I think 3 a day is perfect and 2 a day is not enough. If you start at 9 or 10 am, you should have no issue visiting 3 wineries spread evenly and have lunch. It’s the 4th tasting that gets dicey. In the pre-Covid days there were many a winery where you could walk in and belly up to the bar but that’s just not the case any longer. I would also recommend grouping tastings in the same general vincinity to reduce drive times between appointments.
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I think this is pretty spot on. We are heading to Napa on Thursday. Previously we did three and sometimes four a day, but they were shorter tastings (maybe one included a tour). This time, we planned two tastings a day that are expected to be around 90min each. I feel the two may be short but they are much more targeted tastings - but we have lunch plans as well. Definitely try to group the tastings in the same area to reduce drive times.
I think the 2 vs 3 a day debate is also hinged on your location - are you a “local” who can go to Napa 1-2x a year, 4-6x a year, or like me, live in NJ and when I flew out there, it was something where I cannot hop in the car and just go for the weekend. If you are traveling from far, and the focus is on wine, 3 a day is fine. Our last day we actually did 4 (Rivers Marie, Mending Wall, Montelena and Charles Krug) and easily survived. We did 2 days in Willamette, 2 days in Sonoma and 2 days in Napa, 3 per day minus that last day, and we never felt too rushed though we were there in the off season too so maybe that helped with less people/traffic.
Tip - if you hire a driving service and timing is “tight” for lunch, you can always ask the driver to pick up some sandwiches or something and give them cash to cover it. its not fancy but again is the focus wine, food, relaxation, scenery, etc then adjust from there.
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3/day
10 am - tasting with vineyard/cellar tour before heat of day
1 pm - nice 1-2 hour sit down tasting
3 pm - sit down tasting 60-90 minutes
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Same idea but this Friday I’m doing 10am 2pm 4pm so plenty of time for a nice lunch then dinner very close to the 4pm appt
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Gotcha. I like to have a nice wine country sandwich for lunch and then a 30 minute power nap and shower after last tasting before dinner out at 7
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Second going to Pride. Great wines and fantastic view
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Genova’s for the win!
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If you do 3 a day and the wine tastings are 90 minutes (most are) then they all need to be centrally located to one another. Thats why i stick to 2 a day.
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Have done as many as 7 in a day, but that is way too many. I like 3 per day and think I could manage 4 but definitely need to minimize transit time between stops and brown bag lunch.
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Everyone has a different comfort zone. Anywhere between 2 and 4 depending on the wine, experiences and location of the wineries.
Coming from the East Coast I cannot do 9 or 10am the first couple of days. On day three I may do a 10a, 1p, 3p.
We went in June and had great tastings at Smith Madrone and Hayfork. Both are small wineries with great wines. We popped into Sherwin and they also have excellent wines, and the tasting room/facility is beautiful.
Haley Wight with Hayfork provided one of my favorite winery visits over the past several trips. Can’t recommend that one highly enough.
Thanks for the advice on all this! Super helpful. Sounds like there’s nothing particularly special about the list our hotel gave us.
Any opinions on these also? These were other wineries I was considering but not on the hotel’s list:
- Heitz Cellar
- O’Shaughnessy
- Chappellet
- Corison
I’m leaning towards adding Rivers-Marie based on how many repeated recs there have been for that, and thank you all for the info so far!
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My wife and I recently went and 2 really stood out for us, despite being quite different experiences.
Pride Mountain Vineyard
Opus One
If you go to Freemark Abbey and like dessert wines they have a nice Syrah Port there that I do not think you can get elsewhere.
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Lots of mileage between locations. Chappellet is a beautiful winery but up a bit and very easy to get lost if you haven’t been before. I was a member there for many years. You’ll want to pair the location with either another Pritchard Hill winery or something off Silverado trail. Its worth a stop if you have never been before.
O’Shaughnessy, same as Chappellet, up on Howell Mountain and a good ways up from the valley. I would pair with another Howell Mountain winery. Maybe try to get in at Dunn?
Heitz is at a very good location with lots of other wineries nearby.
Have never tasted at Corison.
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Do a 12 pm Moone Tsai tasting at Brasswood and then follow that with lunch at Brasswood featuring the molten mozzarella
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For a first trip to Napa you are going to want to try for three to four visits a day, it’s exciting. Looks like you already have two different mountain wineries booked, I would try to find another winery on each mountain and then find one closer to where you are staying. Mountain wineries look close on google maps but those roads are curvy and slow. If you are going to Mayacamas I would do everything I could to get a tasting at Sky vineyards. Come down the mountain, get some lunch, hit Corison and find a great restaurant for dinner. If you can score a tasting at Rivers Marie it’s not all that far from Diamond Creek, those two in a day will be great but you should have time to find some place close that you don’t know about that you think looks interesting. One of the great things about going to Napa is to hopefully find a great winery you didn’t know about before.
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Of the list that was provided to you, hands down Spring Mountain. Make sure to request their library tasting and ask to have the tasting in the old mansion. Enjoy!
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Corison is great, I highly recommend it. Cathy is a Napa legend, and the wines are really special. If you’re into a more restrained, elegant, lower abv style wine, this is your match. Not too much else like it in Napa, sadly. And while not cheap, the wines are actually good value relatively speaking. @Roy_Piper sent out a quick Cellar Tracker analysis of top cabs today and the clear standouts for quality and price were Roy Piper and Cathy Corison. Made me laugh because they’re the only two Napa producers I buy today.
The one thing I’ll note about Corison is that they don’t have stunning views, or a luxury tasting room…the barn is beautiful and quaint, but just know it’s all about the wine there. You’ll likely taste in the barrel room at 55 degrees. Maybe outside, but it’s often too hot and they don’t want the wines served well above temp.
I’m a fan, but I also know some folks might be expecting something more like the four seasons, and for that there are plenty of other options out there (Phelps comes to mind).
RE: visits/day-
I’m sure this is diff for everyone. I’m from the midwest, so am ready to taste by 9/10am CA time which is usually winery’s first tasting slots. In my experience, the younger you are, the easier it is to visit more wineries a day and still enjoy and recover. If we’re hiking or shopping for part of the day, I’ll book 2 stops; if it’s just wine for the day, I’ll try to put 3 visits in. To each their own. The first time we visited Napa, I couldn’t help myself- visited 5 wineries and slept through dinner…
Coordinating winery location and travel route is essential the more visits you try to pack into a day which means planning in advance. I’m quite visual so just print out a Napa Valley map and highlight all the possibilities and just slot wineries into a coherent daily loop.
I also like to grab sandwiches from local places and have tastings at wineries that allow you to eat a lunch on-site right after the tasting (tell them you’ll buy 1 or 2 bottles of wine to have with your lunch). This saves time and creates beautiful wine and vineyard memories.
Gott’s roadside is a fun, quicker place to stop in for lunch.
RE: Wineries-
IMO, you seem to be in the “exploratory phase” so I think it’s good to experience the different types of wineries and wine styles Napa has to offer. If you enjoy Heitz, go visit!
Of your list we’ve visited Frank Family, Quintessa (Faust), Freemark Abbey, Spring Mtn, Beringer.
Enjoyed all of them for what they were, except didn’t love the Freemark Abbey visit, although many yrs ago and I’m sure their options have changed since. Frank Fam is a higher volume, more commercial spot, but was loads of fun and great value wines. Beringer is similar except has much more history. Quintessa has a stunning facility and location with top-notch wine. Spring Mtn is one of our first wine loves, so has always been an enjoyable, special stop; but I’ve stopped buying wine direct from the winery because their prices are so elevated from your local wine shop and secondary market.
You’re staying in St Helena so I’d recommend looking up Ruston Family Vineyards which can’t be more than 5/10 minutes from wherever you’re staying. Small, family winery with exceptional bang-for-the-buck. Email/call John and ask if he’s got time to host you for a tasting. Realize it’s just him and his daughters and he doesn’t list tours on his website. PM me if you want more info.
Others in your proximity or near wineries you’re visiting that we’ve enjoyed-
Paloma (nice value wines with a gorgeous view from the top of Spring Mtn, will be near Pride).
Pott on Mt Veeder.
Outpost(stunning view, location and facility- love the wines), Cade (killer views and facility), Cimarossa on Howell Mtn.
Storybook Mtn Vineyards & Laura Michael Wines (great zins in Calistoga). Laura Michael is an easy stop-in visit and fun to see this tiny winery, it’s one of those places that makes you dream about buying a winery because the vineyard is her backyard.
Lots of great recos from others on this string too!
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