Napa wineries follow up question
 

I thought I posted this earlier but messed it up somehow. Here it is again -

After reading several posts regarding visiting Napa Valley wineries, I have come to the conclusion that the larger wineries should be skipped. Is it true that some wineries charge for tastings?

If you could visit only 1 smaller, independent winery, which would it be and why? We enjoy wine but are not experts (couldn't spell conneseur).

Thanks for any info provided.

I just found out that I didn't mess up my first post (I just found it). So I guess I actually messed up this post.
Sorry.

This sure feels like a Monday

No, you didn't mess up; it's in the queue somewhere here. Click on your screen name, "f64club", and you'll get a listing of all threads you've posted to.

I enjoy both the large and the small places, each offers unique things in their own ways. :D

I'm a big fan of the Freemark Abbey wines in St. Helena. They were the only place listed in the Wine Enthusiast "Best Wines in America" list for the Viognier. I also enjoy their Riesling very much. ((f))

The winery is very small, elegant and there's a small patio for you to enjoy your tastings. Cheers! ***kim*** ((l))

I, myself, am also not an expert in wine, but do love to try. I have been to napa valley and had a great time...it's beautiful. But, they do charge for tastings, everywhere we went, ranging from the small to the larger, $5, $10, $20 even a person. And, I feel it was overcrowded and we were there in December (certainly not peak season). Are you set on going to Napa or just want to visit wineries? Our last trip to the wine country, we ended up going to Paso Robles halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles and thought this was the best place on the planet. Less people, much more economical. This area is substantially boutique wineries. These people love to talk about wines and show you what they do. We tried all sorts of wines we had never heard of before. Rarely, if ever, were we charged. It is beatiful, and there are just soo many to choose from. Paso Robles beats Napa by a mile for the pocketbook. I will go back to Paso over and over again. A wonderful place to visit.

The more I read about Napa, the more I am inclined to change my itinerary to Sonoma. Any suggestions there?

So help us out a little here, f64club. What are you looking for that you're not finding in what's already been recommended?

Marcephus, we love the Paso area. I did a report on this board about our Wine Tour we took in October. Which are your favorites there? :D

We loved, Tobin James, Chumeia, EOS, Meridian, Bianci, Eberle, Wild Coyote (killer zins and merlots, huh?) and Martin Weyrich for their Nebbiolo.

I missed Justin and Tablas Creek, but will hit them when we go to Cambria in a few days. ***kim*** ((l))

Lots of great information about Sonoma and wine tasting on www.wineroad.com.

This link will give you day trip maps and recommendations for about 7 areas in the region -- Great Stuff!!!

http://www.visitwineroad.com/ ((b))

My BF and I went to Sonoma last Nov. for my birthday trip and it was absolutely wonderful. We both agreed that the Sonoma area was far more picturesque than Napa, which we'd visited a couple years ago.

I don't necessarily agree with the notion that larger wineries should be skipped. I think boutique wines are great and like the idea of only purchasing wines when visiting wine country that are available only at the wineries. For a good well-rounded wine country experience, you want a good mixture of different kinds of wineries, both large and small.

In addition to looking at the quality of wines, we also wanted to visit wineries that offer a nice setting in which to taste the wines. Here's my recommendation in Sonoma:

Gary Farrell - Excellent wines, esp. if you love reds, beautiful woods setting
Ferrari Carrano - Spectacular gardens and nice lighter wines, one of their rose blends has a touch of guava to it
J vineyards - Great sparking wines and very special tasting done with food pairings
Arrowood - Lovely wines, esp. the late harvest riesling, that you can enjoy on they're big wrap-around deck with a view overlooking rollling hills and vineyards
Ledson - Great reds in a castle setting, also has a gourmet deli
J. Tedeschi and Hop Kiln - Both great smaller winery experiences, added plus is the drive to get to both wineries is on small, pastoral backroads.

People also love Ravenswood for their Zins, although we didn't love them.

I highly recommend checking out sonomacounty.com and wineroad.com so you can review the various wineries that look good to you. Have a great time!

I too am partial to Sonoma (if you want the gory details they can be found on other threads). I highly recommend Regusci (they do olive oil also). In fact, I am attending a Napa tasting for charity tonight w/a number of wineries that are unknown to me. I'll let you know if any good ones (to me) are there.