This Blog focuses on our visits to the wineries and tasting rooms of the Napa Valley and the Los Carneros wine region. When we visit a winery, we will post our thoughts with a brief review.
We visited our first winery when we were 21 years old. It was Korbel Champagne Cellars located along the banks of the Russian River in Sonoma County. Some 40 years later, we estimate that we have visited over 300 wineries and tasting rooms in California. Several of these we have visited many times. We have seen changes across every wine region but most noticeably in the Napa Valley. Some changes have been for the good and some not so good.
At this stage, we definitely know what we enjoy in a winery and tasting room and what makes us want to return again and again. Just so you know where we stand, here is what we like and dislike about tasting rooms.
What we like in tasting rooms:
A tasting room that has no tasting fees or if a tasting fee, one that can be applied to a purchase. By the way, we always purchase one bottle of wine unless we have had an unpleasant experience. A purchase completes our whole experience at the winery and does tell us some things about the winery. For example, we once scratched a winery off our list when our host inferred that we didn’t like the wines because we were only buying one bottle.
We prefer to visit family-owned wineries, or boutique wineries. Boutique to us means wineries that produce fewer than 10,000 cases of wine per year. We won’t skip visiting a big winery but prefer the smaller wineries.
We like visiting a winery that has a tasting room at the winery facility. That means we can possibly take a tour, look into the barrel room, take a look at the fermenting tanks, and see wine folks going about the job of making wine. More and more of the new age small wineries elect to have a tasting room in town. Many of the new breed of winemakers do not own a production facility or vineyards and subsequently offer their wines at a co-op tasting room. We visit those too, but it’s more fun to visit a “real� tasting room.
We like it when there are no more than just a few people in the tasting room so that we have an opportunity to chat and learn more about the winery and its wines. This is hard to do in the Napa Valley. Best time for this is during the week, early in the day or on the weekends during the winter months.
We definitely enjoy wineries that have a comfortable and scenic picnic area. For us, the wine country picnic is the ultimate in relaxation and pleasure. There is something so serene and peaceful about the vineyards. What could be better than a picnic lunch, a glass of chilled white, and a view of the vineyards?
What we don’t like in wineries:
Tasting fees and especially ones that are way out of line. We were charged $17 each at the Charles Krug winery in January 2006. Granted, we tasted some terrific wines, but $17?
Tasting rooms where it is hard to figure out what they are selling. Is it wine or is it merchandise?
A tasting room staff lacks common courtesy. This includes putting on airs or total wine snobbery.
Crowded tasting rooms where you have to wait for someone to leave to get a space at the tasting bar.
Tasting room where you get the hard sell to join their fabulous wine club.
