Napa trip questions

Headed to San Francisco for a conference in a few weeks and plan on hitting Napa beforehand. Having never been, I have a few questions.

Plan to visit on a Saturday with a few clients and then possibly by myself on Sunday.

Transportation - will definitely need a driver. Limo or large SUV that can pick us up in SF in the morning and take us back after dinner. Any good companies?

Dinner - need recs. 1 of the guys in our group has suggested REDD or Cyrus assuming we can’t get French laundry. Any others we should look into?

Lunch - should we stop somewhere or just get sandwiches and eat in between visits

Wineries - 2 on my list are Rhys and Kapcsandy. 1 guy wants to hit del dotto last.

Another that I am not familaiar with but seems to be recommended by most is alpha omega.

How many can we realistically get in?

TIA

John

Rhys isn’t in Napa so that might not work. I believe Cyrus is now closed. Never been to Redd but there’s tons of good restaurants in Napa. Given your restaurant list, perhaps Meadowwood?

Del Dotto caves sounds fun!

February 23 is Napa Premiere, and from what I gather most tasting rooms will not be open due to the size of the event.

If that’s your date, you may want to focus on Sonoma. If that’s not your date, tips can be given.

Cyrus is closed, so take that off of your list.

Thanks. I did just notice that Cyrus is closed. I know Rhys isn’t in napa and that will likely be when I go by myself on Sunday if they can accomodate .

The 23 rd is the date so thanks for the heads up on the event. It looks like a lot of fun but is sold out so I wonder how one goes about finding tickets.

If you still get to Napa, PRESS in St Helena is good, especially if you want steak with your Cab. Nice selection of fairly priced older wines.

For a driver/limo company, I can recommend David Rasmussen of Eclectic Tours http://www.eclectictour.com/

bistro jeanty for lunch or dinner

Dear John,

If you want a private tasting at AO, I would love to have you here and will set it up for you. Just email me at jean@aowinery.com.

Jean

Jean, I’ll be in town the same week/weekend as John, I might email you as well!

Mustards for lunch. The pork chop is excellent. The tamale app is fantastic as well. Redd is very good. Bouchon and Bottega as well.

Oenotri in Napa is a good alternative. If you like Rhys wines I would suggest looking into Corison or Mayacamas.

I’d second Bottega. I like Ad Hoc more than Bouchon though.

How early are you starting? I’d say 3 wineries max on Saturday especially if you plan a sit down lunch. Each winery visit usually takes us 1-2 hours. Also, depends on how far the wineries are from each other. I particularly love: Biale, Hendry, Elyse, AO, Paradigm, Myriad and a lot of Spring Mountain wineries.
Re: food, Bottega is a fav.

And mustards pork chop is delish!

I also really liked Bottega, I also have liked Terra and Cindy’s in St. Helena. Rutherford Grill was nice and iirc there was no charge for corkage.

I love Mustards. The pork chop has been consistently amazing for 10+ years. I haven’t been to Bistro Jeanty in ages, but I loved the cassoulet there. Had lunch there with a half-French guy and he said it was very authentic cassoulet. If you decide on Sonoma, try the Dry Creek General Store for a quick and delicious lunch.

Acv or Boswell do their tastings in the caves and its really a treat. For the money I would put their cabs up against many listed above

Mmmmmmmmm Tomato Bisque…

I concur with the Bistro Jeanty, Mustard’s, Redd, Bouchon & Terre recs. Cannot agree with Bottega recs. Our experience was not good (service).

JD