First Trip to Napa - 10yr Wedding Anniversary

Taking my wife to Napa in October to celebrate our 10yr wedding anniversary. Staying at the new Las Alcobas in St. Helena. Currently, the only firm plans we have are dinner at TFL on our actual anniversary (booked last weekend when the dates opened up).

We are staying for 4 nights. Having never been to Napa, I have a few questions I’m hoping the seasoned experts can help with:

-How many winery visits/tours per day is recommended? I was thinking no more than 3.
-Do many wineries offer different types of tours (e.g. “drop in” vs. a more intimate pre-arranged tour)?
-How obligated is one to make a wine purchase during a visit? I’m all for buying if it’s something I like and don’t already have in my cellar, but I don’t want to buy just to buy.
-How far in advance should I make reservations for tours, dinners?


What restaurants are recommended that won’t break the bank like TFL? I’ve searched on here and Cindy’s seems to be mentioned quite a bit, as do Auberge de Soleil (lunch or sunset drink), Farmstead, Mustards.

My wife has always wanted to go hot air ballooning, so I think I will surprise her with that one day. I was also thinking of signing us up for a cooking class. Any recommendations for either?

What else do I need to know?

Thank you for the tips!

Check out Meadowwood, sitting at the bar, as well for nice, but not French Laundry prices.

Hire a driver or be very careful. When we were out there in Spring, cops were everywhere.

A minimum of one bottle of water per winery. Stay hydrated my friend.

Call up the winery map for Napa so you can see just where they are located. Try to keep each days tastings close to one another. 9 miles can take 30 minutes and with so much work being done on the roads upvalley, you might have another 30 minute detour. Setting up tastings in advance usually enhances the experiences, so pick those wineries you intend to buy from. There are a large number of wineries with walk in tasting rooms at the winery or at off-site locations. Del Dotto has tasting rooms in St. Helena and Napa. St. Helena is the preferred choice. Make reservations.

Next, call up the restaurant map for lunches or delis for take out. If you choose to have a lunch at Rutherford Grill, there is always the possibility they will have a 30 to 45 minute wait.

Many of the wineries will ship your purchased wines cheap or free, but if you over horse your purchases, we can ship for you or you can pick up a Wine Check for $68.00. Don’t tell Todd. He doesn’t think we charge enough.

Trying to put together a list of wineries to visit is certainly easier said than done. Heeding the advice of others, I want to cap at max of 2 tastings per day, shooting for 5-6 in total for the trip.

Unfortunately several of my active mailing lists do not offer winery tours/tastings (Harlan, Scarecrow, Maybach), although Harlan said it may be a possibility if I contact them a few weeks out. In addition to Napa cabs, we enjoy Chardonnay (wife likes it buttery; me not so much), Zin (Carlisle/Bedrock) and Pinot (I know, wrong Valley).

Here is my short list so far. Are there any I should remove and replace with something else?

-Macdonald
-Myriad (I understand I can taste several of Mike’s wines all at once)
-Chappellet (for the view)
-ACV
-Chateau Montelena

On the “maybe” list:
-Dunn (didn’t find much on tastings when I searched)
-Rivers-Marie (do they offer tastings to list members?)
-Quintessa

Definitely looking for recommendations on wineries that offer great value both in terms of the wines that they sell and the tours themselves.

You could easily fit 3 tastings into a day if not all of them include a facility tour. Montelena is down the block from Envy where Mike does his tastings. You could do those both before lunch.

Yes, Will does tastings for Rivers Marie at the Calistoga office. A tasting room is in the planning stages.

David…Have you considered Outpost? Nice tour and love their wines. Another not often mentioned option is Biale…an easy one to squeeze in at the end of the day…they stay open a little later than others…great place to watch a sunset.

If you like bubbles, I highly recommend Schramsberg for its uniqueness (compared to so many Napa Valley Cab producers in the upper part of the Valley ) and interesting tour and place in American history .

For Zin you should consider Storybook and Biale. Storybook is in Calistoga and the family still runs the entire operation so your tour and tasting will be hosted by the daughter most likely. They are also closer to where you are staying than Biale.

Biale I’ve never done a tour, only tastings. In fact, I’ve never inquired about a tour. Typical tasting is 5 wines or so but often will break out additional bottles; especially if you get talking about other Zin’s you enjoy.

Both require prior reservations.

For a casually memorable lunch option, if you can carve out time on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday when Addendum is open, you can have Thomas Keller’s famous fried chicken while sitting at a picnic table amidst one of the gardens where veggies are grown for his TFL/Bouchon/Ad Hoc Yountville restaurant empire. The chicken is really damn good, but the sides and cookies were horrible. We last went in Dec 2015, so maybe they’ve improved upon it. Personally, I’d acquire sides elsewhere and just buy the large bucket of chicken. And unless things have changed, there’s no corkage charge (bring your own stemware).

The '97 Salon my wife and I brought went great with the chicken…
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