John,
I agree that Fantesca is not talked about very much, but my wife and I had a great tasting there last year. Duane Hoff (owner) showed us around the property, did some barrel tasting in the cave, and then had a nice tasting at there open air pool house. I enjoy the wines and Duane was a great host and someone that makes it easy to support.
Brian
I have heard that Robin is great and so is Behrens wine. I think I can try that at 750 wines too.
Too bad about the Hourglass situation.
Do you all think that Myriad and Mike Smith’s other wine are great QPR? Are they wines that can be cellared and/or drinkable now?
I think QPR is relative to what your normal budget is. Mike’s Cabs are all good and can retail for more but he chooses to keep the price reasonable. His Syrah’s hit a sweet spot for me, I’m a sucker for Las Madres, and they are always on my buy list.
I wouldn’t do another tasting with Todd if he paid me! Myriad is a really nice tasting with Mike who is a great guy. Wines are good and priced right.
Not to pile on but I love napa wines and Myriad/Carter/Quivet/12c (all at Envy) is my favorite and an annual must.
Farmstead is in St Helena, we loved our meal there. But we like farm to table type places with a good chef. We went to French Blue for brunch, and it was excellent.
Not much luck last time on tastings. We had fun, but nothing blew us away. I think our budget is too low for Napa, we do much better over in Healdsburg and Forestville area. But we really enjoyed the tour at Storybook, and bought a couple bottles of the Anteus which has since gotten huge ratings. Still have it in the cooler, lucky us! Oh, and we like the Kenefick Ranch wines. They are in a shared tasting room in Calistoga.
Avoid La Toque at all costs. Other places we have enjoyed and repeated are Mustards Grill and Celadon. Cook looks interesting.
nice or pain in the ass? ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Bolding mine.
The simple answer is yes and yes.
I do mean Randy and Carrie from Napa Valley Wine and Cigar and nice is an understatement… as is pain in the ass 
Funny Diane this past March I had a batter meal at La Toque than at the French Laundry. And usually I love the laundry.
Bill J you didnt like Todd? Huh. He is an amusing man.
I didnt make winery suggestions because I try to add a few new places each time and over time ive learned which places I must repeat. John your list is interesting to me. I havent been to a few of them but I intend to. Its a far more educated list than the 42 drop in wineries I visited the first time I went to the valley more than ten years ago. You will have a great time.
It would be so nice if you could get a little more information on the wines before you book a tasting appointment. Some of the small wineries that sell off lists do not publish their prices on the web site. If we go to a private appointment, we like to buy at least a couple bottles of wine. My fear is that the least expensive bottle will be $75 and go up from there. So we just don’t go, it’s simpler. There are so many to try, we find a new favorite every trip. Probably missing out on some wonderful wines, but there is always more wine!
Just a bad experience for us at La Toque, I think. Miniscule food servings and pours. My husband likes his food and wine and was not happy. And no, we are not big eaters.
Tasting at ACV was one of the highlights of our trip. Also I believe the tasting fee comes out of any purchase, so essentially if you buy a bottle the tasting is free.
Berto, The tasting with Todd we had a young doctor that joined us. Somehow he mentioned he had a rare burbon that Todd wanted to drink. We were completely ignored, he would pour wines to the doctor and set the bottle down. We had to almost beg for a taste. At the end we bought 2 $80 bottles and were told we owed $50 each(I think $50) because we were with Todd. We refused to pay and were told to leave. Most rude tasting I ever had.
The door is always open. Feel free to contact me if you want to come by we will make it happen.
I need to make a public statement. Berto is a great guy and is the only guy on the face of the planet that I owe. I really had the first memory issue and did not show up for a lunch we had together…BERTO I AM SO SORRY
My wife and I always like finishing the day at one of the sparkling wine houses. Its a great way to wind down and its pretty casual with the wines more serving as an aperitif. Mumm has a beautiful patio to watch the sunset and Chandon is solid as well, just not as much of a view.
im sending you some aricept. Nothing to be sorry about my friend. Btw alex rocks for lunch!
Thanks again everyone for your suggestions.
Jean, thanks, I will definitely try to get to AO. My friend just was in there a few weeks a ago. And people on here write great reviews too.
Any recommendations on what to order at Terra or Cindys Backstreet?
Diane, I understand your reasoning about the small wineries. I plan on buying at least a few bottles at each place. There is a thread on here about what the protocol is with private tastings. I am sure they will open some bottles just for us and we will buy at least the number of bottles that they open. I have researched each winery and have budgeted in their highest priced wines. This is what you pay for when you don’t want to go to the big places. Also, I would like to build my wine collection. I’ve done my share of wineries in other areas (Monterey, NY, Virginia) and am looking for more intimate places. I’d rather not go and stand with 20 other people who are coming off a bus/tour. Also, I would rather go to some tastings where the wine is not widely available.
Thanks again everyone.
At Cindy’s… there’s always the ‘Mighty Meatloaf’.
The Gnocchi at Cook is memorable.
John, we have done that several times. Last time we were in Healdsburg, we got an appointment with Brogan cellars (our innkeeper helped). It was in a storage garage, and the winemaker’s son opened 3 or 4 bottles just for us. We bought half a case, gladly. Spent about $300. Then wondered if we should have bought more. But we can’t do that several times a day. We try to go to a few each trip, and this thread will be a resource for our next trip as well.
Cindy’s and Mustards Grill have the same owner/chef. Mustards has a pork chop that my husband still talks about, maybe they have a version.
Thanks Diane. Will look for the pork chop.
We tried to book some higher end wines and intermix in some more qpr places too. That’s why we chose Midsummer and Terraces. Their wines are cheaper and will probably buy more bottles there if we like them.
I didn’t set up the others, a friend who knows them, did it for us. So, they are more like favors for a friend.
From what I have heard, 750 wines in St Helena is great. They asked us a bunch of questions, like what we like and price points on bottles we are interested in. So you can get wines at cheaper prices if you’d like.
I’ll be back July 1st, so I will be sure to let you know about our visits.
Another question, can you walk from the Harvest Inn to the town of St Helena? We have a driver during the day and don’t want to drive after drinking. So we are hoping to walk from the hotel to dinner at Cindy’s/Terra. I walk over a mile each way to work everyday, so if it’s only a 15 minute walk, that seems reasonable. And from what I’ve heard there are no taxis to take.