Best Buys

Greetings WineLovers.

My wife and I are comming to San Francisco, Yosemitte and Napa area next week for a holiday from wintery Melbourne Australia.

I was hoping you could point me in the right direction for the current best wine buys in the $15-$30 range. I don't know much about wine from the US so would appreciate some advice.

Cheers

JIM

Welcome Jim. What I would do if I were you is to first go to a reputable wine store, make some inquiries, and do some tasting. Then you can proceed to the wineries that tasted best for you. This IMHO would be a better route than getting recommendations from all over the map. My choice in San Francisco would be K&L Wines at 638 4th Street.

Cheers, Carl

Welcome to the forum!!!
Wide open question - sort of like me asking what's on sale in Australia that I will enjoy but isn't too expensive? My recommendation - Go to several wineries, either well known or ones you've never heard of, and taste the styles you like and then buy after you've found ones to your liking.

I would second the K&L Reocommendation. You can also call them up and pay for a 12 bottle styrofoam shipper that then you can throw onto a plane. They are generally just a few dollars

[Jenise]

Carl and Jon, I agree with you that it's a pretty wide open field, but let's think about iconic wines that are good value.

And on that score, an ABSOLUTE MUST TRY, even though the prices are maybe a little above what Jim specified, is any zinfandel by Ridge winery who, in the wine world unanimous agreement is a rare thing, is held in unanimously high esteem as one of America's very best wineries. Certainly, Geyserville and Lytton Springs would be at the top of most of our lists (Jim, Ridge makes five or ten different zinfandels, and the two I just mentioned are among that fold), and those are usually priced in the $30-38 range. Sounds expensive, but when you consider that you can buy the best zinfandel made in California for under $40 where the same class of cabernet, say, could cost you couple hundies, this is saying a lot. And any visitor to California should be introduced to this uniquely American wine. Another zinfandel producer to seek out is Rosenblum, and they also make a number of different high quality bottlings.

Agree too about K&L Wines as an excellent source for wine retail in San Francisco.

But having said all that, Jim give us an idea of what kind of wines you tend to prefer so that we can at least name some wineries whose products we think you might like.

If you are spending more than a day in Napa one approach could be what we did on our only trip there. We had a short list of well known places that we wanted to visit but at each place we asked those working the tasting room if there was an off the radar winery they would recommend. There are a lot of wineries in Napa so when you get told the same name more than once or twice you take notice. When we did it, the winery was Dutch Henry. No idea what it would be today but I will bet you that those working the retail side of the wineries sure do.

Note: We only asked at places were we bought in quantity. Not sure if the tasting room staff would be as willing to recommend other wineries if we were not also buying their product.

Frankly, $15-30 for Napa wine is basically undoable. As you'll see, the prices are scary for Napa wines, especially cabs. So are tasting room fees! There are tons of trip reports from the Napa in various wine forums, so I'd peruse those and try to get a sense of what style of wine and winery experience you want.

Napa is a real tourist area now: no wine region in Australia even comes close. It's certainly worth a visit if it's your first time in CA, but I'd also recommend going to the Sonoma region as well. There's a bit less touristy vibe, and different wines (more pinots) too. It's very close to Napa. Better prices as well.

Yosemite is amazing, you'll love it. It's very busy on the weekends (as with Napa), so if you can do them on the weekdays, that would be best. Weekends in San Fransisco would be great (not sure how much time you have).

Given how expensive 'foreign' wines are in Oz, I'd be tempted to go to stores like K&L and get Old World wines, which will be about 1/3 or even 1/4 of the price you'll pay back home, especially if you can find sales. But I know bringing back wines from winery visits is a great idea as well... Have fun!

[Jenise]

Napa is a real tourist area now: no wine region in Australia even comes close. It's certainly worth a visit if it's your first time in CA, but I'd also recommend going to the Sonoma region as well. There's a bit less touristy vibe, and different wines (more pinots) too. It's very close to Napa. Better prices as well.

Good points. Also, unlike Cellar Door pricing in Australia, in the U.S. wine is ALWAYS more expensive at the winery and foreign visitors don't get a tax break. It's fun to taste at the winery--but in general you're always better off buying elsewhere. There are wine stores in both Napa and Sonoma that will stock virtually everything sold in the wineries around them.

Thanks for the feed back.

I suppose the wines that I am interested in are some that I can purchasse at wine outlets for drinking while travelling, some that are a good drink that give me lasting memories of the trip and some to sneak home to cellar.

I have read that Napa is busy so we actually want to spend a couple of days in Sonoma Valley.

I must say however that while browsing some of the online stores for what is being sold from Australia was very dissapointing. With the current wine-glut here there are some terrific bargains. A classic Coonawarra cabernet built to last 20 years can be had for $20.

Thanks jim

Jim,
Your thought about spending some time in the Sonoma region is a very good one, a bit less hectic and touristy; the town of Healdsburg in the northern part of Sonoma county would be a good place to visit and there is a Ridge tasting room right outside of Healdsburg called Ridge Lytton Springs. In addition to zin, the Russian River area is nearby which is a great area for pinot noir.
Cheers!

[Jenise]

Thanks for the feed back.

I suppose the wines that I am interested in are some that I can purchasse at wine outlets for drinking while travelling, some that are a good drink that give me lasting memories of the trip and some to sneak home to cellar.

I have read that Napa is busy so we actually want to spend a couple of days in Sonoma Valley.

I must say however that while browsing some of the online stores for what is being sold from Australia was very dissapointing. With the current wine-glut here there are some terrific bargains. A classic Coonawarra cabernet built to last 20 years can be had for $20.

Thanks jim

Good choice re Sonoma.

And I understand how disheartening the state of Aussie wines over here must be to you. The worldwide wine glut as well as (I think, anyway) an overinfatuation with the rich and heavy wines of Barossa and McClaren made to win huge Parker and Spectator points to the near total exclusion of what some of us think are the best wines of your country like the cooler climates of Victoria and Margaret River, not to mention some of the seriously great wines of the Hunter Valley (Tyrell's!), are responsible. Those of us who knew better couldn't get the wines we really wanted, and those who didn't know better tired of the export style. Sad.

Thanks for the help Guys,

We head back to Australia tomorrow.

San Francisco was a a lot of fun, went down to K&L to get a bottle of Joseph Swann Pinot which was the best pinot we have had so far, Yosemitte was awe inspiring, the climb to the Centennial Dome will stay with us for many years.

Stayed in Napa for one night, did the Runicon tour, really enjoyed their flag ship Rubicon wine, unfortunately out of my price range, walked in then out of Mondavi, too expensive for a taste. The highlight was Seavy out on the Con Valley Road. This is a winery that is just about the wine. Spent about half an hour with the wine maker, Jeremy. All the wines were glorious,we had a bottle of their 08 Chardonnay last night, a steal at $40 and a bottle of their Cab blend to take home.

We took advantage of the $20 tasting card in Napa. The best tasting happened to be at JV Wines, despite tasting being finished for the day they opened four unusual wines from the region to give us an idea of other wine styles to look out for.

We went to Ridge, I think we have not been able to percieve what Zinfandel is about as in Australia it is only been made by a small number of producers, though recently is is being pushed as Primotivo and is gainig popularity. I wanted to like them, they were good wines, their flagship Porto Bello? was excellent.

Today we are off to Joseph Swan, I can't wait and then perhaps Audelssa.

Thanks again.

If anyone is travelling to Australia I might be of some help in pointing you in the right direction.

JIM

[Jenise]

Thanks for the help Guys,

We head back to Australia tomorrow.

San Francisco was a a lot of fun, went down to K&L to get a bottle of Joseph Swann Pinot which was the best pinot we have had so far, Yosemitte was awe inspiring, the climb to the Centennial Dome will stay with us for many years.

Stayed in Napa for one night, did the Runicon tour, really enjoyed their flag ship Rubicon wine, unfortunately out of my price range, walked in then out of Mondavi, too expensive for a taste. The highlight was Seavy out on the Con Valley Road. This is a winery that is just about the wine. Spent about half an hour with the wine maker, Jeremy. All the wines were glorious,we had a bottle of their 08 Chardonnay last night, a steal at $40 and a bottle of their Cab blend to take home.

We took advantage of the $20 tasting card in Napa. The best tasting happened to be at JV Wines, despite tasting being finished for the day they opened four unusual wines from the region to give us an idea of other wine styles to look out for.

We went to Ridge, I think we have not been able to percieve what Zinfandel is about as in Australia it is only been made by a small number of producers, though recently is is being pushed as Primotivo and is gainig popularity. I wanted to like them, they were good wines, their flagship Porto Bello? was excellent.

Today we are off to Joseph Swan, I can't wait and then perhaps Audelssa.

Thanks again.

If anyone is travelling to Australia I might be of some help in pointing you in the right direction.

JIM

Jim, thanks so much for posting back to us. It's always interesting to see how things work out. And I'm so glad the Swan recco worked out for you and that you're now going to the winery. You'll be blown away by the range and quality as well as Rod's down-to-earth hospitality.

And Yosemite is awe-inspiring, isn't it? Our family vacationed there every summer when I was growing up, usually staying just outside the park on the south side in Wawona. Glad you got in some hiking.