Napa Valley Vacation: Planning Tips

Hi there! Thanks for the great comments on my Napa vacation posts. I'm glad these are inspiring people to put wine country on their travel lists! As a summary to my experience planning for our vacation, I wanted to share a few tips that I learned along the way.

Check out my post about Day 1 and Day 2 for lots of detailed info on where we went.

TIME OF YEAR

We visited the Valley the first week of June. The weather was perfectly sunny and slightly warm, but we were never uncomfortably hot. In the mornings and evenings, there was a bit of a chill, so we were glad we had light sweaters or scarves. 

Visiting during the week is the way to go. We didn't see any crowds or experience any traffic problems. From what we heard, weekends and holidays are a totally different story. After being spoiled to private experiences at vineyards, I don't think I'd want it any other way.

HOW LONG

We spent two full days tasting wines. We packed our schedule with 4-6 tasting stops per day, so by the time 2 days had passed, we were okay with the wine part of our trip being over. I would have liked to have had another day to explore the valley without a schedule. There are tons of great shops and restaurants that we didn't get to check out, so an extra day for strolling leisurely and making a couple of vineyard stops would have been nice.

WHERE TO STAY

I mentioned in my first post that we stayed at the Embassy Suites Napa Valley. We were really happy with our selection and I would highly recommend the hotel to anyone! It's located close enough to Downtown Napa that you can stroll to dinner, and it's right off the main highway for easy access to the vineyards.

CLOTHES

Wine country is relaxed and casual. Comfortable shoes are a must. I saw a girl with towering heels at our first stop, Hendry, and she changed into flops within 30 minutes. For the guys, linen pants or shorts and button down shirts are comfortable for the day time and nice enough to transition to dinner. Ashley and I wore dresses both days, and I was glad I had long dresses for that early morning and late night chill.

DRIVERS

We rented a car for our drive from San Fran to Napa and we drove ourselves for the first day of tasting. As I mentioned in my Day 2 post, we used Paul Bailey with Napa Valley Wine Excursions and we were very happy. I was given several names for recommended drives for someone to drive your car, so I wanted to pass these along. They came from friends of mine, so I trust the recs :)

Steve Gardner: winecountrydrivers.com 

Sharon Garrow: valet_driver@yahoo.com 

Gerry Brenner: GBrenner@kmalimo.com

VINEYARDS

This is where the list gets long! I spent so much time researching vineyards. I had to come to the realization early on that there were TONS of great places and I would just have to come back to see everything on my wish list. I gathered info from friends that had been, other blogs, and read gobs of Yelp reviews.  In short, here's what I know to be true:

If you like a more personal experience, avoid just about anything off the main highway. Chances are, the name brands you recognize are the big tourist traps, and your favorite vineyards will likely be producing wines you've never heard of (because they aren't available to everyone).

Visit a variety of places. We saw a mix of large and small productions, and a variety of approaches. Some wineries are barreling, bottling and tasting facilities without any vines on site (which is totally okay), and some places are just tasting rooms with a sample of wines from all kinds of producers. Visit a mixture to learn the most.

Make an agenda and make appointments. Find out which places accept appointments and make them. Some places don't require it, but most offer it. Make it easy on yourself and lock down some times. This will prevent the disappointment of an anticipated vineyard not having the space the accommodate you. Also, if you don't have an agenda planned in advance, I can see how you could spend forever looking at your phone trying to figure out where to go next, and that's just stressful for a vacation! While "winging it" on most vacations might work, this is one place where I'd advise you buckle down and get a plan outlined. You'll be so glad you did!

Map out your agenda and think about where things are in the Valley. Ideally, you won't be shuttling all over the region, spending time driving versus tasting. I created my own Google Map and added each location I was considering and then put them in order based on where they were.

Places we tried:

Hendry* - Napa, tour and tasting

Miner* - Oakville, tour and tasting

Peju - Oakville, tasting

Domaine Chandon - Napa, tasting

Fontanella* - Napa/Mt Veeder, tasting (we moved around property)

O'Brien* - Napa, tasting (we moved around property)

Cakebread - Rutherford, tasting (we moved around property)

Ma(i)sonry -Yountville, tasting

* = places we LOVED

Places we wanted to try (and location):

Frank Family Vineyards - Calistoga

Shramsberg (sparkling) - Calistoga

Vine Cliff - Napa

Crane Family - Napa

Saddleback - Oakville

Caspar Estate - Rutherford

St Supery - Rutherford

Honig - Rutherford

Frog's Leap - Rutherford

Mumm (sparkling) - Rutherford

The Terraces at Quarry - Rutherford

Kuleto - St Helena

Cain - St Helena

Sterling Vineyards - St Helena

Duckhorn - St Helena

Merryvale - St Helena

PURCHASING WINE
One of the fun aspects of wine country is that you can take the wines home to enjoy! All places allow you to buy bottles on the spot and walk out the door with them. They also have wine clubs that they inform you about as part of your tasting. Based on the size of our home and where we are in life, we decided not to join any wine clubs at the moment. Keith doesn't drink much wine and we don't have a large storage space for bottles. Given that in the next few years we'll likely start a family, we didn't want to get into a position where we have a surplus that I can't even drink! But, down the road, I'd love to join a few.
So, we purchased a few bottles here and there at our favorite places. I did not pay attention to how many reds or whites I was getting, I just snagged what I loved most. By accident, we ended up with an even case of 12, which worked out nicely. What shocked me though was that 8 of those bottles were Rose´s! Can't believe that. I guess the combo of the warm weather and the delicious blend just stole my heart.
On our last morning in Napa, the boys went to Buffalo's Shipping Post in Napa and arranged for the wine to be shipped to us at home. You could package it up and check the box as part of your airline luggage, but we just didn't want to be bothered with it. The box arrived within a week and was very exciting to receive!

RESTAURANTS:
I had some of the best food of my life in Napa. AMAZING stuff, people.  I'd come back for the food just as much as I would for the wine. I'm not sure you can go wrong!

Places we tried:
Gott's
V Sattui - picnic lunch
Mustard's Grill
Brown's Valley Grocery - picnic lunch
Celadon

We loved all of the above spots and did not have a bad experience or dish. We didn't go anywhere for breakfast because it was free at the Embassy Suites. There are many bakeries I'd love to try (hello, Thomas Keller's Bouchon!), but we'll be back.

The French Laundry is one of the most famous restaurants, and one of the most expensive. While I would have freaked out to have eaten there, at this stage in life, I could not have lived with myself for making such a poor financial decision :) So, that's on the bucket list for later!

All in all, I can't WAIT to go back! I'd also love to check out Sonoma and Alexander Valley. And, don't get me started on how much I'd like to explore the vineyards of Spain, Italy, France and Germany! Hah :)

Let me know if you use any of these tips, or if you have any questions!

Napa Valley Vacation: Day 2

I'm excited to share part II of our Napa adventure, especially because it was such a fun, busy day on our trip! Click here for Part I.

Here we go!

Warning: This post may have more photos in it than any I've ever posted before.
Can't say that I didn't warn ya!

Since Keith drove our rental car on the first day (serving as our wonderful designated driver) I wanted to give him a break so he could fully enjoy the vineyards and taste the wines without worry. There were several options to accomplish this. One route was to pay a driver to drive our rental car all day, but our convertible had no space for a 5th person. The second choice was to use a driving service. I read a great review here on Napa Valley Wine Excursions and decided to work with Paul to set up our agenda.

Paul was great to work with! Part of the service is that he can plan your day for you. I had a list of a couple places that I wanted to try, but I put the rest of the schedule in his hands. In hindsight, we should have given our entire agenda over to him, because our favorite spots were the ones he selected! They were small and off-the-beaten-path.

Paul was unable to drive us that day, so his associate Gary spent the day with us. He was fantastic! He is single and retired, so showing tourists a great time in the Valley is one of his passions. We really enjoyed his company. He was great to step aside and let us spend time just the four of us, but we liked having Gary around so much that we talked to him just as much as we did to each other and to the winemakers.

Another big bonus - they take pictures of you all day! We were pretty good to snap pictures, but it was hard to get group shots and candids, so this is where Gary came in. I received the pictures within a few days, which was even better! To check out the type of photos they shoot, check out their Facebook page.

I will admit, it wasn't cheap, but well worth it for one day. I would highly recommend Paul, Gary and Napa Valley Wine Excursions.

Alright, on to the vineyards... First stop, sparkling wines!

DOMAINE CARNEROS

{Ashley snapping pics of the view}

McMillans

Joneses

Yes, there was a little color coordination going on between the couples! I may be a planner, but I did not plan for this to work out so well. I put on my purple dress and noticed Keith packed his pretty linen shirt, so I asked him to please kindly wear it. When we came down for breakfast, the McMillan's complimented us on our coordinating style and realized that Jaycob had a shirt that matched Ashley's dress, too, so she made him switch. Even though it's a little cheesy, our pictures turned out great! Hah! 

The Domaine Carneros estate was....stately. There are only a few sparkling wine vineyards in the Valley, and we thought starting the morning off with a little bubbly was a good way to begin the day.

The view was pretty gorgeous from the front veranda. It was too big for me to call it a porch :)

We got there just a few minutes before 10:00 and we were the first ones there. We were quickly seated and ordered 2 sparkling samplers - one for each couple to share. The staff was friendly, and offered us a complimentary 4th sparkling wine to sample. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm outside (a far cry from the weather in nearby San Fran).

We really enjoyed tasting the different varieties. I enjoy champagne, but haven't had enough of it to pay much attention to the taste or the differences in tastes across types. So, it was a little educational for me.

And, bubbly is just fun. Period.

We were only there about 20 minutes when the crowds started to show up. Literally, tour buses. You can see a large group behind me. While the champagne was nice and the view was great, we were happy to be in and out of there in 25 minutes.

I would recommend visiting a sparkling winery, and enjoyed Domaine Carneros, but it was because we had the place to ourselves for most of the time we were there! The other sparkling establishments like Domaine Chandon, Mumm and Shcramsberg are on my list for future visits so that I can compare the experience.

Aaaaaand, done. No purchases were made because this is a brand we could actually get at home.


On to the next spot! Gary knows all of the back roads around the Valley so he took us on a very scenic route to our next stop:

FONTANELLA WINERY

Fontanella was the smallest winery we visited, and we loved it. It was completely tucked away on Mt Veeder and we were the only ones there for most of our visit. The winery is also fairly new (Jeff and Kim Fontanella began the brand in 2003 and the land was purchased in 2005), so you can see a few grapes that are newly planted behind us in the photo. It takes a long time for wine to grow, be harvested, barreled and mature to good wine. And, Fontanella has damn good wine.

{proof of consumption}

I'm not a big Chardonnay person, but Fontanella's Chardonnay pretty much changed my mind about not liking them and I immediately decided I would be taking a bottle home. TASTY.

We tried several yummy, yummy wines out on the patio and then moved inside for a few tastings straight from the barrel.

The facility of this boutique winery is small and intimate, and the staff is very friendly. Jackie toured us around and we loved her. We felt totally comfortable to ask questions and chat about what we'd learned on our trip so far, where we'd been, what we liked and didn't like.

We got to do a soil sample comparison, which meant that the same Cab grape was grown in different types of soil and we got to taste both kinds to compare. I was amazed at what a difference something like the soil makes!

Fontanella also sells a blending kit (above) that you can use at home. It comes with several varieties and you can mix and bottle your own blend. If you like your recipe, send it to the folks at Fontanella and they can send you a case of your signature blend! This would be a fantastic gift, so I'm hoping Keith keeps that in mind for a special occasion later :)

We loved Fontanella and would highly recommend it to anyone!

At this point, it's time for lunch. We trusted Gary's advice and we visited Brown's Valley Market, which was basically a grocery store, but with a fabulous deli with all kinds of goodies. We assembled our picnic items and headed to our next winery:

O'BRIEN ESTATE WINERY

We pulled up to O'Brien 30-40 minutes before our tasting appointment. The grounds there are lovely. You're right by the owner's home and the winemaking facility, and once again, we were the only ones around. We were able to use this picnic area for our lunch. It was a beautiful setting right beside the vines. Heaven.

Lunch? Here? Yes, please.

A sampling of our spread. This is how you do lunch in the valley.

The market also sold this adorable and delicious mini blackberry cake. So cute! It was my kind of picnic.

While we were eating, Brandon (I think that was his name) got us started on some great wines. Gary was also thoughtful to have us walk around and take photos on the lovely property.

We moved around the winery a bit for our tastings and really enjoyed everything we experienced.

I'll be honest, at this point in the day, we were all so giddy happy with our wine and full tummies that Brandon could have talked about anything with us and we would have enjoyed it. But, he was fun to be around and interested in being a winemaker himself one day, so we picked his brain on his experiences and plans.

They also had a hammock in the perfect spot, so we all took turns stretching out, but Keith hogged it the most. We felt totally at ease here, like we could have stayed for hours.

Most vineyards have a dog, and Ashley and Jaycob were allowed to take this one for a walk. I love that Jaycob has Ashley's purse over his shoulder with wine (and purchased bottle) in hand.

Inside, they were in the process of labeling some bottles, which was fun to see. This particular one, Flirtation, was our favorite Rose of the trip and we all bought some.

The O'Briens are romantics, and they tell the story of romance through their wines. They sell several Romance kits, and each bottle has some poetry on the back. The wine is named similar to the progression in a relationship and is designed to be consumed in that order (like you would at a dinner party - lights to darks). With names like Fascination, Attraction, Flirtation, Romance of the Heart, Seduction, Passion of the Soul, Devotion, Reflection....There's a wine for every stage in life! :)

We each happily purchased a few bottles at O'Brien and were sad to say goodbye to our time frolicking in the vineyard. A large group was coming in behind us...and we had another appointment to make!

Fourth stop:

CAKEBREAD CELLARS

Cakebread had been recommended to me over, and over, and over again. I also read plenty of good reviews on Cakebread. So, this is one stop I insisted we make when planning our day with Paul.

But, we were disappointed. I don't know what the big deal is. The wine was fine as far as I recall, but the experience just lacked personality to us.

It was right off the main highway, so it's a busy/touristy place, so I should have known better. The grounds were lovely though.

My least favorite part of Cakebread? We had to pay for our tasting as soon as we got there, which wasn't the case at any other place. Then we were herded to a tasting counter where a group was already underway (even though we had an appointment). It felt so transactional.

Don't get me wrong, we weren't miserable. Hello! We were in Napa drinking delicious wine with friends. If this is our low point of the day, it's hardly worth complaining over!

But, for all of the hoopla, I wasn't blown away.

My guess is that so many people visit large, widely-recognized places like Mondavi that are huge with people everywhere, and they come to Cakebread and find it to be so intimate. Again, it was fine and not overly crowded, but we did not love it and couldn't understand why there were so many recommendations. Maybe our experience was not like most? If you've been, I'd love to hear how it went for you!

No purchases made...but great pictures were snapped on our way out!

Those shots are some of my favorite from the whole trip!

Ok, ONE MORE STOP. Yes, we went to 5 places in one day. It seems like a crazy amount, but we never felt rushed and defintely felt like we had one more in us after leaving Cakebread. We didn't want to end on that note!

MA(i)SONRY

 

Ok, this place was seriously cool, y'all. This was an add-on to our agenda since we had time, so I had not heard of it and had not researched a thing. And I quickly realized how nice it is to let someone else do the planning.

It's a tasting room/art gallery in the charming Downtown Yountville. They are not a winery or vineyard, rather a collection of local artisinal wines. They also stay open later, so it was a perfect spot to end the day.

The collection of art was really, really interesting. The prices were one-of-a-kind...and priced accordingly, as you can imagine.

This was where we lounged for an hour or so and felt oh so posh.

Everything about it was charming and quirky. We had a very nice host who took great care of us. We got to try to some awesome wines and enjoyed a tasty cheese plate.

The McMillan's look like such celebrities here! I can envision that their conversation would be something like this:  "Jaycob, I'm really eying that Einstein sculpture. So chic. I really think 50 grand isn't too much to ask for such a stunning centerpiece."

Except, none of us talk - or think - like that. 

Hello, reality! But, pretending we were super luxurious was fun for a while!

It was an awesome day. We relaxed under the shade, sipped some great vino and recapped the highlights from our day with Gary.

Just as it was all coming to an end, Gary asked what we had planned for dinner, and we said Celadon! The restaurant was within walking distance of our hotel, and he said his house was halfway in between. He graciously invited us over for a cocktail of the non-wine variety (which we were all sort-of craving after all the grapes) and we obliged!

After a quick refresh, we strolled down to Gary's to enjoy a Basil martini. We didn't think twice about it until we turned onto his street and had that moment of:

"Are we crazy?"
"I know we spent all day with the sweet man, but we don't really know him and we're about to go into his house."
"Does anyone else know we're doing this? Quick, someone text his address to a parent, just in case."
"We need a code word."
"We're going to see the Redwoods tomorrow. Code word is Redwood."
"Ok, y'all, try not to accidentally say Redwood, or I'll assume we need to grab our purses and run."
"He's safe. He's totally safe. I just know it."
"Too late now. We're here."

Sweet Gary made the best Basil martinis, which was so refreshing. He had some nice music playing and we visited for about 30 or 40 minutes before it was time to head to dinner. We truly enjoyed his company and laughed later about our unnecessary code word, Redwood.

{walking to dinner, the boys carrying our purses.}

Dinner was at Celadon, and it was AMAZING. Per some advice from my friend, Whitney, we requested to sit in their covered patio area by the fireplace. It was such a fun night! No pictures were taken here. We were all photographed out! If you come to Napa, Celadon must go on your list.

As you can see, it was a very full day, but we loved every second. That concludes our wine portion of the trip, but I plan to make one more post about Napa vacation planning. I spent so much time researching that I have a spreadsheet with all kinds of notes in it. There are tons of places we didn't go and that I'm sad we didn't have time for, so I want to share all of that, too. Then, it'll be on the San Fran part of our trip!

Thanks for reading this novel! I hope it's inspired you to plan a vacation, too!

*Update: Here's the post with my Napa planning tips*