It had been over twelve months since I returned ten days ago. We travelled mostly up Silverado Trail to stay away from traffic but also spent a lot of time on Rt 29. I am amazed at the number of new wineries have popped up as well as the extra dots that have shown up on the Preiser Key. Not an easy road for new labels for wine drinker’s wallet share!
If one can afford a new winery on 29, one can afford a marketing team to make sure there are visitors.
I do think some of the laws are harmful to new wineries though, like the inability to allow walk-in tastings. I can, however, see how much of a clusterfk allowing walk-in tastings everywhere could be.
In 1971, my roomies and I would hit 4 or 5 of the 18 wineries with tasting rooms every Sunday, rather than spend money on beer. There wasn’t a lot of traffic and tasting was free. We are probably part of the reason they charge for tastings now.
Napa has become a lot like Disney Land. If you want to go to all the attractions, it takes 4 days and $200 a day minimum.
The wise visitor schedules visits with wineries on the right. A left turn on Silverado Trail or Hwy 29 is a high stake gamble or a 10 minute wait.
Nolan, I agree but I am not even talking about wineries open to visitors. Just the plethora of new labels is daunting. Without a story or a following, I think it is a hard road to travel. Unless, it’s a vanity label and it doesn’t matter. Makes me want to support the wineries and owners I already know. It’s like the old saying, I already have enough friends.
Randy, left turns can be very telling, too. If you need to take a left turn and someone waves you through…that ain’t no tourist!
True Dat! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I get the sense that a lot of these expensive new labels are basically hobbies. Some of the owners I’ve talked to make so little wine, with no plan to produce any more, that they can probably sell the bulk of their production to well-off friends.