Napa Valley’s Cade Winery is one of those places that you see pictures of but can’t imagine that it really exists until you see it for yourself. The Winery is located on Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain along a dramatic hillside of Manzanita trees. After learning close college friends Melanie & Jared were visiting San Francisco and wanted to spend a day in wine country I put together an itinerary which included Cade Winery, Caymus Winery and of course Ram’s Gate Winery (where I’m a Wine Club member and love to take all visitors).
Upon arriving to the Winery’s road side entrance you’ll continue ascending Howell Mountain until reaching the concrete building with spectacular hillside views of the valley. The winery not only farms organically, they are also the valley’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certified estate winery. It’s great to hear that the PlumpJack Group (the owner’s of Cade Winery) care so much about the environment and preserving the winery for many years to come as they build this spectacular tasting room.
We were seated in the outside tasting area (where I recommend on a nice day) with views overlooking the valley. Our tasting was led by Devin who was very friendly, knowledgable and made the entire experience wonderful! I did find it challenging to focus on the tasting with the spectacular view directly in front of us. Like I said, it’s so beautiful it is surreal. The tasting was about 60 minutes where we were led through four Cade wines. I quickly realized I love the Cade white wines! They have a delicious Sauvignon Blanc that is light with hints of grass and citrus, yet not overpowering citrus as you sometimes taste in some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc’s. The Cade Cabernet Sauvignon was also nice, however, it had a drier tannin finish which I personally don’t prefer (I like a bit fruitier and smooth), however, the rest of the group was raving how much they adored it.
Overall the visit was perfection. Not only because of the delicious wines, the gorgeous setting but also the personable experience we had with Devin leading the tasting and making it such a memorable fun visit. It’s wonderful intimate visits like this that remind me how much I love wine tasting and why. When you plan your visit, hopefully you’ll have a beautiful day like we did and can enjoy the outside seating area. However, the inside tasting room (shown below) is just as gorgeous so really you can’t go wrong. Allow some extra time after your tasting (before your next appointment) to relax outside by the fireplace and enjoy another glass of wine. Melanie and I did that for a bit and it was heavenly. 360 Howell Mountain Road South. Angwin CA. 94508.707.965.2746.
The spectacular valley views we enjoyed throughout the tasting. So amazing you never want to leave….
The delicious Odette Cabernet Sauvignon we tasted. Odette is Cade’s sister winery, another I suggest you visit!
Cheers to an amazing visit. I can’t wait to return and enjoy Cade Winery again soon!
DISCLOSURE: Emily, The JetSetting Fashionista enjoyed a complimentary tasting during this visit. However, Emily was not paid to write this post and only write posts or features about food, hotels, products or destinations that she personally enjoys and proudly endorses and wants to share with her readers. All opinions expressed are her own.
What do you think?