Napa/Sonoma for Newbs...

WINE TALK
1

Now that Lauren and I are settled in Sonoma we have friends/family lined-up to come see our new digs - almost every weekend it seems. It’s great to see everyone, but a day of tasting is always on the itinerary which is were I’m having trouble. Most of our visitors will be casual wine drinkers - $25 is a real investment for a bottle - and I’m not a fan of rolling into my favorite RRV wineries with 5 or 6 people who have no intention of buying at $30 to $50 a bottle.

So I need suggestions - larger wineries with affordable prices and maybe a tour - but with reasonable tasting fees… We’re in Sonoma (on Hwy 12) so RRV/Sonoma Valley/Napa are all in play. I’m in the biz so my business cards should help the situation, but I’m sure that gets tough with six people… Suggestions???

2

Alpha Omega – fee around $10/per, they’ll waive a one or two for industry (I think) and the wines are great.

Heitz – no tasting fee and if you go in Feb., they pour Martha’s.

There are a few other nice ones with what I recall to be moderate/low charges - Hope & Grace, Jessup Cellars, Elyse – but you might want to double check before committing full monty.

3

Wouldn’t some of the wineries up in the Dry Creek area be good bets for this. They will tend to have Zins which are generally lower priced. I’m thinking Passalacqua, Peterson, Ridge, Stryker, Dry Creek, etc?

4

+1 on craig’s suggestion of Dry Creek. I would also try to get a closer idea of what types of wines your guest’s like to drink and use that as a guide to where to go. You might consider signing up to a wine organizations website such as wineroad.com (Russian River, DCV & Alexander Valley AVA’s), wdcv.com (Dry Creek Valley), sonomavalley.com (Sonoma Valley),ect. All these and others I haven’t listed send out emails of events and they may coinside with your guests visits.

5

Thanks for the ideas. Re: Varietals - even that would be more than most would be able to answer. Think: “I really like this wine!” instead of “This is a great Zin/Pinot/etc.”

Dry Creek is a good idea - my father-in-law likes Zin so we may head that way. Thanks for the tip on Heitz Will - that might be worth the Saturday drive for just Lauren and I!

One other question - tours… I’ve heard Schramsburg is good - any others?

6

Another vote for Dry Creek.
Preston has a picnic area (if it ever stops raining.)
The Timber Crest complex on Dry Creek has Kokomo, my vote for best unfamous winery (try their Mounts Vineyard Zin), Papapietro Perry, Peterson, and the Family Wineries. Papapietro Perry is a little outside your price range, but still worth whatever their fee is to taste their Zins and Pinots.
Timber Crest also has the Family wineries, a bunch of smaller wineries that have joined together to show all their wines in a single tasting room, and most are very affordable. They also have a facility on Hiway 12 in Kenwood.
In Healdsburg, there is the Front Street complex, much better wine and less hectic than the plaza. There are maybe ten wineries pouring on the two sides of the street. Not to miss are Davis Family (my other favorite unfamous winery), and Holdredge.
Two other Dry Creek wineries which are fun. Both are long time growers who have started making wine: Rued and Mounts. Both have great fruit, and their wine making skills are improving.

7

Mike- If you are going to Heitz, it would be folly not to go to Mondavi. They have a boatload of different tours available, and I have heard even jaded ITB folks say they were excellent. There are about a dozen different tours on their website- check it out.

8

Two tour suggestions where you spend more time outside than inside. First is Michel Schlumberger (which is more than free but less than some others) in the upper-most section of Dry Creek. This one is about $25 but quite beautiful, with a walking tour of the grounds and then a tasting.

Second, Hendry. George Hendry may take your group himself on a tour of the grounds and a private tasting. There was no fee, but you will want to buy.

There are a lot of free rooms but I thought you were looking for tours…

Also, look at the Visa signature website. Last summer they had a promotion where if you had a “signature” card, more than 75 wineries had free tours or tastings .

Here is a link: http://usa.visa.com/personal/visa-signature/sonoma-wineries.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think BV and Beringer still have tours at decent prices. At Beringer you may even be offered white zin (they do make 2 million cases/yr.). [soap.gif]

9

Do they pour Martha’s a few days before Feb? Maybe like Jan 30th [swoon.gif]

10

You know, Ive only gone to Napa 4 times, each on a week long trip. The first time I went I really enjoyed the more “touristic” wineries like Mondavi for its seminars and tours, Sterling, for the view and the ride in the gondola, Beringer for the scope of wines and because I recognized the name…all of them have the whole range of prices and the size of the group is pretty much irrelevant. Also you are absolutely not behoven to buy anything. The smaller the winery and the more personal the service, the harder it is to walk about without a bottle. Just my .02

11

I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned Siduri in Santa Rosa.
Great wines. Good prices. Great customer service.
Knowledgable staff. No tasting fee… etc etc etc.

12

I like the Dry Creek Valley idea. The people at Mauritson are very, very nice. Mondavi does a lot of tours and do them well from my experience.

I have not consumed a drop of Heitz wine intentionally since I visited their tasting room in the mid 1990s… Nor will I ever again.

Our last trip to Beringer was an unmitigated disaster. Even though I am ITB and sell their wines we were given their $25.00 tour (we didn’t pay we had “passes”) and not only does the tour completely suck as far as seeing the winery the wines they pour during the tour suck. On top of all this our “guide” who, for some reason kept explaining that champagne was a blend, was absolutely plastered. Housed. Sh*t-faced. Drunk. Terrible.

JD

13

Mike - I am headed up to Sonoma this weekend as some guests are in town from the East Coast. We are going to give the Mondavi Chocolate Experience a go.

I’ll ping back with some thoughts/impressions.

14

Frick winery is small, but good value-priced wines.

15

V. Sattui

16

Mike,

We are small winery located South the town of Napa. We do tastings by appointment and we have several labels that run from $12.00 a bottle to $50.00 depending on what your looking for.

Labels include:
Punk Dog Wines - fun red blends
Dacalier Wine Co. - Specializing in Rhone blends
PB Hein Vineyards - Cabernet, Syrah, Charbono
Fog Hill Winery - Value priced proprietary red blend & Sauv Blanc.
Madison Chase Vineyards - Boutique Small Lot Cabernet

We are not for show, but we can do some barrel tastings and show the folks more of the "sausage making than your typical Napa winery. Since your a Berserker and ITB we can waive any tasting fees.

Feel free to PM me or just send me an email if you would like to come by and say hello.

Cheers,
Dave

17

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18

Thanks again to everyone.

Lance: Please do report back.
Cary: Agreed on Frick - the one bottle that I’ve had I enjoyed… I’ll have to look into that one.
Dave: Thanks! I’ll ping you if we decide to head that direction.

19

We have lived in Napa for almost 18 years. I don’t do windows and I don’t visit wineries unless once in awhile with real wine geeks. We hand company a map and give directions, otherwise you will be spending a great deal of time as a wine country guide. (Gratis) [bye.gif]

20

Mike -

Audelssa has a couple of offerings in the $25 space and they are in Glen Ellen. They will waive a tasting fee for ITB and friends and/or you can just name drop me …

Now that you in in the neighborhood, call when you get a chance to stop by Sojourn and say hi.

I’m over at Benchmark Wine wayway too often for personal willcalls …