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Chateau Montelena Winery (Napa County)

Address: 1429 Tubbs Lane Calistoga, California 94515

*** On your visit please mention to Chateau Montelena Winery that you’ve seen the review via our travel blog at www.explore2places.com

The Chateau Montelena Winery was founded in 1882 by Alfred Tubbs and built the famous stunning French inspired Stone Castle that was carved into a hillside overlooking the vineyards, Chinese Garden and Jade Lake. The winery is one of the oldest six wineries in Napa and is located in Calistoga and grows good quality wine grapes and award winning wines. Chateau Montelena is a French inspired castle and California grown wines. It won the Paris Wine Tasting competition in 1976. The winery is about 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours (85 miles) from San Francisco via US-101 North. It is open 7 days a week from 9:30 am- 5 pm. Reservations are highly recommended but also accepts walk-in customers. All visitors must be 21 years old or older.

I contacted the winery the same day and was informed that they accept walk-in customers only until 3 pm. The scenic drive to the winery was very relaxing with the gorgeous view of the mountains and beautiful wineries. But be careful as you drive through the Petrified Forest Road as it is a two way winding road. We arrived at Chateau Montelena at around 3:15 pm and the weather was a mix of light rain, cloudy and sun. The property grounds are beautiful, clean, and relaxing with lots of trees and colorful flowers. The amazing view of the famous Stone Castle on top of Jade Lake was so picturesque, beautiful and rustic.

As we arrived at the door of the Chateau, we were immediately greeted by the friendly and welcoming wine tasting room staff members. They were very knowledgeable, professional, friendly, fast, and provided us with an excellent service. The architectural design inside of the wine tasting room is very modern with French influenced. And their semi-private wine tasting rooms were renovated and previously living quarters. Since we arrived late and they usually stop taking walk-ins at 3 pm. We just purchased their 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon based on their recommendation. My wife purchased a small (37.5 liters) bottle of their popular 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon wine for $120. The friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating Tasting Room Assistant Manager “Mark” provided us a brief history of the winery and showed us around. Mark took a picture with us and signed our wine bottle that we purchased for our travel blog.

As per my wife, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon’s flavor is robust but not overpowering and deceptively soft on each sip. She paired the wine with a hearty harvest salad with balsamic dressing.

Overall, we were very satisfied with the quality of the wine and the outstanding service of the Assistant Tasting Room Manager Mark Rettig and the entire staff. The unobstructed view of the beautiful vineyard, outstanding service, the beautiful Chinese Garden, and the Jade Lake made our wine tasting experience very memorable. The best part of our experience was getting our wine bottle signed, saw the ice snow on top of Mount St. Helena and the beautiful white swan swimming in the middle of the beautiful Jade Lake with the Pagoda in the background. It was like a scene from a famous Movie.

Tips: Don’t forget to visit the Jade Lake which is located near the customer parking area. They have a large parking lot area made up of sand and gravel for their customers. Chateau Montelena is about a 15-20 minutes drive from Safari West. Drive safely as you pass through the Petrified Forest (about 8 miles) as the road is winding. The winery is also close to a few wineries such as Tamber Bey which have horses in the winery, Newton Winery and the Old Faithful Geyser.

Let me know if you have any questions, comments or what you think about the Chateau Montelena Winery after your visit in the comments below. And kindly share our family travel blog site with your friends and family. Or even include our travel blog website address when you post your pictures on social media. Have fun and stay safe. Thank you. Please don’t forget to subscibe to our blog.

Click here to find a hotel/room close to Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga Ca.

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Bruce Munro Light at Sensorio – Field of Light & New Light Towers. (San Luis Obispo County)

Address: 4380 CA-46 Paso Robles Ca. 93446

Bruce Munro Light at Sensorio is located in the town of Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo County. The place started in May 2019, owned by the Hunter Family and created by locals Ken/Bobbi Hunter. It offers visitors amusing, vibrant and colorful kinetic experiences with their fiber optic colorful bulbs. The Field of Light is a 15 acre walkthrough experience that was created by acclaimed artist Bruce Munro. Light at Sensorio is about 3 hours and 20 minutes drive (202 miles) from San Francisco via US-101 South. It’s only open from 7-10pm and only on a few selected dates. The costs of General Admission is $43 per person, while for the child (3-12) is $22. They also offer premium packages for a Private Terrace with food platter $112 per person, and Private Terrace only $87 per person. Paso Robles is about 45 minutes away from Pismo Beach.

We ate at the Alchemist Garden Restaurant and explored the Paso Robles Downtown area. It only took us about 15 minutes to get to Sensorio from Paso Robles downtown and the free parking lot area is made up of sand and dirt. We arrived at Sensorio Field of light at about 6:45 pm and there was already a long line formed at the main entrance. Luckily, the line went fast and got in within 15 minutes but we had to pass through a security check point. We saw the beautiful sunset from the field while waiting for the lights to turn on. There were fire pits, live entertainer, tables to eat, food trucks and indoor food court (to order food) in the middle of the pavillion/lawn located in the main entrance.

There were a few benches and hays located everywhere on a large field with narrow walkway for people to sit and relax. The VIP sections were all located on top overlooking the field of lights with private terrace, fire pits, foods and warmers. The best part was when it got darker and the Field of Lights were lighted. The entire field was very colorful, illuminating, amazing, breathtakingly beautiful and turned into a magical place. We decided to walk the winding pathway and enjoy the unique experience as we saw each bulb dims and changes color. Each bulb, fibers were artistically placed and the entire field looked like a scene on a fantasy/adventure movie such as the Disney Movie “The Troll”.

It took us about an hour to walk around, enjoy and explore the entire field of lights. But they added an area for the “New Light Towers” which are colorful fiber optics inserted inside a lot of bottles that were formed like a pyramid. It was very relaxing to look at all the different colors that illuminates all the wine bottles. It felt like we were trap on a maze with colorful bottles trying to find our way out. But be careful as you walk through the dark pathways as it gets crowded with too many people walking both ways. We used our phone light to guide us through.

Overall, it was a fun, unique, memorable, mesmerizing and exciting family adventure experience. There were lots of areas that were good photo opportunity. It is a different experience for us to see the entire field with colorful lights and amazing, artistic display of fiber optic. We would highly recommend the Sensorio Field of light to the whole family, singles and couples.

Tips: Paso Robles is a small town known for it’s wineries and arts. Here are a few places we had visited such as the Sculpterra Arts and Winery, Estrella Warbird Museum, Alchemist Garden Restaurant, Opolo Winery, Downtown Paso Robles and Negrani Creamery. Bring your jacket, flashlight and warmers due to cold weather. You can purchase food, drinks, wines and hot chocolate inside. Clean restrooms are available onsite and drive slowly since the parking lot is made up of sand and gravel. Arrive early as the line gets longer but VIP will get you in earlier. No flash photography and no selfie sticks allowed.

Let me know if you have any questions, comments or what you think about the Bruce Munro Light at Sensorio after your visit in the comments below. And kindly share our family travel blog site with your friends and family. Or even include our travel blog website address when you post your pictures on social media. Have fun and stay safe. Thank you. Please don’t forget to subscibe to our blog.

Click here to find a hotel close to the Sensorio Field of Lights in San Luis Obispo County