wanderer

Please help us cut some wineries. Our itinerary has become a runaway train!

Ideally, we would see one winery per day, 2 at the most, as we want to leave time for shopping, eating out, wandering around, and driving around. We are considering a move to Northern CA, so want to see as much of the area as possible. We will be staying in Agua Caliente, and will be there from Oct 4 - Oct 11, but the 5th (Tues) through the 10th (Sunday) will be our only real days as the two days on either end are travel/flight days.

Here is what we have picked for wineries. We'd love a mix - old and new, big and small, etc. We'd tried to pick wineries also for views, architecture, gardens, and overall ambience and overall experience.

Chateau St. Jean
Benzinger
Ferrari Carano
Buena Vista
Gloria Ferrer
Viansa
Domaine Chandon
Sterling
Schrambsberg
Beringer
Niembaum-Coppola
Iron Horse

Tim_and_Liz

The only two we've been to are Schramsberg and Sterling. I liked both but definitely Schramsberg was much more interesting/cool/worth the trip.
Sterling was a fun tram ride, I wasn't too impressed with the service. I think they are owned by Seagrams (?) and I could feel it was more "corporate" than the others. We liked Mondavi better. However, the view is excellent and we are trying to convince our younger siblings to plan their weddings for the Sterling terrace.

We also enjoyed Matanzas Creek in Santa Rosa-- a must-see if the lavender is in bloom! www.matanzascreek.com

Enjoy your trip-- we can't wait to return!

kimamom

They are all very nice, I haven't been to Iron Horse, tho. How about V. Sattui? I like their Gamay Rouge there. I believe the tastings are complimentary, also. ***kim***

wanderer

No more!! Just kidding. We are trying to cut - at least from the Napa group.

Any ideas which ones to cut or at least put on the bottom of the list?

je

It looks like Mantanzas Creek has taken down its lavendar for more grapevines. At least that's the way it looks from the road. Landmark next to Chateau St Jean has very good chard. I'd drop Sterling but take the tour at Shramsberg. Very educational.

kimamom

Don't drop Sterling, the tram ride is too fun and scenic. Have you considered adding Ledson to your list? It's a beautiful castle-type place and the wines are unique to their winery. Very good, too! Cheers! ***kim***

AJPeabody

Both Schrambsberg and Domaine Chandon will probably tell you and show you the same stuff about making champagne, so you may want to cut one of them. I prefer Schrambsberg's wines so I'd keep that one, but it's your call as Domaine Chandon has the famous food.

I'm afraid you are going to get more suggestions for additions rather than deletions, because everyone has their favorite things. Myself, I get bored with the third place that shows me yet another stemmer-crusher and another room full of barrels, but I'm a sucker for a great view and will travel even further for a great wine.

This site is full of posts describing Napa and Sonoma wineries. Search and you shall find. I'll top my post on my California road trip from earlier this year to make it easier for you to find.

kimamom

Domaine Chandon is one of my favorites, I love the place. Nice gift shop too where I buy some really cool hats! The grounds are beautiful for taking lots of pictures, and the food is excellent! ***kim***

zwho

Hi, We just did our wine country trip and since we are not really into wine we picked our wineries based on, the prettiest, Ferrari Carano. It really felt and looked like we were in Tuscany. The wine guy (whatever he's called, was a real jerk. I geuss he could tell we thought wine was just another drink, rather then a hobby. Next we picked very famous, Niembaum-Coppola. We liked it better and not because of the wine. Its kind of a movie and especially Coppolas movie museum. Intersting Coppola family history and history of the Godfather. Pretty nice gift shop also. Next we picked the oldest, which was the Hop Kiln. I didn't even notice the wine there, but I bought really wonderful pumpkin butter and chipolte ketchup, plus the building is very old and cool! The guy working there was full of interesting info. (Not about wine) The last place we stopped was the most famous for us non winos. It was Korbels which we have a bottle of each New Years and only just taste, but have been seeing it for atleast 30 to 35 years of our lives. The grounds were beautiful without being flashy and they had a nice little patio to sit out on and enjoy the day. Just past there about 20 to 30 minutes in Jenner by the Sea was one of the best meals I've ever had. Its called the Rivers End and it looks out on the place where the Russian river and the Pacific meet. Its very dramatic scenery and the food is WONDERFUL. There is nothing else to do there but eat or watch the ocean, but the atmosphere was great. I'm glad we went but I doubt I would go back. I just didn't get it, (wine tasting) plus the whole thing made me super sleepy!

kimamom

Niebaum-Coppola is beautiful, isn't it? I love the stained glass windows and the staircase leading up to the movie paraphanalia.

I also think Beringer is beautiful and their gift shop is gorgeous. I haven't been to Hop Klin, next trip. The wine jerk is sometimes known as the sommelier, LOL!! ***kim***

OaktownTraveler

WHOA>>>>

I am very-very close to the folks at FC.
Was it the "hostess" pouring the taste?
Was the "jerk" introduced to you as the owner? winemaker? market/sales person?

Please provide whatever specific information that you have(please include day of week, estimated time of day etc.) This is NOT acceptable and highly unusual for FC.

GailLK

We did Domaine Chandon and Sterling our last trip and enjoyed the tram ride up at Sterling. Nice location!
We also did a winery called "HESS COLLECTION" and they have a very interesting art collection there as well as winery.

kimamom

Were there some specific comments that the "jerk guy" said that offended you? I'm interested in what he/she did that made you come to that conclusion. ***kim***

mfenimore

We went to Schramsberg, Viansa, Beringer, Benzinger, Coppola and Sterling. Schramsberg is very interesting and different as it is sparkling wine. Sterling, although a great view on the tram, wine is not very good and it is very crowded and commercial. Benzinger was very good wine and I also heard the tram tour is really good. Beringer I may skip, it was very crowded. Coppola is very pretty, consider doing the 11/2 estate tour. Viansa is also very scenic and they have an awesome food market/pcinic area.

So If I had to pick, i would definitely go to Benzinger, Coppola, Viansa and Schramsberg

runlong

We stayed at the Meadowood resort on our honeymoon in 2002 and visited many wineries, but by three favorites by far were in Rutherford. Since this was in January, the sommeliers had so much time to spend with us and even gave us a little extra each time. Rutherford Grove was wonderful. I don't remember his name but he was really good to us and took us on a little tour since no one else was there. Grgich Hills, owned by Miljenko Grgich (from Croatia)and the Hills Bros. coffee family, was another graet experience. Miljenko (known as Mike) came out to congratulate us on our wedding tell us about his favorite wines and signed the bottles we purchased. He has a particular dessert wine named after his daughter Violetta that is superb. My favorite there, though, was the Fume Blanc - we now order it direct a couple times a year. We also enjoyed Franciscan, one of the larger vineyards, but their cabernet was excellent and the staff was very knowledgeable. The building there was gorgeous. Have a great time, and don't forget to eat plenty at all the wonderful restaurants. One that didn't break the bank was TraVigne - wonderful Tuscan atmosphere! I'm hungry and thirsty just thinking about all this!

kimamom

runlong, I'm also a fan of Tra Vigne! It's a great place and very reasonably priced. I love the large dining room and all of the excitement and commaradarie that goes on in there! ***kim***

alg

Since you asked, I would drop Viansa...in my opinion, the wines are mediocre and the tasting room/market can get very crowded.

zwho

Hi, I can't remember what day we were there but it was daytime sometime during the week of Aug. 29. He was the guy, (sommelier) pouring. It was our first winery and he gave us no instruction, told us to pick 4 or 5 wines and to pour out what we didn't like in the spitton. He was much more interested in a group of southern women tasting next to us. I know he was a jerk, because the place was not busy (none of them were) and we got very good advice about tannins and sweet versus dry at other wineries. BTW, we did buy a bottle at the gift shop, not from him.

OaktownTraveler

Thanks for your reply. I have forwarded this to FC.

BTW...the person pouring the wine in the tasting room is not the "S" nor anything close to an "S". To be come an "s" you have to study, study, study and a whole bunch of other stuff. "S's" make a bunch of money, have power, clout and etc. Tasting room pourers are sometimes volunteers and sometimes they are simple hires...visit: winejobs.com...anybody can pour wine in the tasting room...and they do.

Thanks!

kimamom

Sometimes, they are also the sommeliers, tho. We just did a tasting in Oakhurst at the Elderberry House,and had an exceptionally informative "pourer." He was actually the sommelier for the EH and the dining room director. So, you never know unless you ask, who is pouring your tastings! www.chateausureau.com It is a Relais & Chateaux property.

A couple of weekends ago, when we at the Engelmann Cellars getting our grapes, the owner/sommelier was also doing the pouring at that winery. He is a somellier, also.

At the Kunde Estates in Sonoma, the woman pouring was a sommelier. We were chatting about the classes she had taken. ***kim***