Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Anyone ever been? Where did you stay? What winery's did you see?

TIA

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

I'm still working on my review.

We stayed at the Vino Bello Resort- GREATTTTTTT Place.. Spa was wonderful.. Accomodations were fabulous- brand new place.

Went to 13 wineries..
mondavi
bv
beringer
luna
elizabeth spencer
cosentino

i have to look it up...

Highly recommend it!

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

i wanna go to caliiiiiiiiiiiiii

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

We stayed at the Cottage Grove Inn in Calistoga...individual cottages with fireplaces, jacuzzis...it was amazing. I highly highly recommend it. We went to Domaine Chandon and Silver Oak vineyards. That was the first two nights of our honeymoon and it was great!

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

We stayed at the Churchill Manor Inn - while it was lovely and the breakfast was amazing - I would totally recommend staying at the Best Western or Napa Valley Inn - much more affordable since you're spending all of your time at wineries and out checking out Napa.

Wineries we went too:
-Mondavi, did the tour - very nice
-Cakebread Cellars - visited by appt only - did the walk thru tour - bought 3 bottles - they don't pour their best they say
-Sawyer Cellars - LOVED THEM! Cabernet Sauvignon was sooooo goooood great value
-Frank Family - loved it - their wines are very good - free tasting - bought their zinfandel which was wonderful
-Sterling - great walk through tour and gondola ride - wines were ok - spectacular views
-Del Dotto - awesome cave tour - you get very very very drunk - they keep pouring - it was a LOT of fun!
-Peju Province- nice wines - bought a few bottles here - no appt needed -
-Plumpjack - their wines are crazy expensive - even AT the winery - we liked their wine and the tasting room. Wines were really good though
-Artesa - my FAVORITE!!! Make this your first stop from the airport/San Fran. It's right in the Carneros region - they have such a great view of the valley - and their wines were REAAAALLY good - the winery is in a mountain - you can take your tasting outside and sip as you gaze at the view
-Domaine Carneros- loved it also - we had their pinor noir and champagne sampler - so nice to sit on the outside area and enjoy great views of napa. wine was really good too!!
-Domaine Chandon - crowded, crazy - have lunch area but we really weren't impressed with their sparkling wine. Chandon was a much better stop.
-Joseph Phelps - really great views - they had a station outside set-up so you can sit down and enjoy the views and get to try all their wines including their Insignia (which we didn't love LOL). Overall, we had better wines everywhere else.
-Hess - they stop pouring @ 5:30pm - we got there at 5:29pm - they would not pour for us. Callifornia has really strict rules and regulations with this so be aware of that when you're tryin to squeeze the last winery in.

I want to go back next year - I want to go to so many more!!!!

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Oh, one more thing - if you intend on buying wine there - it can get expensive.
We started off not buying but then decided to come home with a case. So glad we did b/c a lot of the wineries only ship to restaurants and sell wine exclusively at their winery - when I came home I couldn't find a lot of what I liked in the local wine stores- so I was glad I came home with some wine. The crates you can buy there are very decent and kept our wine save in the plane.

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

We stayed at the 1801 first, it's a B&B right in Napa. It was amazing!! The room was huge with a big jetted tub. They had gourmet breakfast each morning and a nice wine and cheese gathering in the afternoons. It was a little $$ but well worth it!!

As for wineries, I always HIGHLY reccomend Sawyer. It's next to Opus one and we are part of their wine club. We haven't gotten a bad wine from them yet- amazing. You need an appt. to go tasting there (although we didn't have one when we went and since they didn't have anyone inside at the time they accomodated us). Also, Raymond was wonderful too- we just drank a bottle we bought from them on our anniversary and it was fantastic.

Have a great time, it's a really fun place!!

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Not a winery, but visit Copea, the wine and food museum. It was awesome.

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

I'm surprised more people don't talk about Sawyer's Cab. It's SO good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotta love that finish - smoooooth LOL!!!!

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Posted by DKF1016

I'm surprised more people don't talk about Sawyer's Cab. It's SO good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotta love that finish - smoooooth LOL!!!!

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Posted by mcl916

Posted by DKF1016

I'm surprised more people don't talk about Sawyer's Cab. It's SO good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotta love that finish - smoooooth LOL!!!!

Yeah I have no idea how they have stayed so quiet, the stuff is amazing!! It is our one splurge to be in their wine club and it's like Christmas everytime we get a shipment!

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Posted by DKF1016

Posted by mcl916

Posted by DKF1016

I'm surprised more people don't talk about Sawyer's Cab. It's SO good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotta love that finish - smoooooth LOL!!!!

Yeah I have no idea how they have stayed so quiet, the stuff is amazing!! It is our one splurge to be in their wine club and it's like Christmas everytime we get a shipment!

winelibrary.com has their 2002 cab for a great price - you should check it out :)

Re: Napa Valley - Wine country Cali

Domaine Carneros - It was the prettiest winery/breathtaking views by far..

We also did Robert Mondavi and Domaine Chandon

Message edited 11/28/2007 10:29:26 PM.