Napa Wineries to visit

I just came back from Napa last month. There are a ton of great wineries and you will have no shortage of finding any. Not all need reservations so you should be ok as far as that goes.

I HIGHLY recommend Sonoma as its a lot more scenic
over Napa. I also recommend The Kenwood restaurant which is about 15 mins past Sonoma. The prices are very re3asonable and the wine list endless. (also VERY reasonable) To boot, many stars hang out there and I would be surprised if you didn't meet someone.

Phelps is very nice and they do have the Insignia on the tasting list. I wouldn't make too many reservations as it will interfere with just poking around as you will have to be here and there at certain times. There is lots of wineries, you certainly wont run out of any.

Larkmead
Frank Family (across street from Larkmead)

All fruit comes from same area (near the famous Three Palms vineyard). If that is your style of cab or merlot, you should not pass up. LM requires appt. Not sure about FF.

FF does not require an appointment...and agree with the recommendation. I think Larkmead has the best QPR portfolio of wines in the valley. Appointment is required and there is a $15 tasting fee.

Hey, Zinerator! Hope you have agreat time.

Along Silverado Trail, I'd add Miner family Winery - I think they a great array of excellent vino, Clos Du val, Silverado, and Pine Ridge. They are all within a mile or three of each other, too!

Farher up, you can venture only a couple minutes off the trail and hit Groth and Silver Oak.

At the top of the trail, consider Cuvaison, I used to really like their zin.

Oh, yeah, Rombauer is a good place to taste, too.

That should cover a solid day of tippling!

Have a great time.

Make one appointment, at least one, whatever you do, with a very small producer. My two favorites are board member Randy Sloan's Match Vineyards and Charter Oak in Saint Helena.

You can pop into disney-themed public tasting rooms all day long looking for stars to meet, as pathetic as that sounds, or you can spend 1-2 hours having a personal wine tasting with the owner and or winemaker of a small producer. I'll choose the later every time.

I agree with Stefania...

an above post mentioned Pine Ridge, I recommend the barrel tasting there. For $35.00, you taste the barrel samples and compare them with the bottle from an earlier vintage.

Whatever you do avoid Del Dotto..way to disney land for me..imo

Just got back from Napa a couple of weeks ago. Went to Trespass, Larkmead, Turnbull and Chandon. To be honest I am a little tired of going to the bigger places where you have to elbow your way to the tasting counter only to have the server treat you like you're not worthy to taste their wines. Rarely have I had a good experience at a large winery.

I highly recommend Trespass. If you can, make an appointment with Don Gallagher, he is a gracious host and they make some really nice wines. Also, Larkmead was pretty nice too, they are bigger, but because they're appointment only, you don't have to deal with the elbow-shoving from the exclusionary types. Also, they're very nice there too. One more, if you can, and you have time, take a drive up to Neal, beautiful estate and caves, and once again, they're really nice (appointment only).

Darioush is closeby. Beautiful grounds and building. Pretty good wines, too. Silverado has some nice QPR wines, especially the Cab. I really enjoyed the Sinskey wines, not the staff. I bought the most wine of my trip, there.

If you plan on staying in Napa and along the Silverado trail, then here are some I recommend.(not in order of how good they are, just in what comes to my mind first).

Seavey - you might need to make an appointment.

Ladera - need an appointment.

Anderson's Conn Valley

Baldacci

Chateau Montelena, they are past the Silverado Trail and up a bit on Hwy. 29, but it is worth the drive.

Larkmead



If you should head to Sonoma, then go with either Hanzell(Pinot Noir & Chardonnay), or go with Verite(Bordeaux styled and influenced wine)

If it is during the week, Shafer is open and along the Silverado Trail although it is difficult to find as there is no sign.

You can have a nice picnic at Pride with great scenery. Erna Schein is near Pride and offers great views as well. Would need an appointment for both.

The plus for you is they all offer good wines.