Napa Valley
Cruising around Napa with an M4 convertible
My sister visited me for July 4th weekend so we decided to take a trip out of San Francisco to Napa. With lovely Napa roads in store for us, I thought it would be fitting to rent a convertible. I chose the 2015 BMW M4 convertible with a DCT transmission.
I have previously driven the last-generation M3 on a trip to Point Reyes. While that model had a similar amount of horsepower (414 vs 425), the torque and power delivery are completely different compared to this twin turbo M4. It just pulls and pulls in every gear.
When we arrived in Napa we took a quick stroll around the riverfront, eventually rolling into a burger place called BurgerFi for a snack.
Beringer Vineyards
We planned our trip rather poorly — left San Francisco late and did not anticipate so much traffic — and barely made it to the first vineyard before closing time.
Castello di Amorosa
After a quick stop at Beringer Vineyards, we went to this 13th century inspired Tuscan castle turned winery. It was just down St Helena Highway in Calistoga. I had been here once before years ago on a photowalk.
Down a dark staircase there's an underground tasting room. It's nice and cool down there, compared to the toasty weather outside. We stuck around for a wine tasting and I ended up purchasing a few bottles of their sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and we were soon on our way back to foggy San Francisco. I had to pull off the highway to put the top back up as we approached San Francisco and the temperature dropped dramatically. The M4 lets you operate the top while driving up to 11mph; rather slow compared to the Porsche 911 Cabriolet's 30mph limit.