Napa for dummies

[bhnumbers]

DH and I are going to SF at the end of January. We'll be free to head out of the city on Friday afternoon. The very loose plan was to rent a car, drive to some Napa area hotel, have a nice dinner, then hit up some wineries (do a tour? not sure?) on Saturday, have another nice dinner, fly home (sad) on Sunday.

Having read some older posts, it looks like folks here are partial to Sonoma and I can see why--I've been there twice now and loved it. But having never actually been to Napa, I'd like to give it a try. I'm not at all familiar with the area...we'd like a nice hotel, but it doesn't need to be crazy luxurious--definitely under $300/night. If you don't have specific hotel/bnb recs, in what area makes the most sense? 

We definitely don't want to drive, is there a tour we should try? Just get a driver for the day? One of the tours we did in Sonoma was super cheesy and at every winery, there was a big tour of the facility (like 45min+) before they started pouring anything. We don't want a tour like that again  What we want is to do is sit in a pretty place and try some great wines. (sorry if that's bad form)

Restaurants--need recs for lunch during the day and two dinners.

Any help is appreciated!

[wanderingback]

I’ve only been to Napa and Sonoma once so I’m not an expert.

However, we used Platypus Tours and they were great. It wasn’t cheesy at all. We went to 5 places I think. I think 1 was larger, but the others were smaller. It was a good mix. We had lunch at a winery and they had cheese and crackers on the bus on the way home. I definitely would not recommend driving, tour is the way to go.

Also, I have to put in a plug for Brown Estare Winery. They’re a Black-owned winery and have a tasting room in downtown Napa. (You can only visit the actual winery under special occasions). Their wine is the best! So I’d recommend checking them out for sure.

[sakoro]

There is a wine train in Napa that stops at wineries. I’ve never been on it but have heard good feedback www.winetrain.com/

[egishere]

I highly recommend Max napa wine tours. I've used them twice. They will tailor the tour to wineries for the type of wines you like- pinots, etc and they tend to stick to smaller, beautiful places. They will even stop and grab a picnic lunch for you at Oakville Grocery or you can go to a restaurant for lunch they took us to a great italian place. We always stayed in the city so I can't recommend any hotels.

[gummy]

We stayed at The Inn On First. Amazing breakfasts!! We also booked the wine tour with Jamie and it was worth every penny. None of that actual tour junk and he took care of making all the reservations at wineries based on what we preferred.

We ate at Oenotri in Napa one night and it remains some of the best Italian I've eaten even including in Italy.

[definitelyO]

I just got back yesterday from a weekend in Napa. and did a girl's trip in August

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Napa - in your budget, free breakfast and a cocktail hour from 5-7p (if you're up for drinking more wine).
I've used Valley Wine Tours and had a great time. they include lunch - either at a restaurant or personalized and brought with them - but amazing. and then we had 1 tour at 1 winery and the rest were tastings - so we walked in and they started pouring wine

like gummy recommended, Oenotri was came highly recommended to us as well. We ate at Ca'Momi and considered Zuzu.

This trip we wanted to hit the bigger wineries as it was my mom's first time and my thought was to get her places where should could buy the brand at her home town store.

Beringer - Legacy Cave Tour (30 min - the tour guide spoke the entire way and we couldn't get a word in) but beautiful grounds and we could have hung out.
I'd recommend Del Dotto cave tours over Beringer - you get wine right out of the barrel - super fun.
Mumm - we did our tasting on the Oak Terrace - ended up hanging out there for about 90 min just relaxing. they have cheese boards as well if you're interested.
another sparkling you can do is Domaine Chandon (but they were a bit snooty in August) or Gloria Ferrer.
after Mumm we went to Mondavi - walk in - no reservation needed. again sat and relaxed with a good view.
ended at my favorite winery, Goosecross, they have a great patio, super nice tasting room employees. - Yountville

one we loved from August was Bouchaine - beautiful grounds, great wine!

I think you can get 4 wineries in.

My mom and I took an uber in Napa and had a driver for Sonoma. I picked out and made all our Napa reservations/wineries so didn't need to pay $50/hour for a driver (would have been $300). I think I paid just over $100 for ubers from the hotel to 4 wineries and to lunch and back.
for Sonoma - they picked the wineries for us, bought lunch - and drove for $135 each plus tip

[definitelyO]

lunch and other dinners - I've eaten a bit in Yountville and love Brix, Redd Wood and R&D Kitchen.

other restaurants recommended by my friend that lives there:

Norman Rose
Eikos (sp?)
Angele

-for lunch in Napa - we stopped at the Oakville Grocery - great deli sandwiches, wine, picnic tables, etc.. we've done V Sattui in the past and it was overcrowded IMO

comments from a friend:
napanoodles.com/ - Ramen noodle shop – Asian fare made with the freshest ingredients- Try their Frozé (Rosé wine and Rosé vodka frozen drink)
www.charliepalmersteak.com/locations/napa - Charlie Palmer Restaurant in the Archer Hotel- You can get the same menu as the restaurant and the bar menu in the Lobby Bar. That’s the way to go there. They have lobster corndogs…..

St. Helena:
www.longmeadowranch.com/eat-drink/restaurant Farmstead!! Yes!! I love this restaurant

Calistoga:
www.samssocialclub.com
YUMMY!!! Great food for a sit down lunch or dinner

www.calmartnv.com
Little grocery store in Calistoga with a gem of a deli

[goldengirlz]

I’d try to stay in Napa, if possible, because if the goal is to avoid driving, you’ll have plenty of evening options. For dinner downtown, Oenotri is where we take guests. For lunch, Oxbow Public Market is great. Or Gott’s is a Bay Area institution.

The Best Western Plus Elm House is walking distance to downtown and gets good reviews. It’s cute, more like a B&B.

For wineries, I second Mumm if you like sparkling. Sterling has beautiful views but you go for the gondola ride, not so much the wine. Stag’s Leap is one of my favorite wines in all of Wine Country but bottles are like $300 each. The tasting could be worth a splurge though. (We were wine club members for a hot second, to get the discounts off our first purchase, and then promptly canceled!)

[protozoa]

Nov 25, 2019 17:01:10 GMT -5 gummy said:

We stayed at The Inn On First. Amazing breakfasts!! We also booked the wine tour with Jamie and it was worth every penny. None of that actual tour junk and he took care of making all the reservations at wineries based on what we preferred.

We ate at Oenotri in Napa one night and it remains some of the best Italian I've eaten even including in Italy.

Ditto Inn On First and Jamie/Jim. Full disclosure, Jamie is a close friend of my best friend's family, but they are objectively fabulous. 

[jg183]

We also had a great experience with Max Napa... they really take you to off the beaten path wineries and left us to go to the popular ones on our own.