Napa and Sonoma region advice

[Cactus]

Hi guys, going to Napa or Sonoma in Jan. Can i trouble forumites for general advice? Would like to visit a mix of icons vs high quality boutiques. Any must see's? Have heard you often pay to taste, which culturally is different from oz.

[JDSJDS]

Napa is a major tourist attraction; there is no other wine region like it. January won't be as bad as in the summer or fall. But the weekends will still be very busy. Traffic can be very slow, both in the Napa area and going back to San Fransisco. What should take 45-60 minutes can take 3-4 hours: be careful going back to the airport!

Tasting fees average $40-60 USD per tasting; some waive it if you buy a few bottles, but many do not. The fees can really add up quickly. There are too many wineries to name, it really does depend on what sort of experience you want, from over the top mansions to fairly low key (for Napa) settings. There are a small number of places that don't have a tasting fee, but they are few are far between. Heitz comes to mind, and they often pour the Hillside and Martha's Vineyard (their top wines) as well. Definitely worth a stop. Many places are open without reservations in Napa, but a significant number, especially smaller producers, require an appointment. Sonoma is less busy and touristy. There are some cabernets, etc. there, but more pinot and chardonnay. Tasting fees are cheaper and cellar door experiences are often better. But most require an appointment. I'd recommend going to Ridge in Sonoma (Dry Creek Valley area), as they make a good range of wines, including excellent zinfandel blends as well as cabs. Making an appointment might be useful here. Each region's web sites provide great information as to which wineries need an appointment and winery hours (e.g., http://www.napavalley.com/maps/ and http://www.sonoma.com/maps/). Check out trip reports from Wineberserkers to get an idea of what wineries you might want to see (Alpha Omega often gets good reviews; appointment required).

For a different experience, I'd suggest going to Anderson Valley; there are amazing redwood forests on the way there, and far, far fewer people. Winemakers will often be pouring wines (that never happens in Napa), or at least people will have a much better knowledge of the wines. Again, mainly pinot here, with some sparkling wines too. If you do this, stay in Mendocino for a night and check out the town and coast while you are there.

San Fransisco is a great city, well worth 2-3 days if you have time, although January weather can be nasty, especially after coming from the southern summer. Have a great time!

[Matt@5453]

For a different experience, I'd suggest going to Anderson Valley; there are amazing redwood forests on the way there, and far, far fewer people. Winemakers will often be pouring wines (that never happens in Napa), or at least people will have a much better knowledge of the wines. Again, mainly pinot here, with some sparkling wines too. If you do this, stay in Mendocino for a night and check out the town and coast while you are there.

San Fransisco is a great city, well worth 2-3 days if you have time, although January weather can be nasty, especially after coming from the southern summer. Have a great time!

Very good advice on this region. I have not been there but would love to. I'd make an appointment to see Black Kite Cellars, every Pinot of theirs I have tried has been delicious.

Have fun!

[Cactus]

Thanks JDSJDS. People like u and the forum are such a good community.

[TiggerK]

There's a specific thread stickied on the Wine Talk forum of Berserkers all about visiting Sonoma, oodles of info there too. Enjoy the trip!!

P.S I've not been to the wine regions, but wouldn't miss Ridge, great producer. FWIW, in SFO, Gary Danko was a fantastic higher end food experience (and allowed BYO too!).

[Diddy]

Here's my itinerary from two years ago-

Day 1

Larkmead
Mondavi
Shafer
Alpha Omega
Myriad (TBC)

Day 2

Pride
Joseph Phelps
Beringer
Chateau Montelena
Castell Di Amarosa

Day 3

Ferrari-Carano
Ridge Lytton Springs
Copain
Calluna
Iron Horse

Day 4

Littorai
Joseph Swan
Siduri (TBC)
Chateau St Jean
Benziger

[Ian S]

Not wanting to drive traffic away from Gavin's forum, so no link, but there is an amazing sticky resource at the top of the wine talk forum of WineBerserkers. The depth of material is exceptional and should be more than you'd ever need.

oops missed TiggerK's post saying the same thing

[TiggerK]

Hey just wanted to revisit my comment on Gary Danko restaurant in SFO. They had a menu divided up into starters, entrees, seafood, mains and desserts, with (from memory) at least 5 or 6 choices in each category. The concept that I loved is that you choose how many courses you want - 3,4,5,6 etc at fixed prices (up there but not too bad given the world class service and fit out). Then you can choose any combination of dishes you want. If you want 5 courses of starters, or 1 main and 4 desserts, no problem. They then ensure that the order of the courses is to your liking and that the portion sizes increase or decrease as per a traditional meal size structure. So your 5 starters will increase in size on course 3 and 4 to ensure a full meal experience. I thought it was really clever, perfectly executed and they were happy with BYO for a reasonable charge as well. The bill was half that of Eleven Madison Park (inc wine cost) and while both were spectacular, we enjoyed Gary Danko more. We went 3 years ago so not sure if it's still the same but I highly recommend it.

Cheers
TiggerK

[Cactus]

Thanks for advice guys. Was a great time. Feedback
- spent most time in napa and not wrong about tasting fees adding up. Generally US $40ish shared a glass with missus.
- was only able to do about 4 places a day, slower than what i normally do. Partly with slow friends, part wanting to not make tasting fees add up
- places we went were very cab dominant, not as much Pinot or Zin as i thought we might see. I guess Sonoma has more variety
- recent vintages of 2012-2014 thought very highly with 2013 the best for cab
- some of the cabs were some of the best i have had. Quite approacgable young too
-mostly french oak treatment, Silver Oak was different at american oak
- best wine was Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, 2013 vintage. amazing wine but too expensive for me
- picked up 2 bottles instead of their SLV 2013, 2 Silver Oak Alexander Valley 2012, 2 Clos du Val 2013 Stags Leap district. I plan to do a judgement of Sydney circa 2030
- the cellar doors have all had a lot of work put into them. Far more than aussie ones. Huge edifaces and manicured gardens
- vine ages are really surprisingly young. They seem to replant at 30 years, very different than the pride in Australian old vines
- overall a fantastic time. Highly recommended. Next time i would do a bit more Sonoma. Just gut to 1 winery there Benzigar.

[Andrew Jordan]

- the cellar doors have all had a lot of work put into them. Far more than aussie ones. Huge edifaces and manicured gardens

Catcus,

Glad to hear you had a great time. We usually found that the more grandiose the cellar door, the crappier the wines were!

[michel]

Great reading
I enjoy the travel ideas!

[Cactus]

I am finding myself in SF again tomorrow and Napa the day after. Will update. But schedule is Chimney Rock, Oshaughnessy, lunch then maybe Stags Leap Wine Cellars and Alpha Omega. Never been to the first 2. Just sorta picked them from a dartboard. Supposed to be 34 deg. Woo tannic cab!

[Cactus]

Went to Chimney Rock and Oshaughnessy in the morning. Chimney Rock had a lovely tasting room down in the Stags Leap district. Went through their estate range. I bought 1x of their estate Cab Sav.

Oshaughnessy was a belter. Tucked away up in the Howell mountains where the fruit grows with smaller tougher berries so a bit more tannin. They gave us a guided tour of the winery and barrel room which was a massive tunnel into the mountain behind. I thought their Howell Mountain Cab blend was a belter and bought 2x.
It was 80% Cab Sav and 20% all the other bordeaux grapes, 6 or 7 of them.

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was next. Always a good stop, my favorite tasting room. Grand view of the mountains behind. The highlights are the Fay and SLV single vinyard wines.getting expensive though at $150 and $195 respectively. Great wines but by now the temp in the valley was up to 35 deg and Cab tasting became hard going. Bought 1x each of the Fay and SLV.

Last stop was Alpha Omega, they are open till 6pm so you can always get 1 last tasting in. They have a lovely place to sit out by the lake. Their estate cab was the pick of the bunch for mine and so I got a bottle.

Overall impressions? Was glad it was mainly 2013 to 2016 for tasting which were all good years. The 2017 in many cases was not made due to the fires. There is some debate over whether those that did make a 2017 can truly test and ensure smoke taint hasnt impacted the wines. Sounds like buyer beware.

The cab seemed less tannic overall than I remember and more balanced.

We did a quick lunch at a Taqueria which was a good way to do it to get back out in the road. Doing anymore than 4 Napa tastings I think is very difficult. Although we lost maybe 1.5hrs of drive time to Howell mountain and back. Probably would time things better.