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Touring Napa and Sonoma this summer

J

jimmythesaint

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Joined
Aug 8, 2007
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23
My wife and I are going to celebrate our wedding anniversary with another trip out to Napa and Sonoma this May. If anyone has any recommendations on wineries worth visiting, I'd love to hear them. We will be spending at least 6 nights, perhaps 8, out there. My wife is really interested in wineries with nice gardens (Ferrari-Carano is high on her list), while I'm more interested in the wine. I can do without the whole $200 reserve cabernet scene - I'm going through an anti-Cali-cab phase. I am interested in finding places with less popular varietals, such as marsanne, rousanne, and definitely viognier. I'd particularly like a recommendation for somewhere with great sparkling wine.

We've already been/aren't interested in going to Rubicon, Opus, Silver Oak, St. Francis and Artesa.

Wineries/places already on our list:

JV Wine and Spirits (store in Napa)
Back Room Wines
Bounty Hunter
Vintner's Collective
A Dozen Vintners (so I can buy all the Bride of Black Bart they have in stock)

Ridge (do they serve any of their southern california wines here?)
Domaine Chandon
Sequioa Grove
Cakebread
Benziger
Mondavi (for the cheese tour/gardens)
Round Pond for olive oil
Cline
 
We went a couple years ago. Did 28 wineries in 2 1/2 days. A few nice ones I remember are Trefethen, Kelem (really small, family owned winery), and Dariouch (I know I misspelled this one, but they have fabulous grounds). Is Silver Oak the one where you have to ride the cable car to the top of the mountain? That one was fun. If you have the money, rent a limo/car for a day and have the driver take you around. Most of them are very knowledgable about the area and can take you where you want to go.
 
Howdy Jimmy,

6-8 night ..... now that's doing it up right! On the Napa side of things I would make a trip to Venge, they have some awesome Syrah's right now and offer a nice tour of their caves. We don't make it out to Napa all that much, too much of a Disneyland crowd for us not to mention those tasting fees. It sounds like you have some good places on your list, including wine stores. A place I wouldn't miss for wine shopping is the Bottel Barn in Santa Rosa, they also do shipping. Many wineries will drop off small lots at the store that you win't find other places.

:cool:


jimmythesaint said:
My wife and I are going to celebrate our wedding anniversary with another trip out to Napa and Sonoma this May. If anyone has any recommendations on wineries worth visiting, I'd love to hear them. We will be spending at least 6 nights, perhaps 8, out there. My wife is really interested in wineries with nice gardens (Ferrari-Carano is high on her list), while I'm more interested in the wine. I can do without the whole $200 reserve cabernet scene - I'm going through an anti-Cali-cab phase. I am interested in finding places with less popular varietals, such as marsanne, rousanne, and definitely viognier. I'd particularly like a recommendation for somewhere with great sparkling wine.

We've already been/aren't interested in going to Rubicon, Opus, Silver Oak, St. Francis and Artesa.

Wineries/places already on our list:

JV Wine and Spirits (store in Napa)
Back Room Wines
Bounty Hunter
Vintner's Collective
A Dozen Vintners (so I can buy all the Bride of Black Bart they have in stock)

Ridge (do they serve any of their southern california wines here?)
Domaine Chandon
Sequioa Grove
Cakebread
Benziger
Mondavi (for the cheese tour/gardens)
Round Pond for olive oil
Cline
Click to expand...
 
The one with the cable car up the mountain is Sterling and they are OK. Avoid Opus One, they are overpriced and everybody drinks their wine becasue it's expensive and they can say that they have a bottle of Opus One. One of the best wineries in or around Napa is a little winery called Larkmead Vineyards. You would have to call and make an appointment but it is well worth it. I live some what close to Napa and go there about twice a month. Few of the wineries compare to Larkmead. A couple others would be Rombaurer, Peju, Nickel and Nickel or Paloma, small but extremely good wine. Another one to stay away from would be Silver Oak. Everyone goes crazy for Silver Oak and they are not worth it. Pretty much if you bottled a Cab in Napa in 2004 it was great. Out of any one of these wineries I would go to Larkmead though. Good luck and have fun.
 
Schramsberg is the place to go for sparkling. No vineyards, but a beautiful old property, some really cool caves and a nice tasting after. It is worth the fee, which might be applied to purchases. I really enjoyed Staglin's caves, but they do big $ cabs. Impressive nonetheless. Miner has always been a fave of mine probably because of the restaurant industry discount (20% if I remember), and they have the "other" varietals as well. Ask for their very sluggable rose.
Sonoma, as NorCal said, is much more relaxing and less touristy. When I lived in San Francisco, my dad came out and we drove around without a map, or a clue. We just stopped into places. Martinelli has killer zins, Roshambo for tattooed staff and an artistic anti-establishment air. David Coffaro had The Who concert playing on a projection screen in his barrel room/tasting room and hot dogs on the grill. He does crazy blends with grapes I'd never heard of, and some of the vines he doesn't know what they are. He had the freshly fermented juices for sample as well. No sales staff or merchandise, just a good time.
If you go to Bounty Hunter, et al. ask for recommendations about non-Cabernet houses. They can (and have for me) made appointments and set up tours. Enjoy your anniversary.
 
Here are a few more that I wouldn't miss.

In Napa: most require a reservation
August Briggs is a nice smaller winery that focuses on the wine. I'm generally quite pleased with their offerings though not always consistant.

Silverado Vineyards never lets us down and they really do produce some really nice wine at a reasonable cost. They also produce some very nice Sangiovese. The views from the tasting room are spectacular!

Chateau Montelena has a very nice tour and is a beautiful place with a lot of history.

Moss Creek Winery ...... okay, I hesitate telling you about this place as they are one of my favorites that not too many people know about. They produce one of the only Napa Zin's that I purchase for my cellar. They are really out of the way and in the mountains but the drive is absolutely beautiful !

Sonoma, Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley:
Mauritson Winery ..... Cory is making some fantastic wines, across the board! This is more of a wine stop as their facility is more geared to making wine and less about showing off.

Unti Vineyards is another bare bones operation that produce very nice wines. They are producing a lot of different varietals so this may be one you are interested in.

Rochioli Vineyards & Winery ..... because its Rochioli :laugh: , you may not be able to buy anything but they produce a really nice Sauvignon Blanc that is usually available in the tasting room.


Hope this helps.

David
 
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