That is my strategy. Thanks for concuring it is a sound one.

OK, trip to Napa (Calistoga) the third week of August.

In addition to the suggestions of gigemags87 a page back, what else?

We prefer to pay for the private tastings at wineries and shy away from the large production ones.

Also, restaurants? Done CIA and French Laundry is beyond our budget.

Plus non wine activities?

We don't mind (would like to really) crossing over to Sonoma. We were in Healdsdburg briefly on our trip two years ago.

Thanks! Cecil

Go to Burgess on Howell Mountain. They are rarely busy because hardly anyone knows they are there. Some great Howell Mountain wines for a third of the price of their neighbors next door (Viader). Appointment only.

If you would have asked six months ago, I could have gotten you in at Cardinale, but my contact there has moved on.

We loved Terra in St. Helena for dinner. You can price it however you want to fit within your budget.

Cecil, I don't know if you are a Zin fan, but right outside Calistoga is a very small operation (4000 bottles yr) Storybook Vineyard. The tasting & tour is like 35 bucks, but you can put that cost towards wine.. I'm still a newbie and for all I know it may not be the best wine, but it was a great site and the people are awesome.

Envy Wines is up there.

Cecil,

If you want to get away from Napa, I'd recommend heading over to the Russian River Valley for some Pinot. Davis Family and Arista are two of my favorites.

cecil, healdsburg is a great place to visit and eat. love that little town

For wineries: We did a cheese pairing/tasting at Papapietro Perry in Dry Creek valley on our last visit. It was well done. Others have suggested RRV, if you want to go there and do an appointment tasting look into Rochiolli. A classic, old school pinot grower and producer from the area.

If you want a fairly impersonal tasting but good wines, give A Rafanelli a call. They are famous for their estate zin, which is really good, and also do a really nice cab and red blend. Appointment only. we met the daughter when we went and she was nice. the owner/winemaker is a famous grouch but sometimes he is cheery and takes people on spontaneous tours, etc. Neat thing about this place is you just don't see their wines at very many stores, etc., so fun to go and buy some at the winery.

If you're going to no to do Papapietro Perry, you might as well add Ridge to the list, as you'll drive by it on the way.

If doing Pappietro Perry and Ridge, you might as well hit Zichichi, Bella, and Mauritson for some good zins.

For Calistoga, try Envy (myriad/carter) and Rivers Marie.

Cook in St Helena is a very solid lunch spot. Throw a dart in Yountville for a good restaurant.

Looks like I'll be missing you by about a week. I'll be in SF that second week in August and will probably run up to RRBC for lunch one day to stock up.

Thanks! Keep 'em coming!

Did Envy/Carter last time. I'm going to email Mike though and maybe set something up.

We really enjoyed the Spring Mountain District last year. Barnett was a favorite that had a small feel to it. We actually BSed with the guide afterwords for a a solid hour. Their caves are pretty cool and they have a beautiful view of the area for a great picnic lunch.

Pride Mountain was great as well, but it felt a little 'Large Production.' We still enjoyed it, but we didn't get the intimate feeling that we got at Barnett. They have a cool picnic spot as well.

Cecil: Check out my friend's Wine for Normal People website/blog as she and hubby just went to Sonoma. She found great (obscure?) wines and cool folks.

I'll add Clos Pegase, since it is actually in Calistoga.

I'll second Castello as the wine was quite good (I am quite the novice, however), but the detail and work that went into the castle itself is incredible. The grounds around it are very nice as well.

Also second Storybook. Haven't been to the winery but their zin is quite good.

I'd also recommend Schramsberg

IIRC, I've read a Cecil trip report where he described Castello as the Six Flags of wineries. IMO, that description nailed it.

Who doesn't have fun at Six Flags? But yea i can see that. The tour is a little long and doesn't exactly pertain to the wine or the process.

If you ever see me at castello, you can just go ahead and take all my wine from me. It is everything that is wrong with this world.

Well, this is pretty wrong, too. I have to take out all my bottles to wheel the cabinet out to get the cooling unit out to send in for repairs, which will probably be a new unit. I may have to open a bottle to deal with it.

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If you ever see me at castello, you can just go ahead and take all my wine from me. It is everything that is wrong with this world.

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Oh look at me. I only drink mountain fruit from wineries that Google doesn't even know about.

Ha. I'm not even commenting on the wine.

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Ha. I'm not even commenting on the wine.

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Some stuff I drank yesterday:
2010 Seven Stones
2009 Promontory
2007 Bevan Bob's Cuve Syrah
2008 Plumpjack
2009 Aloft
2010 Booker RLF

The least favorite of the table was the Promontory.

How was the Seven Stones? We've been buying those since 2005. Haven't had the '10 yet.


Also, picked up a bunch of Myriad today for the wife.

If three bottles is "a bunch" then me too!

Only 3 bottles of Myriad here too, bought to many of their high end ones a few months ago. Am also heading to Napa in 3 weeks and am saving up for a tasting and likely wine purchase at Bevan Cellars.

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How was the Seven Stones? We've been buying those since 2005. Haven't had the '10 yet.


Also, picked up a bunch of Myriad today for the wife.

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Very nice. In my opinion, the '10 is drinking well right now. You should open one and find out for yourself.

I think the '06 is next on my Seven Stones list. Im a little slow on drinking these days!

But next week is Rivers Marie. Since I'll be passing on a lot of '14 and '15 wines, I'll probably get a bunch of these to get me thru.

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I think the '06 is next on my Seven Stones list. Im a little slow on drinking these days!

But next week is Rivers Marie. Since I'll be passing on a lot of '14 and '15 wines, I'll probably get a bunch of these to get me thru.

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Unfortunately, I have to pass on the RM cab offering this year. Glanced at cellar tracker, and people seem to like the cabs pretty uniformly. Do you have any opinion on the "base" Napa cab vs the single vineyard lineup?

We'll be maxing out on the Lore vineyard cab (3 bottles each x the 2 of us). It is the next driveway north of Weitz vineyard on the Silverado trail in East Oakvillle. It is very near where he gets the grapes for Maybach and he has full control of farming and harvest so he can pick when he wants. That should be an awesome wine. It is new (to RM) so there is no track record for this bottling. The other single vineyard wines are all solid. The leftovers that didn't make the cut and some other grapes go into the regular Napa bottling, which is a great bargain!

That's an awesome wine. Hope yall enjoyed it! That was a super fun wine to make.

BSD, I'll be loading up on the Rivers Marie also. Love the wines and 2013 seems to be the year to load up. I'm a bit hesitant on the Lore being it's new but here is Parker's review.

eRobertParker dotcom #215
Oct 2014 Robert M. Parker, Jr. (94-97) Drink: 2017 - 2037
The estate's newest offering, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Lore Vineyard comes from a steep, rocky site in the eastern hills of Oakville, looking down on the Rudd Winery. A massive wine, it is the biggest, densest and most masculine of these offerings. Broodingly backward, almost primordial, it exhibits lots of earthy minerality as well as blackberry, cassis, scorched earth and charcoal ember notes, and a style reminiscent of a massive vintage of La Mission Haut-Brion. The tannins suggest it should be cellared for 3-4 years and consumed over the following two decades. Not yet released.

I have GOT to get me a copy of whatever thesaurus Parker uses!

Sitting in Mumbai. (Wow. Nice business folks but,...) Who knew there was Indian wine? (That's rhetorical, BSD.) Fairly blah and tasteless. Plus, other stuff from elsewhere (Cote du Rhone) isn't at temp. I'm ready to get home!