Napa/Sonoma Wineries
 

There are so many wineries and we only have time to visit a few. Does anyone have any recommendations or favorites?

Numerous answersopinions re this exact question await within the archives.
It's a purely personal thing.
Arrange a tour in advance if you've never been on one.

I looked through quite a few archives before posting the question and I found a lot of responses to questions about lodging and how much time to stay in wine country but not specific to vineyards to visit. I welcome people sharing their personal favorites.

OK. My favorites are:
V. Sattui (nice for wine and cheese in their picnic area)
Beringer for the architecture
Frog's Leap for a great small scale experience
Niebaum-Coppola--great atmosphere
Mondavi--very professional presentation

I'll be going this weekend for the first time. I have narrowed the search to Sonoma/Healdsburg. I'm going for the Pinot's and the Zin's. I'll let you know when I get back.

I've been to Napa 15 years ago and wasn't impressed.

Agree with GPlimpton. I would also recommend Pineridge Winery on the Silverado Trial.

Good luck,
MichelleY

boston
We went to Sonoma. In the morning we went to Benziger winery and took a tour thru the vineyards, very educational. After that we went to Chateau Souverain winery for tastings and lunch. Tastings free if you have lunch. A French Cafe and wonderful,wonderful food with a view of their vineyards.

Rombauer in St Helena.

Depends if you want the better wines or the most interesting wineries. For the best wines I would suggest Stags Leap and Cakebread. For interesting try Coppola, Beringer, and V Sattui.

Personal favorite: Kirkland Ranch. This is also one of the few place where the people who pour the wine are the actual owners. The wine is fantasic and VERY reasonably priced. I also always like Viansa--for the Italian Marketplace as much as the wine! Viansa is located in Sonoma, it is one of the first you will see.

We liked Sterling vinyards which is near Calistoga. You have to take a tram up to the top where you have 4 tastes of wine. Good view of the area. Costs $10. But there is no guided tour or instruction. 8-)

If you haven't been before I think Beringer would be first on the list. Beautiful property, very complete tour of caves and interesting perspective on winemaking, great tasting house with some library wines unavailable elsewhere.

Sterling Vineyards is also a good beginners vineyard mainly for the views and perspective on Napa.

I love Newton in St. Helena. Great gardens and a chinese woman winemaker. Vineyard is now owned by Cliquot. Unfiltered chardonnay from this vineyard is a favorite of some (it gives me a headache...too much oak) Another spectacular winery is Far Niente who makes super premium wines and a great dessert wine: Dolce.

Another mainstream choice would be Chandon. Lots of information about sparkling wines, great restaurant and gardens.


LMF

If you find yourselves in Healdsburg, please dive up to the Ferrari-Carrano winery. It is a beautiful estate/garden that will impress you! If you're looking for a nice picnic place,the Armida Winery has tables overlooking a beautiful vista. Their wines are great too!

topping for mbc.
Cheers!
((D))

I second gplimpton for the Sattui winery (spelling?) because the wine is fine, but the deli!!! You can buy Sonoma Jack Pesto cheese there. It is so hard to find elsewhere and so delicious that it's almost worth a trip to Sonoma in and of itself.

I appreciate all the info on the wineries since we will be making a four day/four night trip in September, our first to Napa. Can anyone recommend how many wineries to visit in a day or how many we should consider during our stay? Would we get tired of visiting too many?
We also are interested in some hiking - any suggestions? Thanks!

dj, You may want to take a peek at our "Wine-Os Only" thread on "Other Topics" or just click on my name and look for it. May be some helpful stuff.
Ching ((D))ching ((D))!
Kal

I also suggest Pine Ridge on the Silverado Trail for some excellent wines. Duckhorn, a little further north, has good merlots, and a beautiful tasting room. Our personal favorite is St.Jean's in Sonoma Valley. The views are beautiful. You should pay the higher price for the better tasting - you have your choice when you go in. We sat outside on a beautiful patio, and just went back in for refills. The people were nice and the experience really was outstanding.

Went to Napa last summer and we were very disappointed. Too crowded and so expensive. We found very few wineries that didn't charge a lot. $10 or more. Charged for tours of caves and that was a big nothing.
We also went to Oregon and found the wineries like Napa used to be. Good wine.

Just got back from SF the end of May and took a day trip to Sonoma/Healdsburg. It was a Sunday on Memorial Day weekend and not really crowded. Healdsburg was a little crowded because they were having a flea market or antique show going on.

First went to Clos du Bois who charged $5 for tasting, but gave us a nice engraved wine glass. They had 3-4 wines to taste, and I told them I was interested in Pinots. It wasn't on their tasting list but she opened a bottle just for me. Purchased a bottle of their Pinot.

Next went to Chateau Souverain which was right around the corner. Planned to have lunch, but they were very snotty, so we departed without tasting or having lunch.

I wanted to stop by Rafanelli's, but they were closed -- tasting by appointment only. I was sorry I didn't make an appointment because I heard good things about their wines from this board.

We decided to head for Healdsburg for lunch and stopped on the way at Pezzi King Vineyards. They had 6 wines to taste, and WOW!!! ((y)) Their Zin knocked my socks off. Purchased 2 bottles and should have bought more.

Had lunch at Oakville Grocery. Walk in and buy all their gourmet food & wine and sit out on their patio and have lunch. Great!! They had a wine tasting room next door, and YUK!! :'( Wines from another region and they were horrible!!

We walked (should have driven) to Sapphine Hills to try their Pinots, recommended by PamSF. Pricy ($36) but excellent. Have 2 bottles in my wine cellar for another time. It was a Mom & Pop type of place.

On our way back to SF, stopped by Hop Kiln, Rochioli, and Davis Bynum, all which are known for their Pinots because of the region. Nice.

Stopped by the Kendall-Jackson Wine Center which owns the La Crema Winery. Bought a bottle of La Crema Pinot & Zin. They were the only other place that we stopped at that charged -- $2 or $3, but you got it back if you bought a bottle. I guess that was to keep the riffraff out, but they let me in. ;;) ((b))

Nice place to visit -- plan to go back, but the wines were very pricy. There is a Safeway in Healdsburg with most of the same wines, and $5-6 per bottle cheaper. They had a huge selection, so I would recommend buying from them. For example, the Clos du Bois pinot I bought was $5 cheaper at Safeway. Go figure.

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July BBQ and all. **== ((b))

V. Sattui was pretty neat, but it was crowded even in low season, and sits right on main drag- very noisy. Loved the smaller wineries- Meeker in Geyserville, Raymond Burr in Sonoma. J Winery in Sonoma very cool- you get appetizers w/tasting for a fee, but that was enough for lunch. Also loved Foppiano- great Petite Syrah. Amphora- call for private tasting. Wilson Winery had best Cab ever.Gotta hit Ferrari for the gardens, Lake Sonoma for a picnic and view from the deck. Geyserville has a deli that we liked better than Oakville - the Hoffman House. This is not your standard deli!