Trip to Sonoma (and Napa) this October - Need Value Options

Hi All!

I know there are several other threads on here about travel to California wine country, but if there is one specific to this topic please point the way.

My SO and I just confirmed travel dates to Sonoma in October of this year (we were waiting for the Harvest Fair to announce its dates). And now that airfare, car, and AirBnBs are secured, I have started to look at wineries and restaurants. HOLY COW, the tasting landscape seems to have changed drastically in the last few years. I was there last in 2017, and it seems like everywhere I look the tasting fees have tripled. Due to Covid and other factors I’m sure, almost all tastings that I’m finding are seated, ticketed, non-splittable, and reservations required.

My budget will simply not last at a burn-rate of $120 per couple for a tasting x ~4 wineries in a day. No money left to buy anything!

So we are looking for the deals, the tucked away places that are still reasonable. The places that take walk-ins or allow picnic lunches. We are also hoping to set-up a few tastings through our trade friends or through personal connections I have with a few spots. Good cheaper restaurant recommendations are also greatly appreciated. Even Taylor’s Auto-Refresher is now some new place with fancier food charging a boatload.

Please help a fellow wine geek stretch his meager budget :slight_smile:

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I like Tres Sabores in Napa. Good wines. While the fee for tasting is $50, but they have a reasonable picnic policy: Visit Tres Sabores - Tres Sabores

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Porter Creek is a good option for a tasting. No reservations required, reasonably affordable, very good wine.

Check out El Gitano taco truck in Sonoma for lunch!

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Quick check:
Napa - Pride $30, Envy $30, Vincent Arroyo $30
Sonoma - Martinelli $40, Ridge $25, Arrowood $35
There are others.

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The following do not charge for tasting: Otra Vez (Vincent Arroyo’s relatively new venture), Solorio Family (assistant winemaker @ Vincent Arroyo) and Paloma in Napa. Frick in Sonoma.

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A ride up spring mountain from the Sonoma side is a great idea. You can hit pride Paloma and maybe one other. Pride has picnic tables out in the vineyard you can enjoy and they have a great view

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Share tastings. That is what we did last trip.
(2018) Saves money and allows you to visit more wineries. In a couple cases the tastings fee was high enough to join their wine club to get the fee waived.

It seems that form being a way to sell wines the tastings have become their own profit center. You could always head down to Paso Robles or Santa Barbara county. The wines are just as good if you know where to look.

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Reach out to Bobby at Chiron. We had a really enjoyable tasting at his off-the-beaten-track warehouse winery. Like $50, waived with purchase IIRC.
Some Board members off the top of my head who could be worth contacting: Jean (Alpha Omega), Macario Montoya, Bill Segui.
Can’t say enough good stuff about Bedrock (in Sonoma).

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Take Nate’s advice re Chiron. Fun and the wines are amazing. It is $50, waived with purchase or enrollment in wine club.

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Bedrock, in the Hooker House in downtown Sonoma has a $30.00 fee per person but is waived with a 2 bottle purchase per person. Should be real easy to purchase 4 bottles.

Will come back with a list of my favorites.

Tom

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+1 for Bedrock, both in terms of overall experience and QPR.

Share and go more upscale…you never know when you will make it back…why sub-optimize your visit?

We had a good time at Woodenhead, if you like Pinot Noir. Or try Joseph Swan.

+2 on Ridge Lytton Springs and Bedrock.

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+2 & +3. Bedrock for the win!

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Give Fred Scherrer a shout and set up an appointment. Fred make first class wines and you have the advantage of a wide range of Scherrer wines.
Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache-Syrah blends, Pinot Noir and Rosé.

Lot’s to like there.

Tom

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One suggestion to lighten the costs- Schedule 3 tastings a day vs. 4. Four can be a lot of rushing from appointment to appointment.

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For those saying to share tastings, Dusty mentioned in the OP that he’s seeing a lot of tastings that are ‘non-splittable’. I could be wrong, but I take that to mean the tastings can’t be shared.

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Excellent advice all and thank you!

Bedrock is definitely on the list; last time I was in town I lucked into a pickup party at Bedrock (when the tasting room was still that tiny cottage space by Limerick Lane) and Morgan got surprisingly shy when I asked for a photo with him. I initially looked at Under the Wire for a tasting, and the only option seems to be $125/pp for a Bubbles and Caviar menu.

We will share tasting wherever possible, but yes I am noticing that with ‘reservations required’ most places that you either book one tasting and show up with two (hope for the best) or you book two tastings and maybe have to pre-pay. I’ll probably end up calling a number of places.

Ridge is absolutely on the list.

Joseph Swan and Scherrer are both good calls, and I will certainly follow up. Have tasted both, but have not visited before.

Spring Mountain is my favorite mountain in the area, but I did not know that Pride was an affordable tasting. I’ve visited Schweiger before and the views are great; they used to state a high tasting fee when you booked, but they’ve never followed through with actually charging me for a tasting. Seems like they are just trying to weed out the casuals. Spring Mountain Vineyard makes wonderful wines, but last time I was there they kinda bait and switched me into a really expensive tasting and I had no idea until they brought the check. I’ll call it shared blame on that one. I also love Keenan and they have never charged me for a tasting.

Thanks to all for the other affordable/no charge tastings; I forgot about Frick but I have tasted there, the owner/winemaker is a hoot. :slight_smile: There are several mentioned (like Chiron) which I have no awareness of and I will certainly look into.

There are certainly spots where we are willing to splurge, like the Library Tasting at Montelena, so we aren’t trying to sell ourselves short, but I also don’t want to look at my bank account at the end of the trip and have any kind of buyer’s remorse. There are some tastings out there that just seem like they are charging you the equivalent of $15 for a 2oz taste of a $60 bottle, and at that point I’d much rather just buy the bottle and drink it with a picnic.

If you have made it this far in my non-sensical ramblings, maybe you’ll help me with one other specific question: We want to spend at least a day out in the far flung ‘True’ Sonoma Coast. I’ve noticed that several of the wineries in this category have moved their tasting facilities closer to town (Hirsch for example). What are your recommendations for coastal places out there that do vineyard tours and/or tastings? Wayfarer looks like they do, but I don’t know anything about them.

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Idlewild and Jolie-Laide share a tasting room in Healdsburg. Definite big bang for your buck there.

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Idlewild definitely, when did they team up with Jolie-Laide? I’m not familiar with them. I’m still bemoaning Idlewild stopping their production of Valdigue, which I still have some of and am totally enchanged by. Their Cortese also stole my heart.

Also, Hardy, I absolutely plan to reach out to you :slight_smile:

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