another Where To Visit in Napa thread – but with a twist: let's keep it under $100/bottle

Aubert. Tasting is expensive but wine is under 100.

Oregon.

I’d pick area’s to focus on and based on wine and experience with the ability to taste multiple wines. Some great suggestions already

Calistoga
Myriad/Quivet and EMH- this day could easily be split around lunch and Solbar is a great spot near EMH.

Howell Mtn
Neal and Robert Craig( not the tasting room but the winery at the top of the mtn). Might be able to picnic as well at RC

Conn Valley
Seavey and Anderson Conn Valley( Forman is now $115 per) and for a value visit Buehler

St Helena
Trespass- awesome experience tasting right in the vineyard in the heart of St Helena
Pride- could make the trip up Spring Mtn before or after or pair that with Smith Madrone , Robert Keenan or Barnett Vineyards

Behrens and Drinkward Pischon tasting room- in St Helena- could be a good Saturday option or the idea of doing Yountville and plan a few tasting room stops around lunch.

+1 for Pride and I would also recommend Keenan on the way up Spring Mountain. I like Fred’s suggestion of Robert Craig, although it might make more sense for your friends to visit the tasting room downtown unless they are going up for a few different visits on Howell Mountain.

Thanks,
Ed

On the opposite side of the valley from Ridge - Chappellet has a really nice signature cab and a great QPR red cuvee as well as some lesser known decent whites to enjoy, all well under $100.

Biale - zin and PS all under $100.
Storybook - nice tour, led by the owner or his daughter, more zin and under $100.
Round Pond
Duckhorn/Paraduxx, etc. - beautiful grounds at all of their properties but you get real close to your threshold.

OP I don’t know your style but here is what I always suggest to folks:

Failla - As mentioned, Sonoma sourced fruit. Beautiful Pinot, Chards and Syrahs. The most you’ll spend is $70 on a current release. The best part is their tasting room is this awesome old hunting cabin. It’s truly an experience on top of already fantastic wine. It was our favorite place in Napa.

Honing - Also very affordable in comparison. Cabs, sauv blancs. The site is like this oasis in the middle of the valley. Very nice wine and affordable.

Heitz - Their bottle prices will go up to $200 but they have plenty of options under $100 and they do a great job.

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Stony Hill
Paloma
Pride
Schramsburg
Mending Wall
Herb Lamb
Chappellet

Thank you for all the responses – public and private, alike. I will collate all the suggestions and discuss them with my friends, and let them take it from there. :slight_smile:

Stony Hill (truly beautiful up there).
Phelps - also really pretty. Sure, Insignia is over $100, but a lot of wines are not.

Drive over to Sonoma and go to Ridge’s winery at Lytton Springs.

Whatever you do, do not over schedule. My guess is that someone less interested in wine will not be able to handle more than 3 in a day.

That’s good advice for someone more interested in wine too …

I’ll Second or 3rd votes for Phelps…lots of wines under 100, only Insignia and Backus are above that price point, and I think their regular Napa Cab has really increased in quality the past few years. Plus Insignia is always poured for guests, and sometimes they are pouring Backus as well.

Love Pride…make sure they bring a picnic lunch. If they can talk their way into a bottle of their Cab Franc, they will have acquired the un-sung gem of their portfolio (and under 100 easily).

Trespass…can’t say enough good things about Donnie and Dana, great spot, nice wines, but they are creeping up to the 100 dollar mark with some of their wines, which we are sad to see.

Another great visit if they can get an appointment is Lewelling. Always gracious with their time, fantastic stories, and very much what Napa was 40+ years ago. It’s unlikely there will be any wine for sale, but they be given the opportunity to taste, and sign up for the waitlist.

Hope that helps.

Has been a while, but I had a great visit with Trespass.

Perfect thread…I will be there the dates listed by the OP so this thread is very useful. Thanks to all who contributed the suggestions.

Mike and Leah Smith- Myriad, Quivet, Ancillary- not all the wines are under $100 but a bunch are and they still have some 14 Myriad Napa and G3 to try along with their other wines. A visit with them is very informative and usually will involve a barrel sample or 2. Nice gamut of wines from Semillion, Pinot and Cabernet.

Turnbull- might be one of the best drop in tasting room visits we’ve ever had. The 14 Oakville reserve is very good and the 14 Black Label( mostly Weitz) though over the $100 price point is outstanding.

cheers

Had lunch & wine with Cameron & Bahaneh Hobel over the weekend and tried their 2014’s for the first time since bottling. A great set of wines (in general I think 2014 is underrated, understandably between 13 & 15 however) and I’m pretty sure they are still under the $100 threshold. Really great people as well (and if you aren’t on the Milton Road distribution list, you are truly missing out)

With full disclosure - I work for Thomas Brown who makes Hobel, I am friends with the Hobels but I have no interest in the project other than liking most everything about it.

Visit Arns on the lower end of Howell Mountain . Teriffic and highly underrated Cabernet. They also make syrah and might have a white coming soon. It is a tiny place and Sandi and John are among the nicest people on the planet.
Cheers!
Marshall

Should this thread title now be $200 per bottle?

Were you waiting 6 years to make this joke?

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You caught me! Looking for some recommendations for an upcoming Napa trip actually.

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