My first visit to wine country...
Several years back I had an opportunity to travel with a wonderful friend through Napa Valley wine country for the first time and I am finally got around to editing through some of my favorite photos. As a commercial photographer it is often hard for me to put my camera down so rather than take my pro Canon 5D MKIII camera, I packed my Lumix GX8 with one lens hoping it would force me to relax. I was still able to capture some beautiful images of my trip while vacationing.
We flew into Oakland, rented a car and had breakfast in Berkeley while visiting an old high school friend I had not seen in more than 30 years. After breakfast we began our journey driving up the coast, taking in the fresh air and stopping at some of the small towns along the way. We stayed in Santa Rosa for the week planning each day in advance of our excursions. I am saddened that the 2017 fires destroyed some of the places we went since visiting. Over the course of a week we explored vineyards, participated in tastings, enjoyed several restaurants and even unexpectedly ran into another friend who was also traveling in the area. A few of my favorite places included The Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Castello di Amorosa, Chateau Montelena, Beringer Vineyards, Robert Mondavi, Quintessa, Francis Ford Coppola and Kunde.
The weather was perfect and I look forward to returning someday....here are some of my favorite images from the trip.
