2 days in the wine country

Been using TA for the last few months and found some great stuff and I wanted to gvie back.

2 day trip to Wine Country

Had a great time this weekend in Sonoma/Napa, had a conference in SF and spent the weekend in Wine Country. It was our first time back in 10 years.

Friday Morning rented a convertible and drove to Sonoma Valley 5 Hour Tour %26amp; Tasting (hosted by californiawinetours.com). Friends took the Napa tour last month (in a Limo) and recommended them. We were a little disappointment because it was cramped into a regular size Van and we had 5 couples (10 people). But the price was right ($69 a person that included tasting and lunch).

Kunde Estate Winery (Cave Tour/Tasting) Neat caves, the wine was OK at best

Ledson Winery (Tasting/Lunch)

Beautiful mansion, Very Good wines but not great. Lunch was good but I had better.

St. Francis Winery (Tasting)

Neat area, nice views. Was disappointed in the wine

VJB Tasting Room (Tasting)

Small. Best wine of the day, friendly people.

Valley of the Moon Winery (Tasting)

Had a great port, but the rest of the wine was OK.

Wanted to stop by the BR Cohn Winery. We saw the Doobie Brothers in SF on Thursday night, but traffic was bad and we wanted to get to Santa Rosa.

Stay at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel, got the hotel on priceline (paid $223 for the night). Hotel was in a strange location (next to a Marriott courtyard). Room was small and dark. Got there too late for the SPA.

The best was yet to come. Ate dinner at John Ash %26amp; Co., it was GREAT. I have stayed at Auberge Du Soleil and Meadowood on previous trips. The Vintners Inn looked as nice as the top resorts and John Ash restaurant was beyond my expectations and the dinner with wine was only about $150.

Woke up early the next morning to drive to Napa. It was a fun drive to as we passed the Petrified Forest and beautiful mountain ranges. What a fun drive in a convertible.

Then on to Frogs leap winery. This place was beautiful and we had a great tour. This is a must do. We bought a case of wine to ship home. Met the owner and had the first wine that was really great. Then we stopped at Swanson Vineyards (we were on the waiting list), they did not had room for us. But they gave us a sampling and it was great. We also bought some wine to bring home.

Went to Mustard%26#39;s Grill for lunch, which is always great. As always wish we had more time and we fought the traffic back to SF.

The Millers from Dallas

2 days in the wine country

miller6565-

Great trip report! Thanks for doing this.

We%26#39;ll be happy to recommend it to future travelers. :)

-The Innkeepers

Napa Old World Inn

2 days in the wine country

Miller, I appreciate your report. Your take on the wine in Sonoma you tasted was pretty dismal, but I think you obviously have a good palate and I wonder why you chose the run of the mill, larger wineries to visit. You can find those wines lots of commercial places. The best to be found is in the small limited production wineries. Why would you do a limo tour? Truly, you should have done a little research, rented your own van and visited some of the fabulous wineries in Sonoma. Places like Wilson winery and Papapietro Perry, for instance, have won all these huge awards at wine festivals. But you don%26#39;t find them at wine stores. St Francis? So average, and they are everywhere.

Sheesh, Linda, it sounds like you are scolding Miller! Are you a teacher? (or my mother!) Miller, your trip sounds fun, thanks for sharing!

Thank for the replies

Wish I had a better appreciation for Wine, I am not a fan of dry wines and Sonoma tour was set up by California wine tours. I think I would have found better tours (to my liking) if I would have done by own research.

I found John Ash %26amp; Co, Swanson’s and Frogs Leap from postings. Also found out about the Frommer%26#39;s portable Wine Country (I highly recommend) www.frommers.com/bookstore/0471787396.html from another posting. - The Millers

Hey, I wasn%26#39;t scolding him...sorry if it came off that way! I think there are a lot of us here who try to let travelers know that there are many sides to the whole experience. Finding out of the way spots and beautiful scenery, small pleasant places where you meet the owners, etc are so nice. And it doesn%26#39;t hurt to pick up a Wine Spectator or search the results from CA state fairs to see which wines are highly rated and best priced. I think some people assume that taking a tour is easier than trying to do it solo, and you miss so much that way. You are definitely on their time! It%26#39;s fun to be driving around a spot a place that looks cool and just drop in. Many good surprises that way. If you truly sip, then pour, or share tastings, it%26#39;s possible to go to several places without worrying about having too much. Eating a nice lunch at Mustard%26#39;s helps, too! Thank you for your report; next time you go back you%26#39;ll have a whole different mode d%26#39;emploi I assume. Cheers.

Linda, I completely agree with you. When we were less experienced, we would visit the big boys, and now that we know more about what we like we are able to really discover the charm of wine country. It%26#39;s SO much fun!

BR Cohn is a great place. We stopped by for wine tasting and olive oil tasting when we were in Sonoma last March. I did a short reivew with photos of the cool metal sculpture outside the tasting room. Great folks there who are very helpful and personable, even tho the tasting room was packed with a crowd from a tourist bus that day, they were totally in control. Next time! :)

Hey Miller,

Thanks for the trip report! We really enjoyed the tour at Frog%26#39;s Leap, do you remember your tour guides name? We even go to see the crush (sav blanc only) and drink ';grape'; juice before it went into the steel tanks. We ate veggies from all over the property too, and they even sent us home with fresh tomatoes. They were a great addition to our picnic!

We encountered a lot of different mindsets in Napa Valley. In the end I say it%26#39;s all about enjoying what you are doing and who you are with. It sounds like you did just that!

Warm Regards,

-KT

Think her name was Jennifer at Frogs Leap, she was from the east coast (it was funny, my wife did not like her). I thought she did a great job and everyone at Frogs Leap was freindly.

Got an email that the wine was shipped yesterday.

Can not wait !!