Sterling Vineyards

Sorry - last week got away from me before I could wrap up the vineyard tour. I have a few more to cover, so here goes...

Sterling Vineyards is a bit further up the road in Calistoga, but we made our way there because we were already fans of their popular wines and heard that the tram ride up to the winery has beautiful views. So we boarded the gondola and were lifted about 300 feet up to where their white stucco building - designed to look like one from the Greek island of Mykonos - provides a stark contrast to the lush mountains surrounding it. It felt like a monastery, complete with bell towers (one of the bells, incidentally, was recovered from an old church in London that was destroyed during WWII). Here, we did a self-guided tour and tasting, sat out on their patio overlooking the two vineyards from which they source their grapes, and finished up in their dining room for a final flight of wines.