Napa Valley wine trip trip report

[El Diablo]

Had a couple of friends visiting from NY. They come every year or so to do a wine trip and stock up.

Rented a limo to go up there. Definitely preferable to have someone else doing the driving. For the first time ever on one of these trips, we actually left right on time at 9am and were in Napa by 10am.

Sunday is definitely a million times better to go than on Saturday. So much less crowded and so much more time to talk to the wine people and sample more stuff.

First stop was Trefethen. Very nice, small winery. The $20 reserve tasting was an old library cab, a current release reserve cab, and a regular current release cab, and a couple of pinots. These wines were in the $50 to $80 range. Everyone else loved the pinot, I thought it was OK. I really liked the reserve cab. $195 for a magnum. Starting things off right, one of my friends bought 2 plus a case of the pinot. We also tried the dry riesling and the late harvest dessert wine. I thought it was actually too sweet. Turns out this was the only dessert wine I didn't enjoy this trip. This was a really great tasting, pouring tons of stuff not on the list and opening anything we wanted. The woman doing the tasting was super nice and enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. Highly recommended.

Next stop was Darioush. They make a really nice cab, but very expensive at $74. Would be good for $40-50. Their tasting was $20 for a chardonnay, merlot, and cab, a complete ripoff. Very corporate and impersonal. Really not a good experience at all, I do not recommend.

Signorello, a small winery, was next. Their $10 tasting was a chardonnay, syrah, pinot, and cab. They were great to talk to and had a number of good, reasonably priced wines. I picked up some of the Syrah ($36) here. They also happily poured some older stuff for us too. I would recommend this, but it's not a must-see.

None of these places actually made us pay the tasting fees, because we were buying at all of them. That was on purpose at all of them except at Darioush where I think they screwed up and just accidentally didnt charge us (we had two different people helping us).

Del Dotto was next. The thing to do here is a great cave tour where you taste tons of stuff straight from barrels. We didn't have time for this, so we did the standard tasting. I really liked the 04 Cabernet Franc as well as their 03 Rutherford Cabernet. We did head back for a quick tour of the caves and some barrel samples. Also tried a few ports - cab, zin, and zin syrah. Their wines here are quite good, but most good stuff was on the pricey side ($50 to $75). This was the only place on the trip where they actually made us pay our tasting fees. Still recommend it, though, especially if you do the whole cave tour. I started a trend of buying some dessert wine in addition to regular bottles wherever I could.

We were thinking about going up to Taylor's to get some burgers, but it was a little out of our way and we were on a mission to hit a bunch of places, so we picked up some sandwiches at Soda Canyon Deli. Sandwiches were pretty good there, but not as good as Oakville Grocery. But the notable part was the fact that they apparently only hire really cute girls to work there.

Sinskey was the next stop. Some great pinots here, plus a bunch of other good reds. My favorites were the Vineyard Reserve ($36) and Four Vineyards Pinot ($52). Of course, I also got some Zinskey Late Late Harvest Zinfandel dessert wine ($50), which is really good stuff. They have a nice range of stuff across a wide range of prices. Sinskey also always has great snacks. Olives and crackers plus special treats. This time they had some bacon and blue cheese wrapped dates to go with one of the wines. Highly recommended.

On to Miner after that. They have a $24 Sangiovese that I think is a great deal, plus a nice $35 Syrah. Their Viognier is usually a favorite of mine, but I'm not a big fan of their current release. Very friendly staff here, but besides the tasting they don't have too much other stuff to pour. Worth going, but OK to skip too.

Whitehall Lane was next. I thought their wines were decent, but nothing really great. I did really like the Belmuscato dessert wine ($22) and grabbed a couple. This was good, but I'd say probably skip this one.

Peju was our next to last stop. I hadn't been here before and it was great. The guy was busting out everything for us. I really liked their Syrah ($32) and 2000 Cab ($50). They also have a wine called Provence for $22 that's a really good bargain. And of course, I picked up some of their Zinfandel Port ($38). We tried tons of other really good stuff their, both current releases and older stuff. Another place I highly recommend.

We made a final stop at Domaine Chandon sparkling wine. This was horrible and we left soon after starting the tasting because it was just an annoying place to be and we were all drunk anyway and it wasn't very good. Don't recommend at all.

And that was it. I picked up something like 24 bottles, about twice what I planned to get. And somehow I managed to get 7 bottles of dessert wine, wtf?

One of my friends took the prize, though, picking up 136 bottles + 3 magnums on the trip.

A lot of places have tastings for $10 and $20. A number of places that only do one tasting flight have moved the price up to $20 now - wasn't so long ago that was free! In any case, I highly recommend getting the $20 tastings at places that have a regular and a reserve tasting. What you get is WAY, WAY, WAY better, and especially at the smaller places when you talk about what you like they'll usually bring you out some other stuff to try as well. And if you buy some wine, most places will comp the tasting. Definitely recommend the smaller, less well known places. Trefethen and Peju were two that were especially great. Not only do you have a more fun time at those places, you get to try and buy wine that you can't find anywhere else except at the winery.

Cliff Notes:

Trefethen - Highly Recommend
Peju - Highly Recommend
Sinskey - Highly Recommend
Del Dotto - Recommend
Signorello - Recommend
Miner - Recommend
Whitehall Lane - Ambivalent
Darioush - Do not recommend
Domaine Chandon - Do not recommend

[SossMan]

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Turns out this was the only dessert wine I didn't enjoy this trip.

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Ever been to Prager Portworks? Small family owned Port Specialty place. I've always enjoyed it. Also, way on the otherside of the valley is Van der Heyden, which I've always liked.

Oakville grocery is always awesome around 2:30pm for a killer sandwich with much too expensive cheese and mustard. Never been to Taylors.

[renodoc]

I can get the Darioush locally for about $55. I have heard others echo your sentiments about their tasting room though.

Joe Cafaro used to have his barrels stashed below Miner. They have a vast caveroom down below. A phone call ahead can arrange a private barrel tasting.

Del Dotto used to have tastings at their house/winery in Oakville. I think they moved south to Napa proper about 5 years ago. After tasting at Saddleback one day the very friendly staff called up DD and arranged a visit. Nothing like sitting in their tasting cave listening to the blues, looking out upon their beautiful villa-like estate, and simply pouring the wine on the concrete floor if we didn't think it was perfect-- only to have our glasses filled up with something else a few moments later.

[TheMetetron]

Good post Diablo. I've been to Napa many times before, but being so young don't have the experience that you do. I'll keep this post in mind for later this year when I am back in the Bay Area.

I am also incredibly amazed by how expensive wine is in the United States. I don't remember it being that bad, but I'm sure these are really good wines. I might do a similar thread as this with the Mendoza area of Argentina which produces some really good wine that I can buy for like $5-10 for some incredible stuff and $3-5 for some pretty good stuff as well.

[KDawg]

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I am also incredibly amazed by how expensive wine is in the United States.

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it all depends on what you're drinking, and where you are drinking. California Cabs have exploded in price to where you have to do some real digging to find good values on the dollar. I've noticed though that Syrah's and Pinot's are still solid in price and you can find some great values still in california and you can find some amazing Pinot values from oregon.

With you being in Argentina, you're lucky right now as Malbecs haven't exploded in price yet and you can find some screamers for values. The same goes across teh border in chile for their cabs. If you get the chance, I'd love to see a Malbec Wineries trip report

[Evan]

D, how much was the limo for the day? Scrub, schneids and I wanted to do a trip to Napa last time I was in SF but jason_t made us stay at Bay 101 all night because he was down $11 or something, so we didn't get home until 7 am and then didn't have time to go.

[MrMon]

I'll be in Napa in mid-April and you've got some interesting ideas here, but you've got much more expensive tastes than I can afford. Still, I can always taste 'em without buying 'em. I'd like to see what other places you think I should hit. I've got 3 days, but like to go at a much slower pace than you go.

I always thought Chandon was okay, but given the price ranges you were working at at the other places, of course it's going to not stand up. Decent at $20/btl, it's just not going to stand up to $75 cabs.

I'm curious how they're getting the wine shipped to NY, considering it's not a reciprocal state. I guess when you spend that kind of money, all sorts of things can happen that aren't allowed to the "little people".

[El Diablo]

MrMon: NY is now a reciprocal state. This changed a year or two ago. Until then, what you did was stop by the shipping place on the way back (the wineries know this place) and ship it all back yourself (still have to do that for some states). Now you get to ship to NY straight from the winery. This trip was unusual because one of my friends is on a mission to fill his new 500-bottle wine fridge. Normally we do about five wineries with a leisurely lunch in the middle. Five is about the right number imo. Of the wineries on this trip, Miner and Peju had quite a bit of reasonably priced stuff in the $20 to $30 range. Del Dotto, Darioush, Trefethen are three without much good lower priced stuff. However, I'd still recommend making an appointment and shelling out $40 for the Del Dotto cave tour and tasting. Cakebread, Grgich Hills, and Clos Du Val are some others I like to visit.

Evan: Limo for 6 to 8 people runs about $65 to $100 per hour depending on the limo. Plus 20% automatic gratuity plus 10-20% in taxes and fees. You'll want the limo for 8-10 hours from SF. So call it $700 to $1400 depending on what you get for how long. If you look around a bit you can sometimes get SF->Napa day packages a little cheaper. Here's the first thing that came up on a search: http://www.mrlimo.com/8_hour_stretch...ur_package.htm
BTW, note that a 10-person limo usually really only seats 8, an 8-person limo usually really seats 6, etc. Ask them when you book.

K: The Syrah I bought on this trip was definitely a much better value than the Cabs.

[renodoc]

I have to add my 2 cents to the "must do" list for Napa:

Dinner at Martini House. If you have a party of 2 or 4 you can request table 50 which is by itself outside on a deck. Totally baller. Also, order the "Flight to the Moon" for dessert, a trio of stickies that usually includes a good vintage of d'yquem (they were pouring the '88 last time I had this)

Private tour at Togni on Spring Mountain. You will have to call in advance and make an appointment. Tell them you've tried his wines and dig em. The place isn't marked and they give you the combo to the lock on the gates. Tiny operation, but they will let you barrel taste and buy from their inventory.

Private tour at Behrens and Hitchcock (or whatever the new name is). Also on Spring Mountain.

Private tour at Viader in Angwin.

Trip report please if anyone follows through on these.

[Zeno]

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I might do a similar thread as this with the Mendoza area of Argentina which produces some really good wine.....

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I think that would be great. Wines from Argentina (and Chile) are served more and more at resturants in the states. Good to get an inside look.

-Zeno