Rather than giving a normal restaurant-y review, this post will mainly focus on the scenery of Black Stallion winery. Since I’m not a sommelier, or really, my knowledge on wine is rather limited, I don’t dare to describe the flavor profiles of wine. In my opinion, just because a wine is high quality doesn’t mean that you will actually enjoy it. I find that it all come down to your personal taste as a good wine is something that you like enough to drink!
Anyways enough ramblings ~ As part of my trip to San Francisco, my sister brought the entire family to Napa Valley for sight-seeing and of course, wine tasting! If you are a wine-lover, definitely do your own research and check if your favourite winery require reservations in advance, especially if you want to do a tour or have wine and food pairings.
Apparently there was a black stallion statue in front of the facility but I didn’t see it. Either I was sleepy on the way there, or my eyesight was terrible. Lol. I went to Napa in July during the day so the weather was hot, I think approximately 30 to 35 degrees celsius? However the area wasn’t humid and just really dry, so I recommend bringing a pair of sunglasses, hat and of course, some water to hydrate yourself :).
The winery was spacious and beautiful with a lovely garden in the backyard. The architecture was amazing with large doors and beautiful woodwork. The inside of the winery consisted of the gift shop and the main wine tasting area, so there will be a lot of tourists hovering in that area. If you prefer a more personal and quite wine tasting experience, I say go to the garden as there was actually a small wine tasting bar there!
For the Black Stallion winery, walk-ins for wine tasting are allowed. However if you want a private tour & tasting, you need to set up an appointment in advance on their site. Thinking back, I should have asked my sister for the private tour, I would have loved to see the barreling room and learn about wine-making :(.
The backyard was beautiful, with comfy couches and garden seats set up near tinkling fountains for guests to relax. The guests can also walk around the vineyard and it was educational and informative with signs explaining about the different grapes that guests are sampling.
Anyone know the name of this flower? 🙂
It was my first time to visit a vineyard so I was amazed to see rows and rows of grapes :D.
The cost of the wine tasting ranges from $15-40 with options to taste either all red wines, all white wines or a mix of both. My sister and I chose the mixed tasting for $15. Surprisingly, all of the wines that I tried were not from the Black Stallion?! I should’ve asked but anyhow, I can’t comment on the quality of wine, and I stupidly lost the notes on my iPhone so I can’t remember which one I liked!!
Overall I quite liked the winery and I thought it was a good place for first-time wine tasting. The ambiance was very relaxing and the person who served us wine was friendly and quite knowledgeable! Having been converted from stable grounds, the winery itself definitely have some interesting history so I wish there had been someone to show us around (maybe it was part of the private tour?), or explain the grounds a little more detail.
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