Napa Valley Wine Train & Tour

Napa Valley Wine Train & Tour

During a stay at the Andaz Napa, I took the Napa Valley Wine Train with some family members.  While there are a number of itineraries that you can book, we opted for the Grgich Hills Winery Tour.  The tour included a one hour train ride with lunch to the winery, a one hour tour of the winery with tastings, and then a one hour train ride back with desert and coffee.

The tours leave from the station right in Napa.  We walked from the Andaz though there is a large parking lot.

The station is set up like a train depot with a ticket counter, gift shop, and wine bar.

At check in we were given our ticket with a boarding letter and were told to wait until our letter was called.

The train arrived and we boarded with our group.  We had an assigned table waiting for us in the dining car.

Two servers took our orders.  While the food is included with the cost of the ticket, drinks are not included (besides a welcome glass of sparkling wine).

I picked the salad as my starter and the chicken as my main course.  Another member in my party ordered the catch of the day (salmon).

The food was good, but clearly prepared in large quantities, most likely at an offsite kitchen.

The train heads north, mostly parallel to Highway 29, past vineyards and wineries.

We arrived at the Grgich Hills Estates around 12:30 and were met by our tour guide.  Many of the passengers stayed on the train as it continued north.

The tour took an hour and included tastings along the way as we learned about the estate and wine making process.

Once the tour finished, we had about 15 minutes of time to shop or have another glass of wine before the train pulled back in to the estate.

This time we boarded into the lounge car and were assigned seating.

We started the trip back south and were served desert.  As we were celebrating my birthday, they brought out my chocolate cake with a candle.

Though I am not the biggest wine drinker, it was a fun half day to see wine country in an old fashioned train, eat some food and learn the science and art behind wine making.

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