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Part of our Valentine’s Day celebration yesterday was a picnic at Tudal Winery.

Discovered on the Napa Vintners site, this winery fit all our criteria: family-friendly, picnic area, low-key atmosphere.

And it was indeed quite low-key as you can see below the manner in which we were greeted (that there is Cheyenne, we found out).

We proceeded to a [...]

The scene: A cave tour at a local winery

Samantha: “Oh no! He doesn’t look very happy!”

Tom and me, simultaneously: “Actually, kiddo, he is REALLY happy…”

Honig is a small, family-owned winery and was one of the first tasting rooms Tom & I visited when we moved to the Napa Valley five years ago.

That was, of course, pre-kiddo. And while we had a wonderful visit then and have been long-time fans of their wines, we hadn’t thought of the winery as being kid-friendly.

That is, until we [...]

While Sangiovese is not a grape varietal widely planted in the Napa Valley, there are a handful of producers such as Benessere Vineyards in Calistoga.

I do not know the exact date these grapes were picked, but due to the recent wild weather, I understand that most grapes that will come in, have come in.

This is the winery dog at Barnett Vineyards.

He is super-sweet, and tossing rocks–yes, rocks–for him to fetch kept kiddo occupied for quite a while. 

The winery is located atop a most stunning part of Spring Mountain, just above Saint Helena. The views are amazing and the wines, fabulous.

We visited for their Harvest Party, so I cannot comment [...]

Barnett Vineyards, Harvest Party

Only in the Napa Valley, do you get to attend a four year-old’s birthday party at a place like this:

Princess Playhouse

Which is situated along the Napa River; whose neighbor across the river is:

The Back of Opus One

And with this view:

View North, to Mt Saint Helena

And with wine. Bubbles, actually.

Vineyard across from Crane Park, Saint Helena

Vineyard adjacent to Crane Park bocce courts

Robert Sinskey Vineyards

The Napa Valley Vintners have a great website that’s just chock-full of information on everything from events and history, to grape varietals, and of course, wineries.

They even have this nifty little Winery Finder tool. An option on which is Family Friendly.

While there aren’t necessarily reviews posted, there are a lot of great details on each winery.

Who: The trip planners; Napa aficionados

What: An [...]

Up to now, Casa Nuestra is our favorite kid-friendly winery.

So, that’s not an easy proclamation to make. There are a lot of wineries in the Napa Valley. A lot of wonderful wineries in the Napa Valley. And a lot of wonderful kid-friendly wineries in the Napa Valley.

But, Casa Nuestra stands out for us.

In the simplest terms, we [...]