Napa Valley recommendations?

[saraandmichael]

can anyone recommend a hotel? wineries you really enjoyed? good places to eat? anything that should absolutely be done?

[ralphlauren]

We stayed at hotel yountville. It was pricy but amazing. Top notch.
We ate at French laundry and bouchon. Bouchon is great and I totally recommend it. As far as wineries, we loved duckhorn, darioush, Franciscan, cakebread, alpha omega.

I loved napa valley so much.

[easamae]

On Groupon or LivingSocial recently, I saw they had a special for Napa River Inn. I've stayed there before and it's very cute.

As for wineries, my top recommendation is Cakebread. So good! Also Frog's Leap is a great place and the owner is super nice.

[shoeless]

We went two years ago but here is a C&P from the reviews I sent a friend back then.
Day One
Platypus Tours.
Loved the tour. Our driver took us to some great wineries we wouldn't have found on our own. Lots of water and cheese and crackers on the bus. Our picnic lunch was great. Our driver was very personable and we had a blast. He even went as far to drive by some restaurants after the tour so that we could find a place for dinner.

Wineries Visited:
Judd’s Hill-Very personable! A person in our group commented about how good chocolate cake sounded and next thing I know they are bringing out chocolate cake for us. We also got to meet the wine maker which was cool. However, these were our least favorite wines

Arger and Martucci-Loved the location, tasted by the pool and had our picnic lunch here. Our taster took a lot of time to answer a million questions from us.

Hafagan-We did the side by side tasting with the Reserves and Current release wines. We loved the Reserve Pinot Noir.

Mumm: Gorgeous views, larger winery, so not as much personal attention as you receive at smaller wineries. I would skip this place as well.


Day Two: Your Driver in Napa- Larry Luttrell
He took us to some of our favorite wineries of our trip. Took us to a great place for our picnic lunch. Had plenty of water in the SUV, wonderful experience.

O’ Brian –Gorgeous setting, They actually have the bottling set-up so it was neat to see that. Best wines we tasted overall.

Fontella- Our favorite!!! Great overall experience we were able to taste out of the barrels and got an idea for how much soil can impact the wines. They also sell a mixing kit so that you make your own custom blend. She took a lot of time to answer all of our questions.

Del Dotto-Great experience. Very cool to taste so many wines from the barrel. Heavy handed pours very party like atmosphere. It’s a place to try once, and try it at the end of the day.

[eddy]

Are you going to trek over to Sonoma? I love Francis F Coppola's winery. They have a fantastic resturant there as well. A bit more commercialized compared to the mom and pop type places but they take really good care of you.

[Deleted]

Napa is bigger than most think.

Do you have any idea what region you'll visit and how long you'll be there?

I never blogged it, but I have a decent number of photos on my Facebook in an album called "Wine Country" from last year. It may have pics and names of wineries and restaurants we visited.

Or it could just be a bunch of pics of drunk people.

Apologies if it's the latter. LOL.

(If so, let me know, and I'll make a separate list for you.)

[silva]

Up for a bed and breakfast?

Lavender - A Four Sisters Inn

Restaurant: www.thegirlandthefig.com/#!home/mainPage

I'm super jealous. This is where DH and I honeymooned and I'm dying to go back.

[auberge]

I LOVE Napa. (I was married there in 2007)

Depending on you price range, there are too many choices in every catergory but here's a few recs in different $$$:

Hotel: Harvest Inn $$$, Auberge Du Soleil $$$$, River Terrance Inn $$, Calistoga Ranch $$$, Westin $$

Wineries: Frog's Leap (favorite), Duckhorn, Schramsberg, Quintessa,

Eateries: Brix, Mustards, Bouchon, Redd, The girl and the fig (sonoma), Ad Hoc, Bottega, Tra Vigne

[miniroller]

I can't remember specifics right now (& too busy to look up), but it looks like you've gotten some great recommendations! I DID want to add that you should DEFINITELY get a car service for transport!! They're pretty abundant in the area, & our hotel actually hooked us up w/ the one we used. This might be assumed, but just wanted to make sure, as DD's are semi-mandatory!! Our driver was awesome, & by the last day (of 4), we asked him to take us to his favorite spots/ most recommended that we'd missed. The lesser known 'hole-in-the-wall' (for Napa- HA!) spots that he took us to were definitely among our favorites! Have so much fun!!

[kellykapowski]

I love Napa! I got engaged there in '06 and I went to a wedding in '08 out there. I can't wait to go again.

The wineries we went to were: Duckhorn (loved), Cakebread, Silver Oak (holds a special place in my heart. Maybe because I was the most drunk there and found myself being sentimental), Robert Mondavi, Via Sattui (super over crowded, but they have a fantastic market that stocks a ton of great wine eating foods), Franciscan (this is where the rehearsal dinner was for the wedding and it was quite beautiful.)

We stayed at a B&B when we went for the engagement, which I do not recommend. Though I can't remember the name. Ha sorry! It was gross though. Interestingly enough, it's where H proposed. I still wouldn't go back.

When we went for the wedding we stayed at Meadowood. It was TO DIE FOR. But way over our price range. My parents very generously treated us to our stay there since it was our 1 year anniversary at the same time. One day we'll save up and try to go again because, ugh. I loved it there so hard.

Have fun out there. You'll love it!

[kellykapowski]

Oh and I'm sure we ate along the way, but I guess I was drunk enough not to remember a single restaurant. Good times, good times.

[-Moe-]

I remember the last time I was there, my friend and I were in Grgich, and my other friends were dead set on going to the Coppola vineyards. They DITCHED us (they had the car) so friend and I stayed at Grgich, then WALKED to Cakebread. They totally didn't believe us when we told them to pick is up. Also, evidently someone at Coppola told them that they had to go to Cakebread, but when they came and picked us up they were closing. Victory, we came, we drank, they didn't. Mwahahahahaha.

[Deleted]

Are you going to have a designated driver?

If not, hiring somebody is a great idea.

I think this is why our friends keep us around. My husband drives us everywhere.

[miniroller]

Oct 26, 2012 11:51:23 GMT -5 -Moe- said:

I remember the last time I was there, my friend and I were in Grgich, and my other friends were dead set on going to the Coppola vineyards. They DITCHED us (they had the car) so friend and I stayed at Grgich, then WALKED to Cakebread. They totally didn't believe us when we told them to pick is up. Also, evidently someone at Coppola told them that they had to go to Cakebread, but when they came and picked us up they were closing. Victory, we came, we drank, they didn't. Mwahahahahaha.

Oh yeah- Cakebread FOR SURE!!!!! It was my Favorite!!

[saraandmichael]

I was going to hire a car service.

We are staying at Solage Calistoga sunday through tuesday (this is all on someone elses dime at a reduced rate of like, $300/night). I looked at just staying there the two extra nights we are going to be there, but its $660/night so thats not happening.

Miso, on their site is says that its the northern end of Napa. I've never been out there and haven't done too much research yet so I don't really even know what the hell that means.

[PinkSquirrel]

I think I could take or leave a lot of the wineries I went to the first time I went to Napa, but Castello di Amorosa was gorgeous and I really enjoyed their whites. Last month when I went my favorite all around tour and wine was Quintessa. I really enjoyed their wine and the people there are unbelievably knowledgeable when it comes to all things wine. Cakebread was delicious and if you can get into the reserve tasting that's even better. Mondavi was meh, Joseph Phelps was a really great and solidly in the middle and Beringer got us all drunk at 10am. I should note that Quintessa and Beringer were both private tastings, though I believe Quintessa's standard tour is similar.

[Deleted]

i recommend an extra large suitcase, so i can come with. i'm very neat. and i can be quiet.

[Deleted]

Calistoga is indeed rather north. It is about a half hour from Yountville (where The French Laundry, Ad Hoc, Redd, Bottega, Bouchon, etc. are) and about an hour from Sonoma (where Cyrus, The Girl and the Fig, etc. are).

Generally, I find Sonoma the most reasonably priced area of wine country, which is where our friends and I stayed during our Labor Day trip last year. For the nights you're not at the Solage, you may consider heading south to see a different part of wine country.

If I were in Calistoga, I would really love to try SolBar.

[RoxMonster]

My favorite vineyard was actually the Terraces. It's really, really small and family-run, and the only way we knew about it was because our tour guide (Max who did a semi-private tour) knew so many people in Napa and knew them and that it was there. They have no sign out front, so you had to know where it was and buzz in at the gate. But I loved it--the owner drove us around his vineyard in a golf cart and we tasted wine in his kitchen.

Another good one was Peju--it was absolutely gorgeous and their tasting had the most wines--8 wines each.

V. Sattui is a really busy and popular winery but their sweet wines were my favorites, because I love sweet wine and Napa doesn't have a ton of it. I especially loved their Moscato and Muscat.

[Deleted]

Also, consider getting some of these before your trip:

www.amazon.com/Wine-Skin-WineSkin-Bag-2-Pack/dp/B0033C6FOM

[lightbulbsun]

I really enjoyed the Mumm tour. They do sparkling wine and it was interesting. I would recommend going to at least 1 winery that does sparkling wine.

I love cakebread. They had a really good tour. I also like Peju, but we didn't do a tour there.

We hung out a lot at tasting rooms in Napa/Calistoga. It was fun to go to the wineries, but when we went we were pretty much the only people in the tasting rooms and we got to talk to the bartenders which was really interesting.

Bounty Hunter in downtown napa had delicious bbq (according to my friends, I had a yummy grilled veggie sandwich). I also loved the Rutherford Grill. Best veggie burger of my liiiife.

[lightbulbsun]

Also, if you want to do something non-winery related I really enjoyed the petrified forrest. There's a walking path and it's really beautiful.

[starlily]

Oct 26, 2012 10:55:44 GMT -5 ralphlauren said:

We stayed at hotel yountville. It was pricy but amazing. Top notch.
We ate at French laundry and bouchon. Bouchon is great and I totally recommend it. As far as wineries, we loved duckhorn, darioush, Franciscan, cakebread, alpha omega.

I loved napa valley so much.

Did you get your FL reservation directly or did you use the hotel's concierge? Doing research ....

[auberge]

star- I'm butting in to say that concierge got us and another couple FL reservations. (Same week). Worth a try if cant get reservations directly.

[annyong]

We really liked Cakebread and Hagafen Cellars. At Hagafen, they refund your tasting fees if you buy a bottle. Lots of places do this for one person's fee per bottle, but they did it for both of our tasting fees for one bottle, essentially giving us a free bottle of wine. We also liked Black Stallion.

If you want to drink some beer, definitely go to Lagunitas in Petaluma. I loved it there.

[angelaa73]

Pretty easy to get a fl lunch res these days...

As far as hotels, try Carneros.

[Deleted]

One more tip:

If you're not already on foursquare, you should join because a number of wineries give you free tastings or discounted tastings just for checking in on foursquare.

[annyong]

Oct 26, 2012 16:25:08 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

One more tip:

If you're not already on foursquare, you should join because a number of wineries give you free tastings or discounted tastings just for checking in on foursquare.

Oh yeah, that too! Many have discounts from Yelp as well.

[shoeless]

Oct 26, 2012 16:47:25 GMT -5 annyong said:

Oct 26, 2012 16:25:08 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

One more tip:

If you're not already on foursquare, you should join because a number of wineries give you free tastings or discounted tastings just for checking in on foursquare.

Oh yeah, that too! Many have discounts from Yelp as well.

Thanks for this tip!

[drrn04]

We used this guy as our driver. He was awesome, and had some really fun stories about the area (he's a retired Napa HS teacher), and took us to a good variety of vineyards that weren't crazy $$$, but were still fantastic:

www.wineshuttle.com/who.html

I specifically remember the following vineyards:

Andretti
Rutherford Hill (I think we got to go on the caves tour for this one)
Raymond
Chandon
V.Sattui for lunch

I know there were others, but not the ones listed online (definitely not Beaulieu or Robert Mondavi - you could probably ask to not go there and have him take you somewhere else)

I would absolutely hire him again. he was a blast. I would definitely hire someone or get a DD. It is really easy to get really wasted. Fast. Driver is key.

More of our favorites: Silver Oak and Chimney Rock.

Have a great time on your trip!