Just home from a quick 3-day spin around Napa and Sonoma.
SpringHill Suites Napa Valley - There are probably some that will argue that this hotel is too far south to be convenient to wine country; however, we really enjoyed the hotel itself as well as the location. It is easy to get to either Sonoma or Napa, and it's closer to the airports (we flew out of Sacramento). VERY clean, very quiet. For those interested (we didn't have the time), they have a pool and beautiful fire pit. If you stay here, Devlin Rd is a nice shortcut off the main highway that will alleviate a couple minutes in traffic. Just turn right out of the hotel onto Devlin then make a right-hand turn onto Soscal Ferry Rd - that will get you where you need to go. We'd stay here again.
Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa - If you are going to wine country purely for wine tasting and plan to be gone through the day, I wouldn't stay here. The grounds are beautiful and very resort-style, but we couldn't enjoy it with how long we were gone. We literally only slept here and had breakfast in the Elite/Platinum lounge (thanks to the hubs traveling so much). For the price, it's not worth it to us to stay here, although I will say it's a little more convenient to the Napa wineries.
Wineries
Rombauer - If you like heavily oaked wines with a lot of vanilla and butter on the finish, Rombauer is the place to go. Even if you don't like that style of wine, you will love the picnic grounds and the view from the ledges of the hill. The landscape is top-notch lush, and there is plenty of space to picnic before or after your tasting. We picked up pre-ordered boxed lunches from Sunshine Food Market (below) and grabbed a picnic table here. Unfortunately, the tasting room is a belly-up to the bar type of place that was busy when we walked in. It took several minutes for us to be acknowledged and were about to leave until a gentleman called us over to his tasting table. Definitely recommend as a stop.
Markham - We were introduced to Markham in our off-time from pouring at a past Party for the Senses at Epcot during the annual Food & Wine Festival. Markham's Chardonnay hits the buttery spot for me, but it's not nearly as oaky as Rombauer. We usually have a bottle in the fridge because we can buy it at Total Wine. The tasting room is lovely and the staff is attentive. Recommend.
Jamieson Ranch - I would never have gone to Jamieson Ranch if a tour hadn't been set up for us by a good friend of ours who works in the wine industry. It is at the very base of Napa (2 miles from SpringHill Suites), and the property is just absolutely stunning and inviting. So happy we had a chance to visit here! We had the complete experience here - tour, tasting, cheese plate, honey tasting, and mini horse visit. This is the kind of winery that you can visit with either your honey or a group of friends and have a really nice time. Plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and hospitable staff. The wine is great, and we bought a bottle of their port-style dessert wine, the only style we drink. They have a fantastic Viognier and a few wonderful Pinot Noirs.
Now, a little tangent. We spent a little over two hours here and got a really nice tour of the property and facilities. Something that I did not expect was a visit from their mini horses. These sweet creatures have been rescued and then trained as therapy horses. They are not much bigger than a large dog and can enter health-care facilities to visit patients. The work that Jamieson Ranch is doing with the horses is amazing, and I love the story behind them. They have a brand dedicated specifically to this initiative called Light Horse. Highly recommend a visit here!
Peju is one of our favorites, and we visited here again on our first winery stop. Last year we took home a couple bottles of Zin. This year, we took home a couple bottles of Syrah. The staff friendliness can be a little iffy here, but we still really like this place.
Whitehall Lane was also a repeat for us, but this time we had a private tour set up. We spent a good amount of time with one of the tasting room staff, Jeff Bailey, and had the opportunity to meet Tom, Jr, the owner's son who has a big hand in the business. The wines here are quality, and the tasting room is small but comfortable. Always a nice little stop, and it's right up the road from Peju and right down the road from Sunshine Food Market.
The Terraces - I will never forget the Christmas at my old wine shop, Cork & Olive, when we were tasked with making up 25 baskets with bottles of Terraces wine for one of our customers. There were baskets EVERYwhere in our little store. That was in 2008. Fast forward to last week, and we FINALLY got a very up-close and personal look at The Terraces. We spent a good amount of time viewing the gorgeous hill-side property - old stone winery shell constructed in the late 1800s, a stone outbuilding where they are making balsamic vinegar for the wine club, peach trees, honey bee boxes, vines, guests houses. It's 130 acres of pure beauty. The wines are terrific, and the hospitality director and winemaker are really nice and knowledgeable. Highly recommend a reservation!
Thomas George (north of Sonoma - Russian River Valley) - As we were driving south on Westside Rd, we decided that one of the wineries might make for a good stop. Wine tastings are done in their caves, and they have a great selection of Pinot Noirs. It's a small, comfortable atmosphere on a beautiful property.
Ledson (Sonoma) - We still regret not buying that 2006 Zin from our 2012 trip, so this time we swore that if we liked it, we were buying it. We walked out with a couple great selections after going through a tasting with Tom, whom we had met on our last visit. The property and mansion are gorgeous and were featured as the cover on my Facebook page for quite a while. They specialize in Zin, but have a killer Chardonnay that we almost passed on until Tom insisted that it fit the exact description I gave him of my preferred Chard style. I should have known to trust him after the 2012 visit, but I really do now. He was SPOT on, and I'm glad he challenged me on it. Highly recommend!
Moshin (north of Sonoma - Russian River Valley) is right down the street on Westside Rd from Thomas George and was a last second recommendation from our wine industry friend via text. The staff was very nice, the wines are solid, and the labeling clever. I wish that we'd been able to meet the owners, but neither of them were on property at the time. It's a neat little place that makes for a nice, quick stop.
Tasting Rooms
Flora Spring - We visited based on a recommendation from Whitehall Lane. In a nutshell, the tasting room is neat, the wines good, and the prices insane. Would not go back.
Girard - Went with a winemaker we met at an industry party so we didn't have to pay, which was great since I wasn't completely blown away. I think if I'd had a more uninfluenced tongue by that point in the afternoon, it might have been a better experience. If the mood strikes, we might pop by earlier in the day next time we are in town.
Spann (Sonoma) came pretty highly recommended on Yelp, so we decided to swing by here on our way out of Sonoma. Glad we did. The tasting bar is inside the entrance of an art gallery, and we had a really nice conversation with the gentleman pouring for us. The wines are pretty good, and it was one of our better tasting room experiences.
Restaurants
Grace's Table Because we liked Grace's so much in 2012, I bought a www.restaurant.com certificate so we could have dinner there. We ordered the cornbread with lavender butter that I'd read about over and over again on both Trip Advisor and Yelp. Whoa, just whoa! I really, really wish I could replicate that at home! If you go, please try it!!! The hubs had a really tasty burger, and I had the scallops over corn risotto. Both were quite yummy!
- If you can, download the Winery Finder app on your smartphone. There are some interesting deals out there for a lot of different wineries (2:1's, upgraded tastings, extra pours, etc.). Please note that, unlike a couple years ago, these deals require a public check-in and photo on either Twitter or Facebook. I was not happy with this change since we never post about a vacation until we are safely home. In the two instances we used the app, I deleted the post on Facebook soon after.
- We had to stay in two different hotels due to SpringHill being booked up for the NASCAR events Friday night.
SpringHill Suites Napa Valley - There are probably some that will argue that this hotel is too far south to be convenient to wine country; however, we really enjoyed the hotel itself as well as the location. It is easy to get to either Sonoma or Napa, and it's closer to the airports (we flew out of Sacramento). VERY clean, very quiet. For those interested (we didn't have the time), they have a pool and beautiful fire pit. If you stay here, Devlin Rd is a nice shortcut off the main highway that will alleviate a couple minutes in traffic. Just turn right out of the hotel onto Devlin then make a right-hand turn onto Soscal Ferry Rd - that will get you where you need to go. We'd stay here again.
Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa - If you are going to wine country purely for wine tasting and plan to be gone through the day, I wouldn't stay here. The grounds are beautiful and very resort-style, but we couldn't enjoy it with how long we were gone. We literally only slept here and had breakfast in the Elite/Platinum lounge (thanks to the hubs traveling so much). For the price, it's not worth it to us to stay here, although I will say it's a little more convenient to the Napa wineries.
Wineries
Rombauer - If you like heavily oaked wines with a lot of vanilla and butter on the finish, Rombauer is the place to go. Even if you don't like that style of wine, you will love the picnic grounds and the view from the ledges of the hill. The landscape is top-notch lush, and there is plenty of space to picnic before or after your tasting. We picked up pre-ordered boxed lunches from Sunshine Food Market (below) and grabbed a picnic table here. Unfortunately, the tasting room is a belly-up to the bar type of place that was busy when we walked in. It took several minutes for us to be acknowledged and were about to leave until a gentleman called us over to his tasting table. Definitely recommend as a stop.
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| View from one of the picnic areas at Rombauer. |
Jamieson Ranch - I would never have gone to Jamieson Ranch if a tour hadn't been set up for us by a good friend of ours who works in the wine industry. It is at the very base of Napa (2 miles from SpringHill Suites), and the property is just absolutely stunning and inviting. So happy we had a chance to visit here! We had the complete experience here - tour, tasting, cheese plate, honey tasting, and mini horse visit. This is the kind of winery that you can visit with either your honey or a group of friends and have a really nice time. Plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and hospitable staff. The wine is great, and we bought a bottle of their port-style dessert wine, the only style we drink. They have a fantastic Viognier and a few wonderful Pinot Noirs.
Now, a little tangent. We spent a little over two hours here and got a really nice tour of the property and facilities. Something that I did not expect was a visit from their mini horses. These sweet creatures have been rescued and then trained as therapy horses. They are not much bigger than a large dog and can enter health-care facilities to visit patients. The work that Jamieson Ranch is doing with the horses is amazing, and I love the story behind them. They have a brand dedicated specifically to this initiative called Light Horse. Highly recommend a visit here!
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| Sweet Jane - one of the therapy horses. |
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| View from our spot on the porch. |
Peju is one of our favorites, and we visited here again on our first winery stop. Last year we took home a couple bottles of Zin. This year, we took home a couple bottles of Syrah. The staff friendliness can be a little iffy here, but we still really like this place.
Whitehall Lane was also a repeat for us, but this time we had a private tour set up. We spent a good amount of time with one of the tasting room staff, Jeff Bailey, and had the opportunity to meet Tom, Jr, the owner's son who has a big hand in the business. The wines here are quality, and the tasting room is small but comfortable. Always a nice little stop, and it's right up the road from Peju and right down the road from Sunshine Food Market.
The Terraces - I will never forget the Christmas at my old wine shop, Cork & Olive, when we were tasked with making up 25 baskets with bottles of Terraces wine for one of our customers. There were baskets EVERYwhere in our little store. That was in 2008. Fast forward to last week, and we FINALLY got a very up-close and personal look at The Terraces. We spent a good amount of time viewing the gorgeous hill-side property - old stone winery shell constructed in the late 1800s, a stone outbuilding where they are making balsamic vinegar for the wine club, peach trees, honey bee boxes, vines, guests houses. It's 130 acres of pure beauty. The wines are terrific, and the hospitality director and winemaker are really nice and knowledgeable. Highly recommend a reservation!
Thomas George (north of Sonoma - Russian River Valley) - As we were driving south on Westside Rd, we decided that one of the wineries might make for a good stop. Wine tastings are done in their caves, and they have a great selection of Pinot Noirs. It's a small, comfortable atmosphere on a beautiful property.
Ledson (Sonoma) - We still regret not buying that 2006 Zin from our 2012 trip, so this time we swore that if we liked it, we were buying it. We walked out with a couple great selections after going through a tasting with Tom, whom we had met on our last visit. The property and mansion are gorgeous and were featured as the cover on my Facebook page for quite a while. They specialize in Zin, but have a killer Chardonnay that we almost passed on until Tom insisted that it fit the exact description I gave him of my preferred Chard style. I should have known to trust him after the 2012 visit, but I really do now. He was SPOT on, and I'm glad he challenged me on it. Highly recommend!
Moshin (north of Sonoma - Russian River Valley) is right down the street on Westside Rd from Thomas George and was a last second recommendation from our wine industry friend via text. The staff was very nice, the wines are solid, and the labeling clever. I wish that we'd been able to meet the owners, but neither of them were on property at the time. It's a neat little place that makes for a nice, quick stop.
Tasting Rooms
Flora Spring - We visited based on a recommendation from Whitehall Lane. In a nutshell, the tasting room is neat, the wines good, and the prices insane. Would not go back.
Girard - Went with a winemaker we met at an industry party so we didn't have to pay, which was great since I wasn't completely blown away. I think if I'd had a more uninfluenced tongue by that point in the afternoon, it might have been a better experience. If the mood strikes, we might pop by earlier in the day next time we are in town.
Spann (Sonoma) came pretty highly recommended on Yelp, so we decided to swing by here on our way out of Sonoma. Glad we did. The tasting bar is inside the entrance of an art gallery, and we had a really nice conversation with the gentleman pouring for us. The wines are pretty good, and it was one of our better tasting room experiences.
Restaurants
Grace's Table Because we liked Grace's so much in 2012, I bought a www.restaurant.com certificate so we could have dinner there. We ordered the cornbread with lavender butter that I'd read about over and over again on both Trip Advisor and Yelp. Whoa, just whoa! I really, really wish I could replicate that at home! If you go, please try it!!! The hubs had a really tasty burger, and I had the scallops over corn risotto. Both were quite yummy!
Sunshine Food Market (Picnic Lunch Box) - I had read that there were nice picnic places at Rombauer, so we ordered our boxed lunches the day before so we could just pick them up and go. The hubs had a full box with the Sioux-Z-Q sandwich and Pesto Pasta Salad, and I had a light box with the Tri-Tip sandwich. We didn't have room for the chips or cookies because the sandwiches, pasta, and fruit filled us up. I will definitely order from them again if we are looking to picnic.
Bounty Hunter BBQ was a happy hour snack stop for us. We shared the $10 sampler. Awesome! It's right downtown Napa, over the bridge from Oxbow Market.
Carpe Diem - We enjoyed the happy hour selection so much in 2012, that this was our last stop before heading to our airport hotel. We had a lot of different food, no wine, for a nice price. We had the following: Harissa Fries, Truffle Popcorn, shot of soup, Quack N Cheese, and the mushroom flatbread. So good that my mouth is now watering thinking about it!
One Other Thing...Bounty Hunter BBQ was a happy hour snack stop for us. We shared the $10 sampler. Awesome! It's right downtown Napa, over the bridge from Oxbow Market.
Carpe Diem - We enjoyed the happy hour selection so much in 2012, that this was our last stop before heading to our airport hotel. We had a lot of different food, no wine, for a nice price. We had the following: Harissa Fries, Truffle Popcorn, shot of soup, Quack N Cheese, and the mushroom flatbread. So good that my mouth is now watering thinking about it!
A very scenic drive can be had by driving down Westside Road in the vicinity of the Russian River Valley. Things to consider before making this jaunt:
- Drive it before you begin wine tasting for the day. The narrow road and tight turns can be a little hairy dead sober. And watch out for the cyclists.
- Read over the route map carefully before driving down Westside. We still got turned around where Eastside and River roads converge. Thankfully I had a Sonoma wine country map, tiny as it was, with us. We definitely ended up going in the wrong direction for a while on River Rd.
- Stop at some of the wineries along the way. They are so quaint, and the properties are beautiful.
- Don't expect to keep a cell phone signal throughout the drive. Our signals (and GPS) kept going out on us. Not fun, especially when were lost.
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