If there are any other points of interest or things to see (besides San Francisco and Alcatraz, I'm aware of those places), I'd love some ideas.
2006-06-13 08:45:48 · 9 answers · asked by Mike R 1 in Travel ➔ United States ➔ San Francisco
If it's your first time in wine country - the first thing you should do is take a tour of Beringer. While their standard wine is not what I consider great - their tour is fabulous. And then spend the extra dollars to do the reserve tasting in their special room. These wines are far better than their mass stuff and worth the trip.
From there, visit Raymond on Zinfandel Lane. Still essentially family run, their wines can't really be beat for consistancy and quality at a reasonable price. Usually napavalley.com has a two for 1 tasting coupon, so use that and get both the tastings.
Don't forget to make time for lunch - Oakville Grocery has some great sandwiches that you can take to many vineyards and 'picnic' with.
After Raymond - hit BV (Beaulieu Vineyards). They usually have around 5 wines available at their tastings and some of them are quite good. It's a great way to get a well-rounded view of different wines.
Cosetino is a riot of a place, and open late. They have an enormous array of wines - from zin to port to merlot, etc. and most are palatable to quite good. There are some free tasting and 2 for 1 coupons floating around for them, so keep an eye out.
The next day, start off on the Silverado trail. Visit Silver Oak for two hefty pours of $65+ wines, and you get to keep the glasses. Ask for a few Twomey coupons.
Head to Darioush, if nothing else, to enjoy the grounds. The wine is slightly overpriced, but worth a taste if you have the time and the cash.
From there, head back to the main road and go to Schramsberg. They are appointment only and it includes a tour of the second oldest Napa winery and 5 quite full pours of bubbly.
Twomey is across the street and up a little ways. They only make Merlot, and when I was there last they only had 2 vintages, but they were both fabulous. I don't typically drink Merlot, but this was phenominal.
St. Supery is a fun tasting - but rowdy and busy busy. The wines range from dump bucket bad to not too bad, but their Oak Chard is pretty good, as is their Moscato. If you can get a coupon for them, it's worth stopping in.
On the way out of town, stop in a Domain Carneros. They are owned by Taittenger and it's a great environment. You can order a flight of bubblies and cheese or caviar, or both. It's a gorgeous mansion looking place and the inside tasting area is like a cafe. If you aren't hungry, head directly downstairs to the stand up tasting room. Schramsberg Sparklers are better overall, but the atmosphere in the 'cafe' is alot of fun.
I like to taste better wines, so I always avoid Clos Pegase (although the grounds are super cool), Sterling (although the tram is fun), Franciscan, Peju, Mumm, Andretti (cool place, low grade wines that are overpriced), and a few others. Stag's Leap has great wine, but the tasting room is dank and cramped. Caymus is appointment only. Rubicon (Coppola) recently changes their policy to $25 a person to even enter the grounds and their wine doesn't back up that price. Opus One is overrated and overpriced, so I don't bother. Last time I was at Duckhorn, they weren't serving any of their better wines, but still wanted $25 for a tasting. I left.
Have fun!
2006-06-13 09:11:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Lot's of great suggestions from the other fine folks.
We all have our favorite places.
The first link is a good map of the area vineyards.
Let me put this in the context of a first-time visit:
IF you have some time and IF Napa Valley is the ONLY place you'll have time to visit...go:
1. Highway 29 north - first stop is Schramsberg.
*Make tour reservations in advance!!*
You'll love this tour inside the cave...and they serve damn good sparkling wine!
2. Continue north on Hwy 29, and look for the right turn to Sterling Vineyards.
Take the tram to the top, enjoy the tour, the tastings and the view of the southern valley.
3. just to the north of Sterling, check out Clos Pegase - in addition to the wine, their yard art is FANTASTIC!
Bring a camera!
On your turnaround, take the Silverado Trail road...you'll just trip over countless, well-known vineyards.
I'm a bigger fan of the Sonoma area, but Napa is a great place to visit!
Oh, you lucky person!
There are SO many excellent vineyards...and so little time!
Happy traveling...and don't drink too much!
2006-06-14 16:42:32 · answer #2 · answered by docscholl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are more wineries in the Nappa Valley that anyone can visit in a brief trip. The following wineries have very good tours and tastings:
Beaulieu Vineyards
Beringer Vineyards
Clos Du Val
Domaine Chandon
Robert Mondavi Winery
There are many, many more. Go to www.napavintners.com which is a very useful site regarding the entire region.
2006-06-13 15:57:03 · answer #3 · answered by mandobob 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I love Robert Mondavi too. You can stop by Napa Visitor Center for a map of all the wineries in Napa, then choose the one you want to go the most. Copia is one of the museum that you must go if you love food. You can also try wine train.
2006-06-13 18:43:22 · answer #4 · answered by Mimi 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When we go to Napa, we always make a stop at Robert Mondavi. My husband loves to get a bottle of their late harvest and a bottle of their Reisling dessert wine.
In San Francisco, you have the touristy Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Little Italy, and also the Cable car.
You can also go various neighborhoods like the gay area, hippie area, etc.
2006-06-13 15:55:11 · answer #5 · answered by anaheimsportsfan 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is a question of taste for wine. There are almost more vinyards then you can count. They all have there good and not so good wines and I would recomend going to any of the larger vinyards just for the chance to see how one operates. After that then go to a wine tasting of several winerys. That is the best way to capture all the flavors. Good luck and enjoy for it will be a very nice time for you.
2006-06-13 17:01:00 · answer #6 · answered by batkps 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Large vineyard; Benziger, they have a pretty good tour of their facilities via tram. http://www.benziger.com
Small vineyard; Valley of the Moon, nice shop and cutting edge technology in wine making. http://www.valleyofthemoonwinery.com
2006-06-13 15:53:19 · answer #7 · answered by Elusive 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Robert Mondavi
Beringer
Joseph Phelps
Rubicon (formerly Niebaum-Coppola)
Sterling
Domain Chandon
Check out www.napavalley.com--lots of info on wineries, restaurants, etc.
2006-06-13 16:14:14 · answer #8 · answered by Penguin Gal 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Peju is a small vinyard with VERY GOOD wine. Try the red table wine...very tasty!
2006-06-13 15:51:18 · answer #9 · answered by Vincent 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋