Quick wine get away

My wif e and I are taking a quick little midweek vacation next week to Napa area. Any thoughts or tips on great tours would be appreciated.

Best,
Sean

My wif e and I are taking a quick little midweek vacation next week to Napa area. Any thoughts or tips on great tours would be appreciated.

Best,
Sean

What do you like? What would you like to see or taste? What have you seen or tasted?

When folks descend upon me, I usually take them to Goosecross Cellars, Darioush, Frank Family Vineyards, Ballentine, Beringer, V. Sattui, St. Supery, Peju Province with lunch at Taylor's Refresher. That kind of takes you north on Silverado Trail and south down SR29. And that's only Napa. And those are not necessarily the "stars" on Napa's horizon, but it is an interesting cross-section.

Gary,
Thanx for replying. My wife and I are relative newbies to the world of wine. 2+ years since she had that magic first bottle of great wine with great food. We are looking to expand our tastes and experiences. We are both lovers of Reds and whites. My wife leans towards the reds and I lean toward the whites. But both are welcome.

I guess my post was vague at best as we are looking to experience as much as we can in the little time we have available as we live in Chicago.

Maybe that will help.

Thx again for any and all replies.

Best,
Sean

Gary,
Thanx for replying. My wife and I are relative newbies to the world of wine. 2+ years since she had that magic first bottle of great wine with great food. We are looking to expand our tastes and experiences. We are both lovers of Reds and whites. My wife leans towards the reds and I lean toward the whites. But both are welcome.

I guess my post was vague at best as we are looking to experience as much as we can in the little time we have available as we live in Chicago.

Maybe that will help.

Thx again for any and all replies.

Best,
Sean

There are more wineries in Napa and Sonoma than you can shake a stick at. And everyone has their own favorites for reasons which are usually their own. If you've found a couple of wines from the area which you like, then perhaps you should seek out these wineries.

Napa is fairly "consolidated" Grab a map. (I like the free ones from AAA.) You can go up the Silverado Trail and come down SR29 and find so many wineries. Link to Napa map: Napa Winery Map

Sonoma is a bit more "expansive." (Again, look at a map.) Sonoma Map here: Sonoma Winery Map

Also check if there is anything going on during your visit, e.g. April in Carneros is happening on 4/21 and 4/22. It's a nice event where you can get to know a lot of Carneros wineries.

Anyway, I'm sure others will chime in. I'm a notorious cheapskate and this colors my suggestions.

Have a good trip, take pictures, and post them and your experiences.

I'll add to what Gary said by recommending that you not be shy about visiting places that require an appointment. Don't know if you are looking at anything like that but if you are, don't let it throw you. Often, the appointment-only places will have you talking with someone who really knows the wine - if not the winemaker then someone else intimately familiar with their approach to it. You can learn a lot from such visits. This is in contrast to the typical Napa tasting room where the people you'll talk with are often hired on for the purpose of pouring the wine and will know less about what the winemaker is trying to do with it. Not to say that the tasting rooms aren't a lot of fun - they are!

Mike

I'll add to what Gary said by recommending that you not be shy about visiting places that require an appointment.

By the way, in many instances making an appointment just means calling 10 minutes in advance from the road. (But some places actually do need real appointments.) For many the appointment thing is a legal formality connected to their tasting room license.

Pick up a couple of those freebee wine country magazines in your hotel. These usually list all the hours and other vagaries of the tasting rooms. They'll give the phone numbers of the wineries and whether an appointment is needed and whether there is a charge. They also have coupons for freebees and two-fers.