I thought it only fair to post our trip report since so many of the long time contributors here helped in providing recommendations for wineries to visit/taste and restaurants to dine. Thanks to everyone who helped make our trip very memorable.
We stayed in Napa for 5 days %26amp; 4 nights from Tuesday 8/09 - Saturday 8/13. Afterwhich, we headed back south for a 4 night stay in San Francisco. I%26#39;ll try to format our revies of the wine tasting/tours and restaurants with a go / no-go scale. :)
Here%26#39;s the run down of our days:
Tuesday -
Took forever to get luggage from SFO, finally picked up our Hertz and headed across the Golden Gate up to Napa. Excellent views and would recommend this direction over Bay Bridge every time!
We grabbed lunch at Mustards off of 29N. We really liked this place and the food was very good. I had the BBQ sandwich and my wife had the Ahi Tuna appetizer. Very good food and friendly atmosphere. Not very noisy at all. We both really liked the place and give it a GO. Thanks Russ for this rec!
Arrived a Grgich around 3pm. Their tasting room was packed/busy and also freezing cold! Wife and I shared a tasting and got our %26#39;free%26#39; wine glass with the tasting. We enjoyed their reds and ended up buying a Merlot %26amp; Cab.
GO - Didn%26#39;t do a tour, but for good for a quick (10 min.) tasting and if you need to cool off on a hot day.
We had an appointment/tour at Cakebread for 3:30pm and this time we each did the tour/tasting. (Two free glasses.) The grounds were very nice and the reception room and staff was very friendly. The tour is really just a short walk thru their fermentation room where they have the tasting tables set up in between the huge steel tanks. We had a very nice guide pouring for us and we really enjoyed their wines.
GO - Nice tour, good wines. (~45min.)
We left Cakebread and went straight to our B%26amp;B at La Belle Epoque. We%26#39;ve stayed at about half a dozen B%26amp;Bs previously, so we know what to %26#39;expect%26#39; compared to hotel staying. We chose La Belle Epoque simply because it was in the top 10 rated by tripadvisor and was also the only one that had the availability for the nights we required. I can say that we both thoroughly enjoyed our stay at La Belle Epoque and especially enjoyed the hospitality of Romona. We both think that the thing that really sets this B%26amp;B apart is its separate tasting room %26#39;downstairs%26#39; in which they have outside wineries pour each evening from 6pm-7pm. Nice comfy leather sofas, very good little appetizers during the tastings, really made coming %26#39;home%26#39; from each days activities even that much more enjoyable. Not to mention the candle-lit breakfasts each morning were very good. You had better like %26#39;sugar%26#39; though :)
La Belle Epoque gets a GO rating from us for the tasting room alone. I%26#39;ll post a review just for La Belle Epoque later.
6p-7p - Tasting was Goosecross. Susan from Goosecross poured. She was very knowledgable of their wines and was recently hired to head up their marketing. We really enjoyed their wines and wished we had had time to visit their winery as well on this trip.
8:30pm - Celedon - We sat outside by the fireplace on the patio. The place was very layed back and relaxing. Unfortunately, we were so tired from the full day of travel and then tasting, that we didn%26#39;t really have the energy to enjoy this one. We ordered a couple of appetizers and had some wine. All in all, I%26#39;d say we must go back to really delve into the menu here. We give it a GO just based on what little time we spent here.
Wednesday -
After our first sugar-high breakfast at La Belle. AWESOME SCONES!.
We headed north to Freemark Abbey for a 10am tasting. Walk-in. - No appointment here, we just walked in for a tasting. We each did the $10 reserve tasting, which included 5 of their cabs. Two more free glasses. :) My wife enjoyed them all, I liked their %26#39;98 Sycamore the best. They were just retro fitting their grounds to meet ADA compliance issues, so there was some construction wrapping up while we visited. Even though, their grounds were very well maintained and the stone buildings were cool. They had FREE empty wood wine boxes here sitting on the fireplace that%26#39;ll make a nice decoration in our home. :)
Schramsberg - Tour/tasting by appointment - We had an 11:30 am appointment for their cave tour and tasting. We stayed a bit too long at Freemark Abbey so we had to hurry a bit to get there. We almost missed the entrance to their driveway, it is a very small single wood plank sign on the left as your heading northbound, so you really need to be looking for it. We headed up their very narrow and winding drive for about 5 minutes before making it to the parking area. No limo%26#39;s allowed up here BTW because they can%26#39;t turn around at the top. :) Enjoy your walk up the drive if you are doing a limo tour, one group did while we were there.
Our tour had about a dozen people on it and our guide was very friendly and funny. The caves where very dark and more of what I expect to see when someone says %26#39;cave%26#39;. The %26#39;lykin%26#39; (spelling) on the walls of the cave reminds me of black spider webbing, but very cool looking. The bottles were stacked to the roof of the cave and several rows deep. The stories our guide told about the hand riddling still done there were very interesting/astonishing. We toured for about 20 minutes before stopping at one of their %26#39;cut-in%26#39; areas where a tasting table was set up and candle-lit. We proceeded to taste about 8 different varieties of sparkling wine, starting with one of their best and ending with one of their best. We really liked the stories our guide told, even though he didn%26#39;t saber any bottles for us. It was obvious a group before us got a saber demonstation by the puddle on the floor. :) Our favs here were J.schram %26#39;98 and the Schramsberg %26#39;98.
This was absolutely one of our favorite tours of the trip and we give it a huge GO. The frog pond out front was cool too.
We proceeded back south and grabbed lunch provisions at Dean %26amp; DeLuca which we took to Rutherford Hill wineries %26#39;Olive Garden%26#39; picnic area off of Silverado Trail. To be honest, this was the best lunch we had the entire trip. They didn%26#39;t sell chilled half-bottles while we where there so we just bought a 750ml and enjoyed. :) We highly recommend doing this and can%26#39;t thank NapaMike enough for this idea!
Thanks NapaMike!
We had another tour scheduled for 3:30pm at Del Dotto. aka Del BLOTTO. Tour/tasting by appointment - All we can say is WOW. We really loved this %26#39;cave%26#39; tour and tasting directly from their barrels. Warning if you go here, you had better have eaten a LOT of food before hand. You will drink even MORE than a full bottle of wine per person at this tasting! Bob, aka #2, was our tour guide and he was very entertaining. The caves here were much smaller/shorter than Schramsberg and didn%26#39;t have the dark growth on the walls. However, getting to taste the same wines from different kinds of oak barrels was an awesome experience. We tasted from French Oak, Pennsylvania Oak, as well as 200+ year old Oak. There was a name for this oak stamped on these barrels, but I can%26#39;t recall what it was. In fact, I%26#39;m surprised I recall much of anything. :) We tasted at LEAST 10 different reds from the barrels, followed by another 6 wines from the bottle. The caves were cool and housed about 250 barrels, while their main %26#39;warehouse%26#39; looking section housed another 250 barrels.
The owner Dave was also doing a tour at the same time we were in the caves. The atmosphere is very layed back and fun with music playing and the disco ball spinning. I know some people had mentioned that it may be a bit %26#39;contrived%26#39;, but we didn%26#39;t get that vibe. I%26#39;m sure they have a script that they run by, but our tour/tasting experience didn%26#39;t give us that feeling. Bob was very friendly and genuine in our opinion. He even took the two of us aside and unpacked a %26#39;shipment%26#39; of bottles and a mini-barrel he just received personnally to show off a bit. He was planning on oaking those bottles in the mini-barrel. Looked very cool and we were jealous! :)
I%26#39;d say this tour/tasting was the most %26#39;entertaining/fun%26#39; experience we had while we were in Napa.
Most memorable - Put away the credit card before someone buys a $4K Nebuchadnezzar!
We%26#39;d give this one a big GO and a must GO if you enjoy big red wine. The barrel tasting experience alone was worth it for us. WARNING - Please do eat and have a driving plan ahead of time for this one. We are NOT kidding.
6p-7p at B%26amp;B - Nate, from Steltzner winery, poured for us this night. Nice wines. My fav was their Claret. Suprisingly inexpensive at $16 a bottle. Once again, another winery we didn%26#39;t have on our list to visit, yet were able to enjoy due to La Belle %26#39;bringing the wine%26#39; to us. :)
7:45 pm Martini House for dinner. We both really enjoyed our dinner here. This place is very nice with a huge outdoor seating area. However, based on recs. from Russ, thanks Russ!, we did the loveseat seating. We started with their mushroom soup and all I can say is it was the best tasting mushroom soup I%26#39;ve ever had. My wife got the rabbit and I had the duck. We both enjoyed, but in hindsight, I wish we had done their special %26#39;mushroom tasting%26#39; prix fixe menu that night. The mushrooms were that good.
Thursday -
After another sugar buzz at La Belle, we headed towards Plumpjack around 10am. Walk-in. We%26#39;ve had their wines before and liked them. I thought the tasting room was a bit %26#39;trendy%26#39; with stainless steel bar and music pumping at 10am. We were the only ones there that early... We shared a tasting and purchased a bottle. I think we enjoyed their grounds the best and walked around a bit before our 11am appointment at Caymus. We%26#39;d give it a GO if you already like their wines and would like to see their grounds.
11am Caymus - Tour/tasting by appointment - This place gave us some fits to locate, but we finally did. It is almost exactly AT the three-way intersection Conn. creek and Rutherford Rd. We%26#39;ve always loved their wines, but this was the first tasting that we really did not enjoy. Their %26#39;reception%26#39; area / gift shop was pretty dismal and the tasting was very %26#39;formal%26#39; feeling. We sat in a big room with 3 glasses in front of everyone at a huge wood table. We both agreed that the overall feeling was %26#39;unfriendly%26#39;. We give it a BIG NO GO. If you like their wines as we do, just buy them, but don%26#39;t waste your time here for a tasting.
12:30pm We stopped by V. Sattui for lunch/tasting. Before people say %26#39;I told you so%26#39;, I know this is the busy time for this place, but we really did NOT enjoy it. I think we were spoiled with the Rutherford Hills grounds we picnic%26#39;d at previously. We also didn%26#39;t like their sandwiches as much as Dean %26amp; DeLuca%26#39;s. The tasting bars were at least 3 deep with people trying to get at some free wine and the buses were arriving to bring even more people in. We didn%26#39;t get to taste any of their wine and simply ate lunch and left. In hindsight, I%26#39;d wished we%26#39;d simply done another Dean %26amp; DeLuca/Rutherford Hill picnic instead. We%26#39;d give it a NO-GO. Maybe if you get here earlier or much later, but free wine is going to draw a crowd either way...
Since we had lots of time before our 4pm Mondavi tour, we ended up stopping at a few other wineries off 29.
Peju - Walk-in - We really loved this place and their manicured grounds with fountains and fish ponds. The staff was very friendly and immediately walked us to a tasting table. Our pourer was very friendly and from NJ. Wow, who knew? Just kidding...
Seriously, he had a great attitude and we really enjoyed Peju%26#39;s wines. We especially enjoyed their Merlot here.
We tried to stop by Nickel %26amp; Nickel, but didn%26#39;t know it was appointment only. So, instead we travelled further south down 29 to Cosentino, next to Mustard%26#39;s Grill. Cosentino has a nice small tasting bar and we liked most of their wines. However, I really liked their late harvest Voigner and ended up buying one. Thanks Russ for this rec!
We also stopped by Coppola very quickly to check out the grounds. Pretty grounds to tour, but don%26#39;t spend more than 30-45 min here.
3:30pm Mondavi tour/tasting by appointment - We got to Mondavi a bit early and so got an earlier tour. I%26#39;d agree with everyone that this was the most %26#39;informative%26#39; tour on wine making. I wish I had had a video camera to capture all the little details and bits of trivia that our guide provided. The wine itself was just %26#39;ok%26#39; as we aren%26#39;t really fans of Mondavi wine, but the tour gets a GO from us.
6p - 7p at B%26amp;B - Honig pouring this night. My wife didn%26#39;t care so much for their wines or the pourer from Honig. I%26#39;d have to agree a bit since she forgot to bring one of the wines we were supposed to taste and did the no-no of pouring a new red wine to taste over-top of my wife%26#39;s current taste that she had not yet finished. Not withstanding the pourer, I thought the wines themselves we good. :)
7:45 Bistro Jeanty - Let me start with, I really wanted to like this place. Everyones recs and my wife loving French food.
However, the place was very noisy, maybe we should have requested to sit outside... and service was excruciatingly SLOW. My wife ordered the filet and I had the cassoulet. After a full 50 minutes of waiting for our dinner, our server came out to inform us that they had %26#39;messed up%26#39; my cassoulet and that it would be a bit longer. 20 minutes later our food arrived... we both thought the filet was good, but I didn%26#39;t think much of the cassoulet. At this point we%26#39;ve been sitting in fairly uncomfortable wooden chairs for about 2 hours. We were both really exhausted and wanted to just leave. We told our waiter that we did not want dessert and would simply like the check. However, the chef and manager both insisted they %26#39;make up%26#39; for the mistake by providing a free dessert.
We reluctantly agreed and the crepe dessert arrived 20 minutes later. Even now I%26#39;m trying to think of excuses to recommend this place... however, based on my experience I am sorry to say that we will never be returning here. We just enjoyed so many other places so much more that it really doesn%26#39;t warrant a second chance in my book.
Friday -
10:30am Frog%26#39;s Leap tasting/tour by appointment. - We both really loved this place! Very %26#39;organic%26#39; vineyard, powered by solar cells and dry farmed with no pesticides. Our tour-guide was very friendly and showed us their gardens of flowers and fruit trees as well as the vineyards. Very interesting tour and fun. We had to leave earlier than we would have liked because we had a 12pm tour/tasting at Pine Ridge. However, we%26#39;d give this place a BIG GO.
12pm Pine Ridge tasting/tour by appointment - I liked this tour better than my wife, but she did enjoy it as well. This was another %26#39;cave%26#39; tour, but their caves are much %26#39;newer%26#39; made and very %26#39;clean%26#39; smelling in comparison to others we visited on our trip. Not that others smelled bad, but the caves here didn%26#39;t %26#39;seem%26#39; like caves other than the lower temps inside. We begain the tour outside in their %26#39;demonstration%26#39; vineyards, walked thru their fermentation and barrel areas, before going into the caves for a few barrel tastings. We both really loved their 2004 Cab from the barrel, even though we were told it wasn%26#39;t quite the %26#39;final product%26#39; that it will be... no matter, we still enjoyed it better than the %26#39;final product%26#39; 2003 cab we tasted from the bottle later on. Fun experience again for us to taste the differences. We ended up sitting at a large round table inside the cave with the 8 people in our group. There we tasted about 5 different wines paired with different cheeses. Very nice tasting in my opinion. I enjoyed their wines enough to join their club on-site and also purchase a couple of bottles. All in all we both give this place a GO.
2:30pm Stag%26#39;s leap tour/tasting by appointment.
We both agree that these were by far the most gorgeous grounds of all the wineries we visited. We were really spoiled here when it turned out that it was just my wife and I and three other %26#39;distributors%26#39; who were scheduled for this tasting. The tasting starts off on their beautiful wood floored porch overlooking the acres of vineyards. We sat on the porch for a few tastings before heading out towards the vineyards to learn a bit more about the winery/grounds. After walking the grounds a bit, we ended up in their very small cave for additional tastings. All in all, this was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable tastings of the trip. We%26#39;d give this place a BIG GO.
5pm - Signorello - We really wanted to visit this place and arrived just in time for a shared tasting. There were still two other people finishing their tasting and only one pourer %26#39;closing up shop%26#39; while we were there. We%26#39;ve enjoyed their wines in the past and really wanted to experience this place as well. Unfortunately, our pourer was not friendly at all. Unfortunately, I don%26#39;t think it had as much to do with our being there at 5pm on a Friday as you may think. Here was a perfect opportunity to show some personalized hospitality while he closed up for the evening, but instead he really left us with a bad impression of the winery. We had our tasting and left. The grounds and view however were very pretty and we%26#39;d go back here again based on the merits of the wine and grounds alone. We give this place a GO if you like their wines already.
6p - 7p at the B%26amp;B - Elkhorn was pouring this evening, and Ken from Elkhorn was very nice and knowledgable. Yet another winery that we would like to visit just based on this experience. Ken explained the farming side of how Elkhorn operates and how they specialize in Pinot Noir. Very interesting and the wines were enjoyable.
7:30pm Julia%26#39;s Kitchen - Table One - Based on recommendations we were really looking forward to this Prix Fixe dinner experience. I can say that the service was exceptional and personallized. The food however, fell far short of our expectiations unfortunately. We did the wine pairing along with the prix fixe, and in hindsight would recommend skipping the wine pairing. We had lots of %26#39;tastes%26#39; of the different menu selections while sitting directly in front of the %26#39;kitchen%26#39; area. We both really enjoyed the tomato soup and the scallops, and even the small fish selection that came next. However, after that, we were not very impressed with the food. Perhaps they were having a bad night? In any case, the %26#39;tastes%26#39; that followed were duck, venison, and then a few desserts. All of these just didn%26#39;t meet with our expectations. With that in mind, and the astronomical price tag of +$220 for this prix fixe, we have to give it a NO-GO in our book.
(We both agreed even more so about this after we had food that was so much better for less $$ at Farallons in San Francisco.) It may not be a fair comparison, but even Martini House was sooo much better than the food here.
Saturday -
Last day in Napa. :(
8am - We skipped breakfast at the B%26amp;B and checked out early to head up to Calistoga for a spa treatment at Lavender Hill Spa. The wife and I both did the Mud Bath and then she had 30min massage and 30 min facial, while I had 60 min. massage. We both thoroughly enjoyed the mud bath in a shared room with two baths side by side. I%26#39;ve only had a massage once before, but I have to say that this massage was an exceptional therapeutic massage. aka. very firm to the point of %26#39;almost painful%26#39; :) However, this was exactly what I needed to get the %26#39;kinks out%26#39;. My wife also said that she really enjoyed her treatments as well. Excellent cucumber water as well. We both give this place a GO.
We ate lunch in Calistoga at Wappo Bar and Grill. Excellent lunch and friendly atmosphere out on the patio. It was nice to grab a beer for a change as well. :)
11:45 am - Sterling - Walk-in - After lunch we headed up to Sterling to do the tram tour and tasting. We took the $20 tram ride up to the winery for a self guided tour/tasting. The views at the top were very nice and the wine wasn%26#39;t bad. However, the people here were very rude/unfriendly to us. All in all, it was a waste of time and we wouldn%26#39;t do it again. We give this place a BIG NO-GO based on our experience. There are just way too many places that are so much better to spend your time at.
1pm - Clos Pegase - Walk-In - Fortunately for us, I noticed the sign for Clos Pegase right across from Sterling on the way out. I knew from the recs here that this was a place not to miss. So, we decided to drive on over. My wife really enjoyed the art here and I really enjoyed their wines. So much so that we ended up buying half a case! Our pourer was very friendly and we shared a tasting here. Our favs here were all of their Zins. Very nice grounds and friendly atmosphere. We both give it a MUST GO.
2:30pm - Rombauer - Walk-in - We stopped here based on the recs. I%26#39;ve read from this forum. I really enjoyed the wines here in the free tasting room, but the place was packed. It is a fairly small tasting room to begin with. My wife did not like the pourer so we immediately left after the tasting. I%26#39;d like to try this place again during the week when there aren%26#39;t as many people crowded around.
Duckhorn - Walk-in - Our last tasting of the trip. We both have loved their wines for years so it was a must go for us. Their vineyard was exceptional as was their tasting building. The place has a layed back, yet classy/upscale feel to it. Wood floors throughout and nice %26#39;duck%26#39; decor. We were immediately greeted by the hostess at the front desk to determine what kind of tasting we would like. We decided to share their reserve tasting which included 5 of their wines. We both agreed that we liked all the wines, but liked their %26#39;regular%26#39; Napa Cab the best. Although, their Paraduxx was also very good as well. We ended up buying a coupld of bottles and was able to %26#39;convince%26#39; the cashier to pour us one of their Three Palms cabs to taste/enjoy on their outside porch overlooking the vineyards. We both really enjoyed this place and the grounds. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had an 8pm reservation at Farallons in SF that was calling.
All told, I think we visited over 20 wineries in 4 days, not counting the 4 additional wineries we were able to experience during our evening wine receptions.
Thanks again for everyone who helped %26#39;shape%26#39; our itinerary. I think in all, we had a much more enjoyable time because of everyone%26#39;s advice. If I had it to do over again, I would add another two days. :)
Please let me know if anyone has any questions as I would be glad to share any info and provide advice as needed!
Napa Trip Report - Warning very very lengthy. :)
Wow!!! I so enjoyed reading your review and appreciate the time you put into it. We%26#39;ll be in the Napa/Sonoma area for 4/5 days in November for the 2nd half of our honeymoon; thank you so much for sharing your experience with us (I wish more reviewers would do this!).
My mind is becoming more set on which wineries are ';must do'; vs. those that we can miss. We are considering doing the wine shuttle for one day, mostly because I do not see how you can go through tasting after tasting and make your way through the valley from throughout the day. I think we%26#39;d feel like skipping dinner each night after the busy days, but I am such a restaurant geek that hopefully we%26#39;ll be okay. By the way, how did you manage to drive back to your B%26amp;B from Del Dotto??? How long was the tour/tasting?
We are definitely planning to enjoy Rutherford Hill, Peju, and Clos Pegase. Considering Pine Ridge, Duckhorn, Frogs Leap, and Grgich.
***appreciate your confirming my hesitation in visiting Sterling and Vi Sattui in particular.
***Is Schrambsberg only sparkling???
***How close is Dean %26amp; DeLuca to Rutherford Hill?
Napa Trip Report - Warning very very lengthy. :)
AriesChic
Glad you liked the report. I was wondering after the 2nd hour of typing whether this was a bigger endeavour than originally thought.... Luckily I had a couple glasses of wine to get me through. :)
OK - So, it sounds like you%26#39;ll be over the time difference by the time you get to Napa. That%26#39;s good and will help with your wine tasting and dinner reservations. It was a bit %26#39;painful%26#39; at first for us to be eating at 7p-8p Napa time, when our internal clocks said it was 11pm. :)
I can%26#39;t comment on the wine shuttle as that wasn%26#39;t even an option we considered. I can honestly say that I didn%26#39;t have too much of a problem with the driving after an all day tasting/tour schedule, although Del Dotto day did push my limits. :) Del Dotto took about 1 1/2 hours. Try to get Dave Del Dotto the owner, or Bob, the #2 guy for the tour. The title on his business card is #2. :) Del Dotto is very close to where we stayed compared to the other wineries, pretty far south towards downtown Napa, so it only took about 10 minutes from Del Dotto to our B%26amp;B. Thankfully. :)
We didn%26#39;t do a tour/tasting at Rutherford Hill, but the tasting room staff seemed friendly enough, the room was fairly small. We highly recommend doing a picnic here as it was so quiet and not very crowded at all. Maybe we hit it off peak by getting there around 1:30p, but I still say do it. Grab some chilled wine from their %26#39;fridge%26#39; and bring your lunch. We did our picnic in the Olive grove area, but there is another area above the main building for picnics as well. Nicely shaded and a nice breeze for lunch.
I really think you%26#39;ll love Peju and Clos Pegase. If you do end up liking those two, then please do not miss running over to Duckhorn at some point. Do the reserve tasting and see if they%26#39;ll give you an %26#39;extra%26#39; taste to enjoy out on the porch. That breeze on the sofa out there is very memorable...
We only did a quick 10min taste, literally, at Grgich. It was our first tasting of the trip, but we%26#39;ve had their wines before. I liked it, but it wasn%26#39;t a mandatory thing to do.
I have to recommend the Frog%26#39;s Leap and Pine Ridge tours. They are so different from each other. Frog%26#39;s Leap is the Organic Winery where they tour the fruit/veggie area just as much as they do the vineyard. I thought it was cool and different, and the fact that I like the wines helped as well.
Pine Ridge might have been a fluke for the personallized tour, but even so, I thought it was one of the most beautiful grounds we%26#39;d visited... aka nice views of the vineyards and the %26#39;Leap%26#39; cliff described by our %26#39;tour-guide%26#39;. The wines were excellent also.
I%26#39;ll confirm your hesitation and follow up with a %26#39;Hell-No%26#39;. Sorry, too much southern living... We%26#39;d skip Sterling and V. Sattui if we had it to do over again... we%26#39;re in our early 30%26#39;s and newlyweds as well, so I think we can agree here. Go to Dean %26amp; DeLuca and get some awesome eats.
Schramsberg is only sparkling... I%26#39;m not a sparkling freak myself, but I really did enjoy the tour and even liked the tasting, so you may want to consider it. I would do it again.
It took us about 15 minutes to get from Dean %26amp; DeLuca to Rutherford Hill. Awesome cheeses and panini sandwiches!! Get the cheese monger to give you some samples to try and see what you%26#39;d like....
I highly recommend doing some planning before hand and not just wing it.... It really paid off for us to coordinate where we wanted to visit each day so that we didn%26#39;t spend a lot of time driving in between places.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
WVU,
My Dave and I both turned the 30 corner this year (no big deal, surprisingly or not) so I see where you are coming from. We are actually staying at the Foothill House in Calistoga during our 2 nights in Napa and then another 2 in Sonoma--our first 3 nights will be in Mendocino. Neither one of us has been to CA, and I love planning trips, so figured this would be a good taste for a honeymoon without being on the road all day; living in GA (and I%26#39;ve only been here 2 yrs), one gets too used to putting mileage on the car :)
Sorry about the tangent...
I%26#39;m the bigger wine fan; he%26#39;s more excited about seeing the redwoods, etc... he%26#39;ll probably enjoy the olive oil tastings in the shops more than the wine! But he%26#39;s a good sport; unfortunately, the rental car is in my name and we%26#39;ll probably stick to one driver.
Based on what you say, we may skip Schramsberg (neither one of us cares much for sparkling). Dave typically will drink reds; I enjoy everything, though I really like pinot noir (prefer medium bodied vs. light).
I spent so much time the past few months (I%26#39;m ridiculous, haha) researching and planning... between coordinating the flights, B%26amp;Bs, and places to eat, things to do, that I really haven%26#39;t focused on which wineries and in what order. Realistically, we%26#39;ll see 3 or 4 a day. Probably will not do a spa day... the idea of a mud bath seems bizarre to me, although many seem to love it. But I have a list of 22 maybes, with some definites thrown in there. The Napa forum is definitely more active than Sonoma; Mendocino%26#39;s forum is really quiet, but we%26#39;ll be doing more ';take it easy'; type things there, so not too worried about the lack of suggestions.
Anyway, I%26#39;m probably more excited about this trip than the actual wedding, so I can go on forever. Wouldn%26#39;t want to bore everyone!
Thanks again!
WVU, loved the play by play on what all you did. It helps to hear from someone that just went to Napa. We are going in October. My question to you is actually if you are going to do this same kind of overview for the San Francisco portion of your trip. We are doing several days in both cities as well. I am sure your information would be helpful. Glad you had such a great time in Napa.
Hi WVU, I jumped onto your thread to add my comments on our recent trip (8/19-8/21) so anyone looking for recent reviews could find them in one place. I enjoyed your play-by-play, and am envious you had more time there than we did : )
Heres a short rundown of our trip to Napa:
Flying in to Sacramento was a breeze! Had no problems with traffic to/from Napa, and it was a nice drive. In fact, let me preface my following comments with a HUGE THANKS to all the great advice and reviews on this forum, all the info was invaluable and made our trip memorable!
Napa is GORGEOUS!!!!!
Didnt get to see or eat at half the places we wanted to, but here%26#39;s feedback on what we did:
Del Dotto tour: A MUST, especially if you love reds, and want to taste the difference in the barrel used. Had Dave himself, which was a FUN, informative, INTOXICATING experience! Dave has a true passion for what he does - do not miss a tour here.
Zinsvalley Restaurant: Had an excellent porkchop, dont remember much else, as this was after the Del Dotto tour (which lasted a lot longer than 1 1/2 hrs and we stopped counting after tasting from 20+ barrels - eeek).
Tra Vigne for dinner: Pretty patio dining, great food, friendly but SLOW service. Zuchinni Zuppa for a starter was to die for.
Sterling tour: informative, pretty, but not impressed with the wines we tasted, or the hosts. Go for the self-guided tour and views if that interests you...
Jarvis: incredible, interesting tour of caves, and a different presentation of the wines to taste in different areas of the caves. Enjoyed this tour.
Hot Air Balloon: fun, but not quite the experience we were expecting. I know the weather controls the experience, thus our ride was more of an ';up/down in same spot'; type experience, rather than serenely floating over countryside as I had imagined! Glad we did it, but wow - what a long, drawn out experience: met at 5:45am and didnt go up in a balloon until 8am after Looong drive to Somewhere past Middletown. Then were taken to brunch at Meadowwood at 1130am (part of package). Meadowwood is a very nice place, but we were ignored by the wait staff for a long time, and brunch was not anything to write home about. Whole ballooning experience took from 5am (wake-up) til 12:30noon. Not really a complaint against the ballooning company as their staff were all hospitable and made it enjoyable, just wasnt quite the experience we imagined......
SO many other wineries/restaurants we didnt get to visit, we%26#39;ll have to go back! Truly fell in love with the Napa area - so beautiful, and weather was very pleasant. We will return!
AriesChic - One last suggestion... We would have liked to hit Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma but simply didn%26#39;t have the time. We%26#39;ve always loved their wines and plan on visiting next trip, but at least 2 other people recommended that we visit that winery as well. Might be one you want to add to your Sonoma list.
Swanney - I%26#39;ll try to get the San Francisco trip report up later on... I guess I should do it asap so I don%26#39;t forget all the little things. Worst case, this coming weekend. Where/How long are you guys staying in SF and maybe I can throw you a couple of ideas right now. :)
Tassa - Sounds like you had a great trip as well. I really don%26#39;t know how long we stayed at Del Dotto... It could have been more than 1 1/2 hours...funny how all of those barrels tend to blur the memory. ;)
WVU, we will be in San Francisco for four days, right after our trip to Napa. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
WVU,
Thanks for the suggestion on Chateau St. John - will definitely look into it. I have some material and info on Sonoma, but it%26#39;s so spread out, haven%26#39;t focused on any ';must visits';. The only wineries on our Sonoma list so far are Bartholomew Park, Gundlach Bundschu, and Viansa - and they are all maybes. Seems the best idea for Sonoma would be to focus on a particular part of the valley over one day and just wing it.
Stacey
Chateau St. Jean is very nice. We had a complimentary pass for this place from the Sonoma Mission Inn when we visited in March. Ledson is another one of our favorites in the area for their great Zins. Lots of yummy eats in the Sonoma area, also! :)
Syrahgirl,
Have read good things about Ledson too, thanks for the reminder. For Sonoma, we have 2 nights (staying at the Trojan Horse Inn); for dinners, we are considering Cafe LaHaye, Sonoma-Meritage, and The Girl and the Fig.
Do we need to worry (for all areas) about advance reservations (for wine tours, dinner res, etc..) for 2nd week of November?
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