Visiting Wine Country - A Day in Napa Valley, First Stop: ZD WINES

This weekend my childhood friend came for a visit and we went to Wine Country. I have always wanted to go and it ended up being such a blast. I have not taken photos for fun lately so it was fun to go someplace picturesque and have the opportunity to document our fun day.

First stop ZD wines.

Note one of the first bottles made on the right and on the left more recent bottle labeling.

The post-it on the left describes the wine we got to taste on the right coming out of the fermenting tank. It smelled awful but surprisingly didn't taste that bad if you could get through the smell. It was a very milky, cloudy in appearance.

Then we got to taste the wine while it was aging in the barrel. The smell was much better and it tasted nice but I could tell it needed some more aging. This was how the barrel was labeled on the left.

Bottles from their own private wine seller. We tasted our first white wine in the cool temperature cellar.

It is amazing how even the barrel and the kind of wood it is made from affects the flavor of a wine. Fascinating.

All of their aging barrels were newer. And I cannot recall what she said about the metal aging barrels. I believe those are chardonnay's aging in the metal barrels.

Our lovely and extremely knowledgeable guide: EMILY in the wine cellar. She was wonderful! I learned so much and I discovered through her that my taste buds approve of "non-malo-lactic" Chardonnay's. They are aged in non-oak barrels. And I loved it- I finally found a "process" to aging white wines that I agree with. In the past I typically didn't like a chardonnay wine. But not any more. I now know how to shop for a chardonnay that I will like.

Lovely Cabernet Reserve that we enjoyed!

The story goes that they made Pinot's for Norman and what he didn't drink, they sold.

 A lovely tasting of Norman's Pinot.

Grapes fermenting in the vats. I wouldn't want to fall in there.

Striking a pose on the cat walk.

Beautiful roses in the vineyard

Vineyards surrounding the winery.

What a wonderful view.

And in case you were wondering if ZD stood for the names of the founders- well it does, but since they were aeronautical engineers it also stands for Zero Defects.

I loved visiting this winery! A) because Emily was so knowledgeable. But B.) it was fascinating to see all of the workings of a company created by engineers. You could see their handiwork of efficiency everywhere.  And C.) I loved that it was small and family run, or at least smaller than some vineyards. Now- I will be honest, I probably would have rarely bought a bottle of ZD because basically as a designer, I was not a fan of the logo or the labeling. However, I am a big fan now, not only do they make wonderful red wines, they have amazing chardonnay's that my palette finds completely pleasant to drink!  Here's to ZD and their great guide Emily!