WSJ says Napa too expensive . . .

[John_Glas]

Going to the Syrah Fest in Walla Walla in July and for all the events (3 days/including a wine dinner) and hotel probably about the same cost as one night at a nice hotel in Napa.

[larry_schaffer]

I grew up in Napa. It’s a big place and there are still a lot of options. For example, the charming Manzanita cabin at Boethe Park is 125 a night on weekdays, 150 on the weekends. The nicer, bigger cabins top out at 225 a night. The park is between St. Helena and Calistoga, and ideally located. The 3 mile loop hike through the forest there is sublime, too.
There are also lots of tasting rooms, none of them trendy enough to be mentioned here, that don’t charge a lot for tastings. As for restaurants, I don’t find Farmstead in St. Helena too expensive. We usually dine there. We otherwise buy great produce and protiens at Sunshine Market and my wife and I will grill at Boethe park. There are so many ways to enjoy the immensely diverse Napa Valley if you open up your mind and don’t visit with a negative or myopic point of view.

There will always be ‘options’ in any area that becomes expensive - but do you disagree about the general sentiment here? Lodging/dining/wine options are all quite expensive, especially compared with most other CA wine regions. I think the ‘point’ is valid - the hyperbole is probably over the top.

Cheers.

[Howard_Cooper]

I just came back from a week in Bordeaux and can attest that Bordeaux is now the bargain compared to Napa. The town itself is becoming a small version of Paris.

I was in Bordeaux in 2014 and that was my experience there as well. We went to around 12 wineries and only about half or less charged us anything for the tasting.

When I go to Burgundy I stay in Beaune and spend less than $200 a night for the hotel (a well located functional hotel, not a fancy one). I can get great meals there for a reasonable price (for example, Relais de Saulx) or a very expensive price, my choice. Getting into visit wineries is not easy for smaller wineries, but where someone will see me, I have never paid for tasting. I have paid at larger wineries like Drouhin and Bouchard, but not the really expensive prices I am reading about from Napa on this thread.

I must say that I wonder about the prices I am seeing on this thread about Napa. Maybe I don’t stay at the palaces you guys do, and eat at Farmstead rather than the French Laundry, but I never have paid anywhere near the prices being discussed. But, like with all things wine, prices are going up.

The bottom line is that whereas when I started buying wine in the 1980s, top wine was easily available at prices most of us could afford. Now, the world is getting richer and richer and the production of top wine is not going up nearly as much as the demand for it. Even wines where the wineries price reasonably are very expensive by the time most people see the wines at retail in the US. I am very glad I have a pretty full wine cellar and don’t have to buy much anymore, but those of you who are younger should be buying wines from Bordeaux, Germany, the Côte Chalonnaise, Chablis, reds from Chassagne Montrachet, traditionally made Cabernet from California wineries like Mount Eden, etc., while you still can still get them at reasonable prices. The bargains get fewer and fewer each year.

[Scott_E1]

Ha! Just posted in another thread about overpriced Gonan, so you know what I’m gonna say… Oh what the hell, I’ll say it anyway - haven’t been to Napa in years and don’t plan to return. Nothing in Napa gives me anything close to a feeling of value. All the Napa wines I used to buy are all way over $100 per bottle now too. Sorry to sound like a broken record - it’s just the way it is now, right? I had my fun for awhile. This is just me though, I don’t begrudge anyone that can afford and gets pleasure from the Napa experience. Cheers!

[Merrill_Lindquist]

I love living here. There are plenty of places to eat at reasonable prices if you do your homework. I’ve noticed the prices at the TOP hotels have become outrageous, but again, do your homework and you can find moderately priced places to stay.

Buy wine from wineries you love…establish some rapport…and you just might find that those high tasting prices moderate or just disappear.

I get sticker shock when I go to NYC. Hotels and food. But I go to NYC knowing this, and knowing there are a wide range of experiences there, too.

I dislike those who paint with wide brushes.

[EricZ]

My wife and I have been kicking around the idea of going to Napa/Sonoma for a while now. We know the prices are crazy and it may be like “Disneyland” so our expectations are in check. That said, people still go to Disney…

[Bdklein]

I love living here. There are plenty of places to eat at reasonable prices if you do your homework. I’ve noticed the prices at the TOP hotels have become outrageous, but again, do your homework and you can find moderately priced places to stay.

Buy wine from wineries you love…establish some rapport…and you just might find that those high tasting prices moderate or just disappear.

I get sticker shock when I go to NYC. Hotels and food. But I go to NYC knowing this, and knowing there are a wide range of experiences there, too.

I dislike those who paint with wide brushes.

Well stated . Holds true in so many places. $0.99 pizza slice in NY.

[Markus_S]

The Abnb - even with $400 cleaning fees - may have had the trash taken out and that’s about it. We stayed at one that was I think $1000+ per night, and I counted something like 14(!) burned out lights around the house.

Crazy. There used to be a Motel 6 around American Canyon that was affordable, but probably too low-brow for this crowd.

[Michael_S_Monie]

Many of the places I visited over 3 consecutive years, I was already purchasing the wines at retail. The handful of lists that I was on for a relatively short time, I didn’t attempt to visit, with the exception of 1. But what I found most distasteful is the hard sell to join the “club”, even after stating I was already buying the wines.

[John_Glas]

And those posts differ from what people do here on WB how?

If it makes them happy, who cares? No need to judge.

Not sure what in my post was judgmental? I was just making an observation.

Seemed like you were judging them for showing off their expensive purchases on Facebook.

He was no judging them. I am on that site and people really do line up their purchases. I don’t see many tasting notes however.

[John_Glas]

We stayed at the North Block Hotel about 6 weeks ago in Yountville. My wife and I were expecting a small suite at $850 a night. The room was small but nicely appointed. We thought it was overpriced.

Someone mentioned it in another thread, I’ll paraphrase here. At $850 per night plus tasting fees, you can buy great wine and take it to a less expensive but just as pretty location. Or you could get 3 nights Vrbo in Florence.

Or do the Walla Walla Syrah Festival with all the events and 3 nights lodging at the Mariott in town!

[Michael_O_Brien]

Going to the Syrah Fest in Walla Walla in July and for all the events (3 days/including a wine dinner) and hotel probably about the same cost as one night at a nice hotel in Napa.

We stayed at the Inn at Blackberry Creek in March. Great place to stay and a great breakfast to start the day.

[Eric_Ifune]

I just came back from a week in Bordeaux and can attest that Bordeaux is now the bargain compared to Napa. The town itself is becoming a small version of Paris.

More a bargain than Portugal?

[RH_Drexel]

I grew up in Napa. It’s a big place and there are still a lot of options. For example, the charming Manzanita cabin at Boethe Park is 125 a night on weekdays, 150 on the weekends. The nicer, bigger cabins top out at 225 a night. The park is between St. Helena and Calistoga, and ideally located. The 3 mile loop hike through the forest there is sublime, too.
There are also lots of tasting rooms, none of them trendy enough to be mentioned here, that don’t charge a lot for tastings. As for restaurants, I don’t find Farmstead in St. Helena too expensive. We usually dine there. We otherwise buy great produce and protiens at Sunshine Market and my wife and I will grill at Boethe park. There are so many ways to enjoy the immensely diverse Napa Valley if you open up your mind and don’t visit with a negative or myopic point of view.

There will always be ‘options’ in any area that becomes expensive - but do you disagree about the general sentiment here? Lodging/dining/wine options are all quite expensive, especially compared with most other CA wine regions. I think the ‘point’ is valid - the hyperbole is probably over the top.

Cheers.

No, I don’t agree with the general sentiment

[Wes_Barton]

I love living here. There are plenty of places to eat at reasonable prices if you do your homework. I’ve noticed the prices at the TOP hotels have become outrageous, but again, do your homework and you can find moderately priced places to stay.

Buy wine from wineries you love…establish some rapport…and you just might find that those high tasting prices moderate or just disappear.

I get sticker shock when I go to NYC. Hotels and food. But I go to NYC knowing this, and knowing there are a wide range of experiences there, too.

I dislike those who paint with wide brushes.

Exactly. People live there and don’t pay those crazy prices. Like RH Drexel posted above. There are quality affordable places to stay. Great under-the-radar wineries, if you care more about quality of wine and an honest experience, rather than some superficial luxury illusion.

I’ve said the same about restaurants in San Francisco. An SF native restaurant industry veteran took me to his favorite spot, swore me to secrecy. He’d been to all the top hyped places the food tourists go, and said this was just as good. It was. We ordered tons of food, trying everything we wanted o the menu, plus a few excellent bottles off the (exceptional) list. The bill, per person, was probably the same as corkage at one of those “top” places.

People who want luxury can pay for it. I just want a place to stay that’s not a dump. Clean, comfortable, take a shower, get a good night’s sleep, and for god’s sake not eat breakfast at. I’ve gone up to Napa with a couple foodie friends a few times. We beat commuter traffic, have breakfast at some locals’ foodie spot, swing by Oxbow Market (sometimes eating there) and Fatted Calf (sometimes those fit in later), then make it to an appointment, lunch at another locals’ foodie spot, then another appointment, maybe some other stop or two, then back to the Peninsula (usually) ahead of commuter traffic.

A decade ago I found a pretty good quality hotel in Benicia in the sub-$100 range to work an IndyCar race at Sears Point. Everything else in that price range in that southern Napa/Sonoma area were dumps. Went back a few times. $200 to save 8 hours of driving was a no brainer. Fun nightlife there, too.

[barrytfreeman]

I have no idea what Lettie is talking about regarding triple digit wine tastings — I never pay for a tasting at high-end wineries. At least not directly. I am on their mailing list and buy their wines every year. At some wineries, they dont even let me taste and I still buy their wines.

[Michael_S_Monie]

Well, there’s always the El Bonita Motel!

[David_Baum]

Well, there’s always the El Bonita Motel!

The Elbo! Just dont get the southernmost room in the front building. The building juts out toward 29 and that room is very close to 29. One of my worst nights of sleep ever my head bounced off the pillow all night as trucks drove by. Pay the extra and get a room in the back building

[Sean_T]

I have noticed the last 3 years that tasting fees have skyrocketed and so has lodging in general. But if you’re willing to put in the research and be flexible on your dates, you can snag a decent value in situations. We visited over Thanksgiving last year and the hotel prices were like half of what they average throughout the year. I usually travel with just my fiance and I, so an Airbnb/VRBO with the cleaning fees and sizewise doesn’t make sense for a 3 night stay normally. Plus we like having a pool in the summer and the other amenities involved with a hotel stay.

I’m staying at the Harvest Inn next month over Memorial Day weekend for 2 nights and then 3 nights at the Rancho Caymus Inn. I don’t even want to think about the cost of the Harvest Inn, but I’m getting married there so I wasn’t allowed to skimp. I made the Rancho Caymus Inn booking last September for like $480 a night after taxes, but noticed now their bookings for the rest of the year are like $650-800/night. Pretty wild.

Rancho Caymus is comping our $85 x2 tasting fee at Chappellet though and would comp a $75 x2 tasting at Alpha Omega (don’t plan on using that). I’ve noticed many places that once were a $35 tasting back in 2018 are now +$65. Usually we can cut cost by doing a majority of our tastings at places where we know club members/friends and then sprinkle in 2-3 new ones where we are Okay with paying a $50-75 tasting fee.

Napa is outrageously expensive, but there’s just something about visiting there!

[Mont_Stern]

I just came back from a week in Bordeaux and can attest that Bordeaux is now the bargain compared to Napa. The town itself is becoming a small version of Paris.

More a bargain than Portugal?

You know that Portugal is the best bargain out there.