Visiting Wine Country
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Midwest Vintner
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For me, I'm there right now and all day, but I'd say for outsiders, check out Octoberfest or Maifest. 
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Depends on what you are looking for, lots of acitvity in the vineyards, I agree with roadpup go during harvest time. Want something a little quieter and personal go in the winter time. Spring is a beautiful time just after the leaves open up. summer is the popular time for visitors and sometimes a bit crouded.
Midwest vinter has it right, go to Herman MO. the first vinicultural area in the US. lots of B&Bs and great winerys.
Midwest vinter has it right, go to Herman MO. the first vinicultural area in the US. lots of B&Bs and great winerys.
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If by "wine country" your talking Napa et al then Summer is the WORST time. Also Weekends are the WORST time. Weekdays are much better year round. You have tour bus loads on the weekends, bachelor/bachelorette partiers looking to party and just get drunk. Winter is the best time as its the slowest so the people can take some time to talk with you. Not the prettiest though. In the Summertime you can find it hard/impossible just to push your way up to the tasting bar to "pay for the privilege" of tasting their wines. Not very quaint or romantic if your with your somebody special.
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Napa is a place every wine lover should visit one day. However, Napa (and Southern Sonoma) is sort of like the Disneyland of wine. It is very commercialized and very expensive. I have been there many times. I went there last month. Lots of tasting were $25 for their standard wines, $30 for their reserves. For 5 tastes, that's $25 for less than a single, full glass of wine per person!
Used to be that if you bought a bottle of wine, they waved the tasting fee. Now, many wineries require you buy 2 bottles to have one tasting fee waved.
Once you have been to Napa and Sonoma proper, next time consider Northern Sonoma County and Mendocino County. They make great wines there, the servers are friendly, and the cost for tasting is either free or less than $10 per person.
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Glowin,
You are so right! Napa is not what it used to be. Back in the day, It was a farming area and not a center for eno-tourism. Used to be that you would taste wine for free as a precursor to a purchase (if you liked what you tasted). Years ago, it was unheard of to actually pay for a tasting.
Now that Napa is a place to party, the wineries were out a lot of money on folks that would tour and taste without a single purchase. So, they ended up having to charge for their tastings.
Also, Napa is almost fully owned by big corporations. For example, Lois Martini is owned by Gallo. This is simply because the price a land in Napa make it impossible for the small guy to make a living.
It is the impact of big corporations that truly has ruined Napa valley. With such a stong focus on making money, there are really no deals to be had on wine purchased in most Napa valley tasting rooms. Don't believe me?? Try this next time you're in Napa. Compare the price of wine in the tasting rooms with the price of that same wine in the local Albertson's (local supermarket). Most will be far cheaper in the supermarket.
I would advise (for a great experience) to stay outta Napa and visit some of the lesser know wine producing regions in the good ole US of A. Virginia, or even new york state produce some excellent wines and those areas are not nearly as spoiled as Napa or Sanoma!
(Just my opinion)
johnT.
MUCH more friendly and slower paced. Tasting's are very inexpensive and most places will send you home with a tasting glass included in with the price. I can speak fully for WA state wines as they are some of my favorites (all time). The grapes are grown in the Columbia Valley which is kinda of impossible to fly into so you have to fly in somewhere else (Seattle) and then drive for 2.5 hours to get to the grape growing region. Richland is a good place to get a hotel room in and then you can do day trips to Walla Walla etc.
If your not all that interested in seeing grapes growing along the Columbia river (which is pretty just no trees like Napa, it is a desert after all) You could fly into Seattle (a fantastic city to be a tourist in) and then head to the Woodinville wine district (a suburb) and there almost all of the wineries have set up tasting rooms. You can hit a whole lot of places in only a day or all of them in a couple of slow easy days. Its not quite the same as going to the Columbia Valley but much easier. The Chateau St. Michelle Winery is an exception. This is the must see winery in Woodinville. Top notch winery and top notch tour. Pony up the extra for the Reserve Ethos wines. Not only are they WAY better, they pour generously. When we toured we were all pretty smoked after just that one place. Thank goodness they had a restaurant within eyesight of the winery as we needed food quickly and time to recover after that visit. They made money off us as we bought a case to bring back on the plane.
There is no shortage of fun things to do in Seattle. The downtown area is full of people. Pike Place Market is a must see. Lots of quaint shops and restaurants. Ferry's to the islands. It does rain though! July and August is their dry(er) months, sometimes September as well depending on the year they are having. Check out the pics from our Road Trip a few years ago. We hit Napa and then headed North to WA wine country in one visit. Pics are on my website in my sig if interested.
Cheers!
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I like Midwest Vintner am a bit influenced by living on a vineyard and working the winery and sales every day of the year. Like others have said, we get a bit busy at certain times of the year and some days are busier than others. Choose some off days and you get the most personalized service. Take for instance today, a Tuesday. I had a young couple come today to try a dozen wines to choose a couple to serve at their wedding next year. We spent about 45 minutes tasting thewines and then looking around the winery and vineyard. If they had come on a really busy day, we wouldn't have had the time to spend that much time with them.
It is not so true in Napa and Southern Sonoma Counties proper, but outside of that, I have found that many of the smaller California wineries are closed on weekdays. I generally enjoy the smaller wineries more.
Before you go, it is best to decide what area you want to cover and get a wine guide for that area off the internet. The guide will generally show you who is and who is not open on weekdays.
Unless you taste and spit, it is hard to do more than 3 or 4 tastings in a day. You might get by with say 3 in the morning, take a nice long-g-g-g-g lunch break; then 3 more in the afternoon. The wife and I always have some bread and cheese in the car, so we can eat something between tastings.
I have tried it, but tasting and spitting just has never worked for me, personally.
Before you go, it is best to decide what area you want to cover and get a wine guide for that area off the internet. The guide will generally show you who is and who is not open on weekdays.
Unless you taste and spit, it is hard to do more than 3 or 4 tastings in a day. You might get by with say 3 in the morning, take a nice long-g-g-g-g lunch break; then 3 more in the afternoon. The wife and I always have some bread and cheese in the car, so we can eat something between tastings.
I have tried it, but tasting and spitting just has never worked for me, personally.
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TomK-B
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I love this forum! Thanks to everyone for your reflections and input. After reading your responses, I'm rethinking my original plans. Somehow I guess I was imagining Napa, etc. as it must have existed 50 years ago. One thing my wife and I agree on is that we don't like amusement parks of any sort (especially if they have Disney in their name). Another thing we don't like is tourist traps. Last weekend we spent a couple of days in the mountains of western North Carolina. And we decided to drive over to Cherokee to see what it was like. Well, we didn't even stop to get gas there, just kept right on driving straight out of town. I told her, "Guess this is what happens to a place when you build a casino." To say the least, we were not impressed.
As far as visiting wineries goes, we have had the pleasure of visiting four here in our home state of Tennessee and one in southwestern Virginia. We paid no tasting fee in any of these wineries and we bought wines from four of the five. It was a great time and what I was imagining we might experience in CA. Hmmmm . . .
So, at this point, I'm thinking seriously of changing my plans and heading up to Washington to visit the wine country of the Pacific Northwest. That sounds like it could be more of what I'm looking for.
As far as visiting wineries goes, we have had the pleasure of visiting four here in our home state of Tennessee and one in southwestern Virginia. We paid no tasting fee in any of these wineries and we bought wines from four of the five. It was a great time and what I was imagining we might experience in CA. Hmmmm . . .
So, at this point, I'm thinking seriously of changing my plans and heading up to Washington to visit the wine country of the Pacific Northwest. That sounds like it could be more of what I'm looking for.
Much better wines at much better prices IMHO. You want quaint, slow, quiet, walk into a tasting room and it just you and the bar and the wines. Walla Walla, Prosser, Yakima, West Richland are the place to be. Lots of nice restaurants as well. No Casinos.
Woodinville, WA will be busier but nothing compared in Napa.
Woodinville, WA will be busier but nothing compared in Napa.
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Good Man!
I always like to visit wineries where I can get a chance to talk to the winemaker!
johnT.
I always like to visit wineries where I can get a chance to talk to the winemaker!
johnT.
The Columbia Valley is Napa circa 1975. Depending on where and when you visit your pourer could be the winemaker. Even Gorman Winery which is probably the hottest Winery these days is run by just 3 people and one of them is Chris Gorman the winemaker. I called Saviah Cellars last year to place an order and got Richard Funk, the winemaker on his cell phone of all things while he was driving. He pulled over, took my order, and thanked me profusely. 4 days later my wine arrived with a short note of thanks signed personally by the winemaker. These guys really appreciate your business. Most of them are all small family run with the exception of course of Columbia Crest and Chateau St. Michelle etc.
Tom,
Think about spending more time in Northern Sonoma county, I think you will enjoy the environment much better. Start at Healdsburg, which is in Sonoma County and work your way north. All around Heldsburg there are some great wineries. There is a highway - HW 128, which is north of Santa Rosa. This road works its way diagonally (Northwest) toward the coast. About halfway down that road you will start running into many wineries. That point starts Mendocino County.
Spend a day in Napa, so you can experience that, but branch out.
Think about spending more time in Northern Sonoma county, I think you will enjoy the environment much better. Start at Healdsburg, which is in Sonoma County and work your way north. All around Heldsburg there are some great wineries. There is a highway - HW 128, which is north of Santa Rosa. This road works its way diagonally (Northwest) toward the coast. About halfway down that road you will start running into many wineries. That point starts Mendocino County.
Spend a day in Napa, so you can experience that, but branch out.
I remember a post that Mike (Ibglowin) made on the "other forum" regarding an extensive tour that he took of several wine producing areas of the US West. Is that post still available on this forum? It was really interesting and Mike had many, many pictures of the wineries he visited.
