it will be before you can eat, and what about those leftovers? Lastly, a good picnic kit is always helpful. We keep ours in the garage and always toss it in the car when we leave for the wine country.

When we spend a day wine tasting in the Napa Valley, we like to make it a long, slow, relaxing day. We pace ourselves as we make our way to three or four wineries. Part of the pacing is the wine country picnic. It is one of the highlights of our wine country getaway. We like to spend a good hour or more enjoying our lunch and sipping a delicious glass of Napa Valley wine.

Finding a good picnic winery in the Napa Valley is not easy. There are 400 or so wineries in the Napa Valley and only a very small percentage of them have a legal picnic area. By legal, we mean they have a permit that allows picnicking on their premises. Because of various ordinances passed by the County, a winery in Napa Valley is suppose to be a just that, a place where wine is produced. Really? We have been to many wineries in Napa Valley where it is somewhat questionable as to what they really are all about. Some tasting rooms are just loaded with merchandise such as clothes, gourmet food items, and works of art. We even saw some business books in one winery’s tasting room.

In most other counties like Sonoma, Mendocino, and Paso Robles, it is very common for wineries to have picnic facilities. In fact, they seem to encourage folks to bring a lunch and picnic.

We also have been faked out by a few Napa wineries. They have picnic tables scattered around the premises, but when we inquired about picnicking, we have been told that they do not have a picnic permit. The tables are for special events or for the staff. We also have been to wineries, mostly hidden ones, that have told us they don’t have a permit for picnicking but, “go ahead and picnic, nobody checks.”

Here is our list of favorite picnic spots in the Napa Valley. We have been to each one of these at least once, most of them several times. We hope they all have permits.

Pine Ridge
Robert Sinskey
Rutherford Hill
Summers
Larson Family Winery (Carneros)
Bouchaine (Carneros)
Chateau Potelle
Reynolds Family Winery
Casa Nuestra

See Wine Country Getaways for a complete list of Napa Valley wine trails.

Of course there is always one important rule in effect. If you are going to enjoy a glass of wine, for goodness sake make sure you are drinking wine from that winery.

The Good: Picnicking among the vineyards is the perfect escape.
The Bad: There are only a handful of wineries in Napa Valley with picnic facilities