Part 1 - Mendocino Vacation, Navarro

I decided that there's so much awesomeness from my vacation I want to post about, I had better split it up into a few so it doesn't end up a novel (and I don't end up blogging all night, hehe). So I'll start off with our wine tasting at Navarro winery. Navarro is located on highway 128 (off 101) in Philo, which is a little ways past Boonville (seriously). The road has lots of ups and downs and all arounds, so if you get car sickness (I do!) roll down your window and take it slow. No one likes to drink wine on a queasy stomach.

The area surrounding the winery is very picturesque. They have picnic tables right outside their tasting room so you can sit and enjoy the view. Or there are other tables around the property in other pretty settings. There are flowers pretty much everywhere. We actually stopped in Healdsburg for lunch (a cute town I had never been to before...very Sonoma), and we were in a hurry to get to Mendocino, so we didn't sit and enjoy like I would have liked.



The tasting room is a friendly and relaxed setting, and unexpectedly booming considering it's surrounded by nothing but small towns. I guess they got some street cred. There is no tasting fee and they had I think about 15 wines to taste with no limit on the number of wines you could taste.

Even though Navarro is one of my favorite wineries I'm going to go ahead and say that their reds aren't that great. It makes me sad because I love red wine. A good red wine is just the best thing ever. Their reds are definitely drinkable, but I wouldn't say they're worth driving to Philo for. Their whites, however, definitely are! The winery is most known for its Gewürztraminer, I would say. It is delicious. And if you want a real treat try the Gewürztraminer Late Harvest. It's a sweet wine, but not too sweet. I don't really like most dessert wines, but this stuff is guud. It's a bit pricey though, so I just got a half bottle (sorry friends, that means we're not sharing!). Also, it may sound pricey, and it may sound silly, but try some of their grape juice. It is so frakking good. I hate juice you buy at the grocery store because they’re so sweet! I don’t taste fruit, I just taste artificial flavoring and sugar. Blech! Navarro’s grape juice tastes like it actually came from grapes, and it’s sweetened just the right amount.


And last thing I'll say about the winery is that it is surprisingly extremely dog friendly! Dog-friendly wineries is definitely not something I kept an eye out for before getting Theo. Who knew tasting rooms allow dogs? We found out by accident. We assumed Theo couldn't come in so Husband was sitting with him outside, but somehow Theo got inside and once the people working the tasting room spotted him they immediately told us that he was welcome and they'd love to have him roam around. How nice! They let him wander wherever he wanted (you can see his curious george booty in the picture to the left, they really let him go wherever he wanted!). They fawned over him. They fed him treats. At one point they even gave him some grape juice out of a wine glass!

Apparently the owner of the winery is a big dog lover. He has a daschund who goes out on the tractor with him and helps with the process or something (I'm a good listener). There's a picture of him and his dogs (one has since passed on) hanging on the wall. So it's like company policy to be dog friendly. :p Whatever the reason, any dog is welcome in the tasting room, which makes for a much more enjoyable experience, in my opinion.

I like stopping off at Navarro before heading to Mendocino because it just starts the vacation off right. That way we're all stocked up on wine!

PS: I uploaded all the pictures from my trip to flickr. There's a lot of 'em!