\\\'Our Home\\\'

With this blog, one of my objectives is to write about family-friendly activities here in the Napa Valley.

It seems some people (even some locals) think that the valley is not a great place for kids. And, if you think about what Napa represents to most—that is, wineries, fine restaurants and wineries—it’s easy at first to see why.

Maybe because I got pregnant with my daughter only one month after moving here or maybe because we see small children on a daily basis or maybe because we don’t really care what those people think, we’ve always felt more than at home here in the valley.

See, the Napa Valley is more than a place—a destination place, a vacation place or otherwise. It’s a community; it’s small tight-knit towns made up of families. Just like other towns. And, actually, we’ve found more family-friendly activities here than in many other towns we’ve visited.

This is a great place to raise a family. This is a great place for kids. And with a bit of pre-trip planning and research (which is good to do for any trip, with or without kids), this is a great place to visit with kids.

While we wouldn’t take any child to Opus One or Terra, we are proud to say that Samantha has been to more wineries in her three years than most American adults will ever be in their lifetime.

Of course there are many, many activities here beyond wineries. But as Napa is most known for the wineries, that is what I’ve chosen to focus on in this first post on the subject.

So here is my first Napa Valley family-friendly recommendation:

Casa Nuestra Winery is located on the Silverado Trail just north of Saint Helena. It is small, quaint and funky. The wines are awesome–high quality, small production–and include such unique offerings as Chenin Blanc and Tinto Classico. The Tasting Room is tiny, cozy and extremely unpretentious; the staff is amazingly friendly, accomodating and knowledgable in that humble way that is the true sign of knowledge.

They also have goats:

The day we visited was the first rainy spell of the season. The weather was unsettled; the sun gave way to clouds, then drizzle, then rain, then returned.

We sat on the patio underneath a canopy that was there ostensibly to protect picnickers from the intense Napa summer sun. As the rain intensified, we enjoyed our simple picnic lunch of salami, breasola, cheese and crusty bread paired with the Rosado:

Samantha played in the rain:

After our picnic, we went back into the tasting room to try the Late Harvest French Colombard. And to our surprise and delight—and even though we were pushing it as far as kiddo’s naptime—we were invited to go back to the winery (that is, the production area).

We saw their Petite Sirah fermenting, we tasted out of barrels, we were charmed by the simple, non-glamourousness of it all. So much so that we are going to go back soon for another delightful picnic lunch.

And we even joined their wine club.