Blog: A Day Trip: 5.6 Miles Along the Silverado Trail - Napa

I often take day or overnight trips to Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo counties to collect wine club shipments, visit new wineries, or drive around looking for new vintners to discover. There’s always an opportunity to add to my wine cellar, make new friends, and visit with my clients who enjoy wine.

On this day trip, I ventured to Napa County to explore two wineries along a small 5.6 mile portion of the 29 mile long Silverado Trail.  Today, there are 40+ of the valley’s 200+ wineries along this road, which was built as a trail dating back to 1852. I’ve invited two of my Bay Area Dream Vacation clients to visit Silverado Vineyards and ZD Wines with me, as well, I was overdue to pick up Wine Club shipments. This outing took approximately four hours with tastings, exploring, lounging, and socializing.

The Silverado Vineyards’ tasting room sits high on a hill offering amazing views of Napa Valley. The room is spectacular with windows offering a valley view, fireplace, large wooden beams on the ceiling, and French doors opening to a vast two tier patio with seating. I’ve been a member here for years and enjoy picking up my shipments in person, allowing me to enjoy my membership and taste the latest and greatest. In addition to my four bottle Club pickup, based on the tasting I purchased a 2018 Firetree Chardonnay ($40) and a 2016 Oakville Station Cabernet Sauvignon ($90).

Only 5.6 miles north sits ZD Wines located on the valley floor with a view of nearby vineyards and mountains in the background. It’s refreshing being on the valley floor as I feel closer to the vineyard action, which begins four feet from the tasting room. The building has two floors, the lower consists of a private dining room, kitchen, offices,  and a two story wine cellar holding dozens of wine barrels stacked two stories high. Up the stairs, a glass corridor wraps alongside the immense two story cellar and out to the tasting room with an expansive view of the vineyards. Our tasting was not rushed and we were offered at least four additional wines not on our tasting menu, which was a nice touch. Word of caution, the tasting fee is not waived with the purchase of wine, however, based on one of those additional tastings I purchased two 2019 ZD Cabernet Sauvignon Library wines ($75 each). The visit is worth repeating sometime soon.

I’ve included additional pictures from this Day Trip on Facebook. Visit my page as I travel the world sharing experiences, providing travel insights, and opinions.

Happy trails and thank you. Selby
P: 619-846-7322 | E: SVBROWN@dreamvacations.com | Sign up for my Weekly Newsletter for a chance to win a free vacation