CA Wine Country (plus)-revised honeymoon itinerary
May 14th, 2007, 06:42 PM
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CA Wine Country (plus)-revised honeymoon itinerary
Reposting under a more descriptive title (sorry for the multiple posts)
So, I've been on here a few more times asking for advice on a honeymoon itinerary. If anyone has suggestions for wineries, restaurants or other activities, it would be appreciated. For Sonoma I'm pretty familiar but would appreciate any small, non-traditional recommendations. As for anywhere else, please recommend away! (One comment several people have had it that I jump around a bit in Napa/Sonoma rather than staying in one place. I understand the critique but that's generally my preference when I'm in the area).
Thanks again!
2 nights in Solvang/Buellton (M-Tues) (Sanford and ??. Probably going to also do the Hitching Post II)
1 night in Paso Robles (W)
1 night in Carmel (Th)
3 nights in SF (F-Sun)
1 night in Sonoma (M) (visiting Sojourn Cellars, Arrowood Winery and Gloria Ferrer)
2 nights in Healdsburg (T-W) (probably Unti, Rochioli, Quivira)
2 nights in Calistoga (Th-F)
1 night in San Jose (Sat) (flying out first thing Sunday morning)
So, I've been on here a few more times asking for advice on a honeymoon itinerary. If anyone has suggestions for wineries, restaurants or other activities, it would be appreciated. For Sonoma I'm pretty familiar but would appreciate any small, non-traditional recommendations. As for anywhere else, please recommend away! (One comment several people have had it that I jump around a bit in Napa/Sonoma rather than staying in one place. I understand the critique but that's generally my preference when I'm in the area).
Thanks again!
2 nights in Solvang/Buellton (M-Tues) (Sanford and ??. Probably going to also do the Hitching Post II)
1 night in Paso Robles (W)
1 night in Carmel (Th)
3 nights in SF (F-Sun)
1 night in Sonoma (M) (visiting Sojourn Cellars, Arrowood Winery and Gloria Ferrer)
2 nights in Healdsburg (T-W) (probably Unti, Rochioli, Quivira)
2 nights in Calistoga (Th-F)
1 night in San Jose (Sat) (flying out first thing Sunday morning)
May 14th, 2007, 07:21 PM
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Do you know where you want to stay in Solvang or Paso Robles? I would suggest staying in Ballard at the Ballard Inn or Santa Ynez Inn, or even Fess Parker's Wine Country Inn and in Paso there are so many great b&b's to check out. I've stayed at Le Domaine at Moss Ridge Vineyard and loved it! visit this website: www.pasowine.com
I have some restaurant recs if interested. Congratulations!
I have some restaurant recs if interested. Congratulations!
May 14th, 2007, 07:46 PM
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Between Buellton and Paso--stop for lunch in Pismo Beach at Steamer's (exit 101 N @ Wadsworth, left under fwy, right to Kon Tiki/BofA lot on left) for lunch over looking the ocean. The you'll be fueled for the drive (and more wineries0 on the way to Paso. Bistro Laurent (1202 Pine St.
Paso Robles) is very nice. Be sure and stop at Bonny Doon Vineyards (W on Hwy 46) for some great wines and nice people. If you are going to drive north on hwy 1 (most scenic) you'll be on the road headed that way.
Paso Robles) is very nice. Be sure and stop at Bonny Doon Vineyards (W on Hwy 46) for some great wines and nice people. If you are going to drive north on hwy 1 (most scenic) you'll be on the road headed that way.
May 14th, 2007, 08:02 PM
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In Healdsburg do visit Preston Winery on West Dry Creek. Its very special with a great Barbara, and Lou Preston even bakes bread and sells his own olive oil. Check out www.sonomacountyvacations.com for some different places to stay in the area.
May 14th, 2007, 09:35 PM
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Why three nights in Solvang/Paso and only one in Carmel. Rethink that...make it two in Solvang?Paso and two in Carmel. You'll be sorry with just one night in Carmel. As Robert Louis Stevenson said, "It's the greatest meeting of land and sea."
May 16th, 2007, 12:36 PM
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Thanks for the responses thus far. They are greatly appreciated. To TTess, we really are doing this trip on more of a wine theme. In fact, Carmel was mostly chosen b/c of the great things I have heard and the fact that its between Paso and SF. I realize that doesn't leave much time for Carmel but, unfortunately, there is only so much time on our trip.
To kleroux, we were in Healdsburg briefly last year and concentrated on Dry Creek valley and were able to go to Preston (as well as Silver Oak, Ferrari-Carrano, Passlaqua, Unit, the Family Wineries). It was one of my fiancee's favorite places.
To kleroux, we were in Healdsburg briefly last year and concentrated on Dry Creek valley and were able to go to Preston (as well as Silver Oak, Ferrari-Carrano, Passlaqua, Unit, the Family Wineries). It was one of my fiancee's favorite places.
May 16th, 2007, 08:48 PM
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I don't know if you've considered it, but my husband and I took our engagement trip to the Napa Valley, and our favorite activity was a hot air balloon ride. Still a favorite memory of ours. We stayed in St. Helena, and it's a charming little town close to the wineries.
Sep 23rd, 2007, 05:49 PM
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Sorry...it has been a very long time since my original post but I wanted to post a summary of our honeymoon.
Needless to say we had an absolute blast. We started out by flying into Long Beach Airport on July 2nd (via JetBlue) and heading up to the Santa Ynez area via rental car. We got into the area around 1pm and took the Santa Rosa Road to Alma Rosa (which had just reopened in Sanford's prior tasting room), La Fonde, stopped by a still-closed new tasting room, Babcock, Mehlville and Foley. We then checked into our motel (the BW Pea Soup Andersen's) and went to dinner at the Hitching Post II. This was my first experience with Santa Maria-style barbeque (actually grilling) and I loved it!
The next day...more wineries than I care to mention. The best were Bridlewood, Zaca Mesa, Epiphany, Consilience and Andrew Murray (we also took a Sideways sidebar to Kalyra and visited the now open Sanford tasting room). Dinner at Los Olivos Cafe which was really good.
The next day on the 4th of July we headed off for Paso Robles and its 110 degree high tempurature. After dropping our wine off at our hotel (the BW Black Thorn) around 10:30 am, we headed out again for some wining. A good number of the wineries were closed for the holiday (a la Tablas Creek) but we visited and enjoyed many wineries, including Justin, Tobin James, EOS, Eberle and Robert Hall (by this time we had become smitten with finding as many good Rhone whites as we could).
Dinner was at an outpost of AJ Spurs which was ok (more Santa Maria-style steaks). I think at this point we were dragging after 3 days of wine tasting. Then, on the evening of the 4th, we found ourselves hitting the sack at something like 8 pm, exhausted.
I also wanted to give props to the BW Black Thorn. They were exceptionally nice (when I told them I was coming in with wine and needed an early check in, they were able to get one for us even though they had been booked the prior night). Also, it was very clean and really cheap ($80) which we were trying to do for the southern leg of the trip.
Day 4-Off to Carmel via the PCH (with a brief stop off at Bonny Doon). Needless to say, a very long drive which was made a little worse by the fact that the coast was fogged over most of the way. Lunch at Nepenthe (which was nothing exciting except for the view). We checked into our motel (the BW Bay View) and wondered around downtown Carmel. In the evening my dear wife had planned a surprise mini bonfire on the beach for us to watch the sunset. Unfortunately the ocean was completely fogged over (needless to say its a memory that will last a lifetime).
Dinner was at Christopher's. Excellent food which concentrates on simple preparations and top notch total ingredients.
Day 5
The next day we had breakfast at the Tuck Box and then headed into SF.
Needless to say we had an absolute blast. We started out by flying into Long Beach Airport on July 2nd (via JetBlue) and heading up to the Santa Ynez area via rental car. We got into the area around 1pm and took the Santa Rosa Road to Alma Rosa (which had just reopened in Sanford's prior tasting room), La Fonde, stopped by a still-closed new tasting room, Babcock, Mehlville and Foley. We then checked into our motel (the BW Pea Soup Andersen's) and went to dinner at the Hitching Post II. This was my first experience with Santa Maria-style barbeque (actually grilling) and I loved it!
The next day...more wineries than I care to mention. The best were Bridlewood, Zaca Mesa, Epiphany, Consilience and Andrew Murray (we also took a Sideways sidebar to Kalyra and visited the now open Sanford tasting room). Dinner at Los Olivos Cafe which was really good.
The next day on the 4th of July we headed off for Paso Robles and its 110 degree high tempurature. After dropping our wine off at our hotel (the BW Black Thorn) around 10:30 am, we headed out again for some wining. A good number of the wineries were closed for the holiday (a la Tablas Creek) but we visited and enjoyed many wineries, including Justin, Tobin James, EOS, Eberle and Robert Hall (by this time we had become smitten with finding as many good Rhone whites as we could).
Dinner was at an outpost of AJ Spurs which was ok (more Santa Maria-style steaks). I think at this point we were dragging after 3 days of wine tasting. Then, on the evening of the 4th, we found ourselves hitting the sack at something like 8 pm, exhausted.
I also wanted to give props to the BW Black Thorn. They were exceptionally nice (when I told them I was coming in with wine and needed an early check in, they were able to get one for us even though they had been booked the prior night). Also, it was very clean and really cheap ($80) which we were trying to do for the southern leg of the trip.
Day 4-Off to Carmel via the PCH (with a brief stop off at Bonny Doon). Needless to say, a very long drive which was made a little worse by the fact that the coast was fogged over most of the way. Lunch at Nepenthe (which was nothing exciting except for the view). We checked into our motel (the BW Bay View) and wondered around downtown Carmel. In the evening my dear wife had planned a surprise mini bonfire on the beach for us to watch the sunset. Unfortunately the ocean was completely fogged over (needless to say its a memory that will last a lifetime).
Dinner was at Christopher's. Excellent food which concentrates on simple preparations and top notch total ingredients.
Day 5
The next day we had breakfast at the Tuck Box and then headed into SF.
Sep 23rd, 2007, 06:41 PM
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It is great that you have posted back here hughakston with a report..and a wonderful report it is!! I am looking forward to reading the next segment. Wishing you two a life time of love, good health and many joyous trips.
Sep 23rd, 2007, 07:08 PM
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OK...I'm continuing this in abbreviated form (oh, and we also hit Hearst Castle on the way from Paso to Carmel).
SF (Days 5-7)
Stayed at the Hotel Majestic which was fantastic (smallish rooms but centrally located and really nice staff). Did most of the typical tourist stuff (Alcatraz, wharf, etc) and also checked out the Palace of Fine Arts (beautiful) and Haight Ashbury. Dinners were at Quince (a wonderful but pricey small restaurant just near our hotel. It was a place I wanted to go well in advance and we were not disappointed, probably in our top 3 of the trip)). We also dined at Maritime, a little place just north of the Presidio area.
Day 8-we had trouble with Hertz actually getting the car we reserved and didn't get into Sonoma until early afternoon.
Wineries-Buena Vista, Arrowood and Sojourn Cellars. Editorial comment-I would highly recommend Sojourn Cellars. Its by appt only and they don't have their own tasting room (they only produce 800 cases/year and concentrate on Pinot and Cab). Really a wonderful example of, fruit forward style of Pinot and Cab.
Dinner-El Dorado Kitchen. Which was ok but not spectacular (more for the service than the food).
Day 9-headed up to Healdsburg via the westside road. Hit Korbel, Hop Kiln and Rochioli on the way up and hit Unti, Family Wineries, Quivira, Rosenblum and Toad Hollow after we checked into our B&B.
We stayed at the Grape Leaf Inn while in Healdsburg. It was clearly our favorite place on the trip. They run a wonderful place which is actually quite large. If you don't mind spending $300/night, I couldn't recommend it more. Two special features, they have free tastings everynight at 6pm in their underground "speakeasy" and they make incredible breakfasts as well.
Dinner was at Dry Creek Kitchen which was my favorite. Great Pinot from Flowers and the best tuna tartare I have ever had.
Day 10-Our massive tasting day. We hired a guide/driver from www.healdsburgwinetours.com which we discovered is entirely run by our guide, Gene, and his wife. Gene was great. Polite, knowledgeable, adaptable, everything you could have wanted. He picked us up promptly from the the Grape Leaf. I told him that we are heavy tasters and like to hit a lot of places (just taste and go). Well, Gene met our expectations. We hit the following (forgive me, this is an excerpt from our running diary of the trip):
Fieldstone-the smallest facility of the day. Tasting room and a large part of the winery are in a facility with a hill built upon it. Wines were unremarkable.
Hanna-Tasting room was new and attractively styled (kind of an Italian/Japanese look) their reserve wines were very concentrated and some of the better we had.
Stonestreet-highly polished tasting room for a new Jess Jackson “boutique” enterprise. The wines were generally ok (more concentrated than you would get at KJ) but were also priced higher than many comparable wines. Tasting is done in separate flights.
Sausal-smaller facility. Sausal specialized in old vine zinfandel with vines as old as ~130 years (they also offer a 100 yr and 60-70 yr wine)
Coppola Presents Rosso & Bianco-the former Chateau Souvreign property which was purchase by Francis Ford Coppola. After a full year of operation with no official name he unveiled it at “Coppola presents Rosso & Bianco). We only did the standard tasting and the wines were really nothing special (and you can probably find them in your local grocery store). We also had lunch there at a small restaurant on premises. We at out on a small terrace that had a nice view of the valley.
Ridge (Lytton Springs)-The first R of the big three. We were generally unimpressed with most of their offerings. A few we did like are also generally available in stores (so we walked away empty handed). The tasting room was built in an environmentally friendly manner (with composites etc).
Mauritson-Relatively young winery which was started by a family that has long been a grape grower in the area. Their regular wines were nothing impressive but their reserve wines (from the “Rockpile” vineyard were impressively concentrated and pretty good.
Amphora-just next to Family Wineries tasting room (see above) and Papapietro (see below), Amphora is a relatively small production winery that sources 100% of its grapes. A long line of different wines were available, none of which really sparked our interest. Apparently, their Petite Sirah is generally well regarded however.
Papapietro-This winery really only does two types of wine, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir. Their Pinot comes from the Russian River Valley and is probably the better of the two (but the Zins weren’t too bad either). Very small production results in a backlog for their wine club).
Lambert Bridge-nice grounds and picnic area. Their zins were pretty good and well concentrated, due, in part, to what they call their “single berry sort” process where each grape is examined and any underripe grapes are discarded (to where one only wonders).
Armida-definitely the most markety of the places we visited (with a concentration on the younger crowd). Their specialty is the “Poi-zin” which comes packaged in a small wooden casket. Our favorite was another Zin from the “Maple Ranch Vineyard”.
(note, by the end of this, it took some pretty powerful wines to actually get through my weary taste buds).
Dinner that night was at Willi's which we had been to before and absolutely adore. Great seafood, great atmosphere.
Day 11-Our day off from wining (except for a morning stop at La Crema. We headed over to Calistoga for 2 nights. On Day 12 we went to Dr. Wilkinson's spa. It was nice but really more of an experience rather than something I'd want to do often (Dr. Wilkison's also uses peat moss which adds an "earthy" smell to the experience).
We stayed at the BW Stevensen Manor Inn. Clean, near the downtown strip, fairly inexpensive.
Dinner was at CIA-Greystone Restaurant. Very disappointing. The food was really unexceptional as was the service.
Day 12
More wining-
Chateau Montelena-The Chardonnay maker that won the “Judgment of Paris”. We, however, were generally unimpressed with their Chardonnay and most of their other wines. Their best was the Estate Cabernet which, at $120, didn’t taste like it was worth $120. The winery structure is over a century old (predating prohibition) and is very attractive as are their grounds and lake (which are only open for picnicking to wine club members).
A Dozen Vinters- a small co-op tasting room. Many of the wineries represented produced fairly weak, cheaper wines (which weren’t overly impressive). However, a few of the wineries produced more concentrated (and more expensive) wines which we generally liked.
Duckhorn-tasting by appointment only. The winery area is fairly small but definitely catered to a more monied crowd. Tasting is done at private tables by flight (which is nice b/c my wife didn’t have any trouble telling me what she thought). The wines were generally OK, especially the Estate wines but again, at $60-$100 dollars we had much better wines for the price on the trip.
Grgich Hills-the winery of the winemaker at Chateau Montelena for the “Judgment of Paris”. Just off of 29 in Napa, the tasting room sees a lot of traffic. Recently had its 30 year anniversary and produced a 30 year anniversary edition Chardonnay (which neither of us overly cared for). None of the wines were especially exceptional.
Cuvaison-One of our better experiences in Napa (and mostly due to the pourer who was both friendly and talkative). Good reserve Pinot and Merlot.
Clos Pegase-Beautiful winery and tasting room known also for the several abstract/modern sculptures onsite. Another good tasting experience. Their wines were generally pretty good (concentrated reds, crisp whites).
Dinner was at Pacifico, a little mexican restaurant in Calistoga.
Day 13-Our last full day in CA and we couldn't resist going back through Sonoma (which, by now, given my 3 trips, we knew we preferred).
Wineries-
Ledson-Freaking beautiful grounds (and massive). The Ledson “castle” is their tasting room and market which is huge (it includes 9 tasting areas and a market). Their market has an extensive selection of meats, cheeses, spreads, prepared items (pasta salads, etc). Great place to picnic (but note, no outside food is allowed). Their wines are not distributed outside of the winery and are all vineyard designate wines (resulting in 55 plus different wines). We generally liked their wines.
Kunde-just down the road from Ledson. Their reserve wines were good (they also had one regular Chardonnay that we liked). Nice open tasting room with cave tours available (the staff was also very nice).
Imagery-our second visit on a recommendation from Craig of Sojourn. This is Benzinger’s reserve/boutique winery which doubles as a mini art gallery. The wines were generally ok but none really bowled me over. They did have two wines which were decent that I had to buy b/c they were unusual varietals (Lagrein and Petit Verdot).
Schug-Very small tasting room. Known for their Pinot Noir, I wasn’t overly impressed by the two they were pouring (but apparently their highest rated was not being poured at that time).
Gloria Ferrer-Where we started our engagement trip and where we ended our honeymoon. Gloria Ferrer is mainly a sparkling wine house but they do have a few wines. They have a beautiful terrace that overlooks the Carneros region (which is reminiscent of Tuscany according to Laura). While they do have minimal tasting the thing to do is to buy a glass (or a bottle) of sparkling and see the view. We went this time on a Saturday right before close (4:30) and walked in to the place for the young drunk crowd. The moral of the story is to go on a weekday.
For lunch we went to Tex Wasabi's one of the Guy Fietti (of Food Network fame) restaurants. A Tex-japanese fusion place. Fun and pretty good. Guy himself walked in while we were there.
And that's it. Stayed at the Doubletree San Jose to catch our flight out the next morning.
Thanks to everyone for their advice. Hope you enjoyed the report.
SF (Days 5-7)
Stayed at the Hotel Majestic which was fantastic (smallish rooms but centrally located and really nice staff). Did most of the typical tourist stuff (Alcatraz, wharf, etc) and also checked out the Palace of Fine Arts (beautiful) and Haight Ashbury. Dinners were at Quince (a wonderful but pricey small restaurant just near our hotel. It was a place I wanted to go well in advance and we were not disappointed, probably in our top 3 of the trip)). We also dined at Maritime, a little place just north of the Presidio area.
Day 8-we had trouble with Hertz actually getting the car we reserved and didn't get into Sonoma until early afternoon.
Wineries-Buena Vista, Arrowood and Sojourn Cellars. Editorial comment-I would highly recommend Sojourn Cellars. Its by appt only and they don't have their own tasting room (they only produce 800 cases/year and concentrate on Pinot and Cab). Really a wonderful example of, fruit forward style of Pinot and Cab.
Dinner-El Dorado Kitchen. Which was ok but not spectacular (more for the service than the food).
Day 9-headed up to Healdsburg via the westside road. Hit Korbel, Hop Kiln and Rochioli on the way up and hit Unti, Family Wineries, Quivira, Rosenblum and Toad Hollow after we checked into our B&B.
We stayed at the Grape Leaf Inn while in Healdsburg. It was clearly our favorite place on the trip. They run a wonderful place which is actually quite large. If you don't mind spending $300/night, I couldn't recommend it more. Two special features, they have free tastings everynight at 6pm in their underground "speakeasy" and they make incredible breakfasts as well.
Dinner was at Dry Creek Kitchen which was my favorite. Great Pinot from Flowers and the best tuna tartare I have ever had.
Day 10-Our massive tasting day. We hired a guide/driver from www.healdsburgwinetours.com which we discovered is entirely run by our guide, Gene, and his wife. Gene was great. Polite, knowledgeable, adaptable, everything you could have wanted. He picked us up promptly from the the Grape Leaf. I told him that we are heavy tasters and like to hit a lot of places (just taste and go). Well, Gene met our expectations. We hit the following (forgive me, this is an excerpt from our running diary of the trip):
Fieldstone-the smallest facility of the day. Tasting room and a large part of the winery are in a facility with a hill built upon it. Wines were unremarkable.
Hanna-Tasting room was new and attractively styled (kind of an Italian/Japanese look) their reserve wines were very concentrated and some of the better we had.
Stonestreet-highly polished tasting room for a new Jess Jackson “boutique” enterprise. The wines were generally ok (more concentrated than you would get at KJ) but were also priced higher than many comparable wines. Tasting is done in separate flights.
Sausal-smaller facility. Sausal specialized in old vine zinfandel with vines as old as ~130 years (they also offer a 100 yr and 60-70 yr wine)
Coppola Presents Rosso & Bianco-the former Chateau Souvreign property which was purchase by Francis Ford Coppola. After a full year of operation with no official name he unveiled it at “Coppola presents Rosso & Bianco). We only did the standard tasting and the wines were really nothing special (and you can probably find them in your local grocery store). We also had lunch there at a small restaurant on premises. We at out on a small terrace that had a nice view of the valley.
Ridge (Lytton Springs)-The first R of the big three. We were generally unimpressed with most of their offerings. A few we did like are also generally available in stores (so we walked away empty handed). The tasting room was built in an environmentally friendly manner (with composites etc).
Mauritson-Relatively young winery which was started by a family that has long been a grape grower in the area. Their regular wines were nothing impressive but their reserve wines (from the “Rockpile” vineyard were impressively concentrated and pretty good.
Amphora-just next to Family Wineries tasting room (see above) and Papapietro (see below), Amphora is a relatively small production winery that sources 100% of its grapes. A long line of different wines were available, none of which really sparked our interest. Apparently, their Petite Sirah is generally well regarded however.
Papapietro-This winery really only does two types of wine, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir. Their Pinot comes from the Russian River Valley and is probably the better of the two (but the Zins weren’t too bad either). Very small production results in a backlog for their wine club).
Lambert Bridge-nice grounds and picnic area. Their zins were pretty good and well concentrated, due, in part, to what they call their “single berry sort” process where each grape is examined and any underripe grapes are discarded (to where one only wonders).
Armida-definitely the most markety of the places we visited (with a concentration on the younger crowd). Their specialty is the “Poi-zin” which comes packaged in a small wooden casket. Our favorite was another Zin from the “Maple Ranch Vineyard”.
(note, by the end of this, it took some pretty powerful wines to actually get through my weary taste buds).
Dinner that night was at Willi's which we had been to before and absolutely adore. Great seafood, great atmosphere.
Day 11-Our day off from wining (except for a morning stop at La Crema. We headed over to Calistoga for 2 nights. On Day 12 we went to Dr. Wilkinson's spa. It was nice but really more of an experience rather than something I'd want to do often (Dr. Wilkison's also uses peat moss which adds an "earthy" smell to the experience).
We stayed at the BW Stevensen Manor Inn. Clean, near the downtown strip, fairly inexpensive.
Dinner was at CIA-Greystone Restaurant. Very disappointing. The food was really unexceptional as was the service.
Day 12
More wining-
Chateau Montelena-The Chardonnay maker that won the “Judgment of Paris”. We, however, were generally unimpressed with their Chardonnay and most of their other wines. Their best was the Estate Cabernet which, at $120, didn’t taste like it was worth $120. The winery structure is over a century old (predating prohibition) and is very attractive as are their grounds and lake (which are only open for picnicking to wine club members).
A Dozen Vinters- a small co-op tasting room. Many of the wineries represented produced fairly weak, cheaper wines (which weren’t overly impressive). However, a few of the wineries produced more concentrated (and more expensive) wines which we generally liked.
Duckhorn-tasting by appointment only. The winery area is fairly small but definitely catered to a more monied crowd. Tasting is done at private tables by flight (which is nice b/c my wife didn’t have any trouble telling me what she thought). The wines were generally OK, especially the Estate wines but again, at $60-$100 dollars we had much better wines for the price on the trip.
Grgich Hills-the winery of the winemaker at Chateau Montelena for the “Judgment of Paris”. Just off of 29 in Napa, the tasting room sees a lot of traffic. Recently had its 30 year anniversary and produced a 30 year anniversary edition Chardonnay (which neither of us overly cared for). None of the wines were especially exceptional.
Cuvaison-One of our better experiences in Napa (and mostly due to the pourer who was both friendly and talkative). Good reserve Pinot and Merlot.
Clos Pegase-Beautiful winery and tasting room known also for the several abstract/modern sculptures onsite. Another good tasting experience. Their wines were generally pretty good (concentrated reds, crisp whites).
Dinner was at Pacifico, a little mexican restaurant in Calistoga.
Day 13-Our last full day in CA and we couldn't resist going back through Sonoma (which, by now, given my 3 trips, we knew we preferred).
Wineries-
Ledson-Freaking beautiful grounds (and massive). The Ledson “castle” is their tasting room and market which is huge (it includes 9 tasting areas and a market). Their market has an extensive selection of meats, cheeses, spreads, prepared items (pasta salads, etc). Great place to picnic (but note, no outside food is allowed). Their wines are not distributed outside of the winery and are all vineyard designate wines (resulting in 55 plus different wines). We generally liked their wines.
Kunde-just down the road from Ledson. Their reserve wines were good (they also had one regular Chardonnay that we liked). Nice open tasting room with cave tours available (the staff was also very nice).
Imagery-our second visit on a recommendation from Craig of Sojourn. This is Benzinger’s reserve/boutique winery which doubles as a mini art gallery. The wines were generally ok but none really bowled me over. They did have two wines which were decent that I had to buy b/c they were unusual varietals (Lagrein and Petit Verdot).
Schug-Very small tasting room. Known for their Pinot Noir, I wasn’t overly impressed by the two they were pouring (but apparently their highest rated was not being poured at that time).
Gloria Ferrer-Where we started our engagement trip and where we ended our honeymoon. Gloria Ferrer is mainly a sparkling wine house but they do have a few wines. They have a beautiful terrace that overlooks the Carneros region (which is reminiscent of Tuscany according to Laura). While they do have minimal tasting the thing to do is to buy a glass (or a bottle) of sparkling and see the view. We went this time on a Saturday right before close (4:30) and walked in to the place for the young drunk crowd. The moral of the story is to go on a weekday.
For lunch we went to Tex Wasabi's one of the Guy Fietti (of Food Network fame) restaurants. A Tex-japanese fusion place. Fun and pretty good. Guy himself walked in while we were there.
And that's it. Stayed at the Doubletree San Jose to catch our flight out the next morning.
Thanks to everyone for their advice. Hope you enjoyed the report.
Sep 23rd, 2007, 07:20 PM
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Join Date: May 2006
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Last post, I promise. So that was it, 13 days, 60 wineries (or tasting rooms), 8 cases of wine to ship back to Chicago (we went a lot overboard, but hey, its a honeymoon).
Highlights-
Meals-Quince in Chicago, Hitching Post, Dry Creek Kitchen.
Wineries-Mehlville, Bridlewood, Epiphany (all in Santa Ynez), Sojourn Cellars, Sausal, Rochioli, Ledson.
Hotels-Grape Leaf Inn, Hotel Majestic, BW Black Thorn.
Also, I would encourage all of you to visit the Santa Ynez valley area. Really its still a hidden gem.
Also, I love the Healdsburg area. Really to me, its the perfect combination of multiple things. Great wine, some larger places, some artisan shops. Still not nearly as recognized as Napa which translates into smaller crowds and even some wineries that don't charge tasting fees.
Can't wait to go again (probably next year, we're hooked)
Highlights-
Meals-Quince in Chicago, Hitching Post, Dry Creek Kitchen.
Wineries-Mehlville, Bridlewood, Epiphany (all in Santa Ynez), Sojourn Cellars, Sausal, Rochioli, Ledson.
Hotels-Grape Leaf Inn, Hotel Majestic, BW Black Thorn.
Also, I would encourage all of you to visit the Santa Ynez valley area. Really its still a hidden gem.
Also, I love the Healdsburg area. Really to me, its the perfect combination of multiple things. Great wine, some larger places, some artisan shops. Still not nearly as recognized as Napa which translates into smaller crowds and even some wineries that don't charge tasting fees.
Can't wait to go again (probably next year, we're hooked)
Sep 23rd, 2007, 09:07 PM
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Join Date: May 2004
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A previous post suggested stopping at the Bonny Doone tasting room in Paso. That tasting room is no longer there. There was a fire there a couple of years ago and they decided not to continue having a tasting room there. The space has been rebuilt and is now home to the tasting room for Lone Madrone. It is owned by the winemaker from Tablas Creek.
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Nan
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May 8th, 2002 05:34 PM
