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The Napa / Sonoma Wine thread

PorscheGuy

By PorscheGuy
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Chewbacca

Chewbacca 7828

Posted
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6 minutes ago, PorscheGuy said:

There are some great places to stay in Yontville. You don’t get wonderful views but you are in an excellent location. Stroll down to Bouchon bakery on the morning before you get started. Great restaurants to hit at night. Our room at the Vintage house had a great fireplace and private patio.


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And if you stay in Yountville, definitely eat at Bottega.  I'd rather eat there than French Laundry.

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PorscheGuy

PorscheGuy 127

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And if you stay in Yountville, definitely eat at Bottega.  I'd rather eat there than French Laundry.

Completely agree. Bottega is really good. Don’t sleep on Reddwood. It’s a more “casual” restaurant but I swear I would eat their summer squash ravioli as my last meal.


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We’reTexas

We’reTexas 1477

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1 hour ago, Larry T. Spider said:

Permanently closed back in 2018.

You’re referring to Redd (which was awesome). Redd Wood closed during the pandemic. A restaurant called North. Block is now in its space (after the hotel). Haven’t been but I think it’s owned by someone from David Chang’s group. North Block is a good hotel btw. 

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PorscheGuy

PorscheGuy 127

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Barnett up on Spring Mountain is really good and has a killer view of the valley.

Agreed. One of my favorites. Do the cave tour too, absolutely worth it. Plan a little extra time to get up and back down the mountian if you have other stops before or after. It’s at the very top.

Get a bottle of Rattlesnake Cab.


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Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14802

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On 9/25/2022 at 2:39 PM, PantsTent said:

I've seen St. Helena mentioned as a great base.  Harvest Inn there any good?

Stayed there last time.  Very good hotel with an excellent location.  We had a room with a hot tub that faced to the rear of the property with views of the vineyard and the mountains.  Literally just a mile from downtown St Helena and close to everything else.

 

View from room.

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PantsTent

PantsTent 2003

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OK, back from our first trip to Napa last week. We stayed 4 nights so had 3 full days of wineries plus a couple of travel days. I probably won't have much new to add since most spots we hit came from recs on this thread, but will share some thoughts as a first-timer and who really doesn't even drink wine very often.

Hotel Yountville was excellent. Being a special occasion we went for the premium suite. Big room and bathroom with rain shower and separate sex tub (not sure if it's called that in the brochure). Wife appreciated the separate makeup vanity. Private patio/garden to sit outside. Just nice touches throughout.

For wine we started after lunch and with 90min tastings and most closing at 4-5pm, you can really only do 2 in an afternoon. Pre-covid was it much more casual free for all where you could show up and drink and be on your way?  Anway...

Barnett - There were 5 tastings on the menu and dude threw that away after the 2 whites.  We ended up tasting 8 including a pinot, cab franc, merlot, and 3 cabs including the rattlesnake (which was not on the menu we originally got).  This was our overall favorite and the Rattlesnake was my favorite.  The Cab Franc (never heard of it before) was amazing as well although very different.  

Odette was just a weird experience. We were the only one in the whole tasting room and our host was a bit odd.  Wine was fine but preferred most of the Barnett we had just came from.

Quintessa - Check your hotel for partner deals. They booked this for us and the normal $160x2 was free.  It included a tour through the fields in an all-terrain golf cart thing and chomp on some new growth grapes, etc followed by the tasting inside which included some cheese/fruit/nuts etc.  Great experience and wines.

Round Pond - Nice patio for the tasting which included some wine food as well.  Gave us almost a full glass to go to walk around the grounds and the garden that there on-site chef uses.  Was a nice add-on and able to enjoy some different views.

Last day was sparkling day...Domain Carneros and Mumm. Pretty much the same experience at both of these where you can pretty much tailor your tastings.  We preferred Mumm wines overall.  Was a nice change of pace to all the cabs.

Bottega lived up to the hype. Excellent meal for our anniversary even though a little loud and crowded.  Buchon on the other hand was loud as hell and tables way to close. Waiter was literally shouting to talk to us.  Food was good though!  Sticking to Yountville and wanting something more casual we tried La Calenda. Obviously Tex-mex it is not, but enjoyed some of what we had.  Oakville Grocery is a great spot for lunch before wining.

Shit, this is probably the longest post I've ever had. Overall we had a blast and wife already wants to go back. Thanks all for the recs in this thread!

 

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PantsTent

PantsTent 2003

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Forgot to add, I had planned on eating the Ad-Hoc fried chicken at Addendum Saturday lunch before heading back to SFO. Walk over at 11am and it's a ghost town. Find out it had 'closed for the season' the weekend before.  Grabbed a pizza at Velo Pizza just a block up, which wasn't bad. Never made it to Gott's either so that's 2 places for a re-visit.

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After irth

After irth 1246

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Gonna be driving from Sacramento to Calistoga. How’s the drive. The fastest route (not direct at all) takes me I-80 thru Vacaville, south of Fairfield, exiting thru Creston and then taking 29 up thru Napa and all the way up to Calistoga. 
 

Or…from the airport, I can head west to Winters and then bob & weave along the south side of Lake Berryessa. Direct route, but evidently quite a bit slower. 
 

Wife gets kinda carsick. Should I just stick to the interstate?  Or are we missing an opportunity for a beautiful drive?

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Chewbacca

Chewbacca 7828

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34 minutes ago, After irth said:

Gonna be driving from Sacramento to Calistoga. How’s the drive. The fastest route (not direct at all) takes me I-80 thru Vacaville, south of Fairfield, exiting thru Creston and then taking 29 up thru Napa and all the way up to Calistoga. 
 

Or…from the airport, I can head west to Winters and then bob & weave along the south side of Lake Berryessa. Direct route, but evidently quite a bit slower. 
 

Wife gets kinda carsick. Should I just stick to the interstate?  Or are we missing an opportunity for a beautiful drive?

Interstate is an easy drive.  It's not that beautiful over that way.

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Goofyboy

Goofyboy 3429

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Gonna be driving from Sacramento to Calistoga. How’s the drive. The fastest route (not direct at all) takes me I-80 thru Vacaville, south of Fairfield, exiting thru Creston and then taking 29 up thru Napa and all the way up to Calistoga. 
 
Or…from the airport, I can head west to Winters and then bob & weave along the south side of Lake Berryessa. Direct route, but evidently quite a bit slower. 
 
Wife gets kinda carsick. Should I just stick to the interstate?  Or are we missing an opportunity for a beautiful drive?

If the wife gets car sick, interstate it.
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wild_turkey

wild_turkey 3296

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Headed to Napa for the first time today. Tried to go 4 years ago and our dog got incredibly sick so we had to cancel last minute. Then Covid. Then California caught on fire. Finally making it happen, but if there’s an earthquake or anything like that, it’s definitely my fault.

We got a driver for tomorrow and will be visiting Stags’ Leap, Regusci, and a couple others. I tend to drink more French wine but I’m excited about this. I also fully expect to get some Pliny this week, which it’s been way too long for me on that front.

After a couple days in Napa, we are heading down to Carmel for a few nights. Got a boat one day, probably go down to Big Sur for another day. I have been there before but it was years ago. Should be a good time.

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Buzzrock

Buzzrock 15135

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So how was it?

I’m out in Napa now with friends for Bottlerock. Round Pond and Peju were solid. Farmstead for lunch was excellent. Great bourbon list, reasonable prices for 2 oz pours.

At Reverie now, great views great wines. These chairs are fantastic, made from wine barrels and wine glass holders built in. Our host said they are $400, but we would have to get them home.

I could sell them for $1200 easy in Atlanta.

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I have a killer wine and weed buzz going.

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Chewbacca

Chewbacca 7828

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So how was it?

I’m out in Napa now with friends for Bottlerock. Round Pond and Peju were solid. Farmstead for lunch was excellent. Great bourbon list, reasonable prices for 2 oz pours.

At Reverie now, great views great wines. These chairs are fantastic, made from wine barrels and wine glass holders built in. Our host said they are $400, but we would have to get them home.

I could sell them for $1200 easy in Atlanta.

857ecbbeeaca567efa7f973c577c9da7.jpg

I have a killer wine and weed buzz going.
Those Reverie chairs are great, but they will only ship to a commercial loading dock. They won't ship to a residence. We tried.

Love their wines. We are a member of their club.
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Smax

Smax 3800

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13 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Went a couple of weeks ago for my wife’s bday and ate at Valette. Might have been the best meal of my life. I got the duck. And the Lando wine because I’m a Star Wars nerd. 
 

 

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Love Valettes, we eat there several times a month, if you make it back you have to try the scallop appetizer. The square lost several good restaurants (campo fina and brass rabbit 2 of my favs) from the pandemic. I was happy that Valettes powered through

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Austinvines

Austinvines 318

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Headed to Santa Rosa for the 4th of July and have a short time to pack in some Dry Creek and nearby wineries. Want to hit Ridge at Lytton Springs and my FIL suggests Mazzacco and $ilver Oak. We get in around lunch on 7/3 and I am hoping there are some wineries open on the 4th. Any thing that is not to be missed? My wife is an Anything but Chardonnay person and I like most everything but my collection trended cab/Bourdeaux blends, Zins, and Syrah.

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Beantown Express 2.0

Beantown Express 2.0 6594

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I could use some help on a good location for an incentive trip I am hosting for 130 people next June.  My meeting planners for my company have given me to hotel choices in wine country.  One is Montage in Healdsburg and the other is Fairmont in Sonoma.  Thoughts on those 2 hotels?  Things for people to do in the area for those places for a Sunday to Thursday trip?  Montage seems like a really far drive from San Fran airport so that concerns me.  My other choice is the Ritz Carlton in Santa Barbara.  Thanks for any insight into this.

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We’reTexas

We’reTexas 1477

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On 3/13/2024 at 2:18 PM, Austinvines said:

Headed to Santa Rosa for the 4th of July and have a short time to pack in some Dry Creek and nearby wineries. Want to hit Ridge at Lytton Springs and my FIL suggests Mazzacco and $ilver Oak. We get in around lunch on 7/3 and I am hoping there are some wineries open on the 4th. Any thing that is not to be missed? My wife is an Anything but Chardonnay person and I like most everything but my collection trended cab/Bourdeaux blends, Zins, and Syrah.

If you’re going up to Ridge, Unti is a good property to stop by on the way.  

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