What is the best way to see Napa wineries?
Guided tour or on your own? Bike? Shuttle? Keep in mind that we’ll be drinking lots of wine. Do any of the hotels offer packages with a shuttle?
Which are the best wineries to see? Any "can’t miss" spots?
Tagged with: guided tour • hotels • quot • shuttle • wine • wineries
Filed under: All Things Wine
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The *best* way would be to get a car service to take you around. It can be a towncar or a limo. They usually include lunch.
There are no public shuttle services, but you can try to join a group tour. Unfortunately, they can be impersonal and don’t typically go to the best wineries.
If it’s your first time going and you decide to do it on your own, start at Beringer and do the tour. Their basic wine isn’t very good, but the tour is the best in the valley. THeir reserve/library tasting room is fabulous as well.
Beaulieu Vineyards is another great intro place. They usually serve 5 or 6 wines for a very inexpensive tasting fee. It really gives you a rounded idea of different varietals and styles.
If you like great bubbly - Schramsberg can’t be missed. It’s reservation only, and you have to take a tour (but the tour is great), but you get like 5 full pours of bubbly. Even their $75 bottles are poured. THey are a great winery with fabulous wines.
I’d also recommend Raymond - underrated wines that are always yummy. Grgich is a little mass hysteria sometimes, but several of their wines are worth it.
Sterling has a tram that goes up one of the hills, but it’s like $15 a person and the wine isn’t very good. Opus One is overrated in my book (and that of many wine magazines), so I think that your $25 a tasting is better spent someplace like Silver Oak or Stag’s Leap (for high end wine). Mondavi is a nice place, but the atmosphere is terrible. It’s loaded with tourist busses and tour groups. When I was there, everyone was pushing and shoving and not respecting personal space. I won’t be back. Rubicon/Coppola is now $25 a person to enter the grounds. It includes Coppola’s movie museum, but I don’t know that the wine warrants that kind of fee. I’m not a fan of Clos Pegase, but the grounds are amazingly beautiful. Andretti doesn’t do it for me either, but it’s a cool looking place.
The wine train doesn’t actually stop anywhere for you to disembark and taste. It’s simply a train ride that you can eat on and order wine if you choose.
You should also check out napavalley.com to take a look at some of the wineries and pick up some discount coupons. They have tons of 2 for 1 tastings on there that can save you a ton of money. Good luck to you and have fun!
I don’t know, but when you decide… PLEASE take me with you!!!
I wanna see Napa sooo bad!!!
You can rent a limo for the day or half day to take you to the wineries. Check out http://www.napavalley.com for companies. I have never done that, we’ve always just gone on our own. I would not suggest biking–not sure when you are going, but during the summer months it gets extremely hot during the days. I have seen a couple of shuttles, however I do not know if they belong to hotels or are individual companies.
Here are some of my faves:
Opus One
Robert Mondavi
Joseph Phelps
Silverado
Rubicon
Artesa
Pine Ridge
Hess
Beringer
Clos du Val
Silver Oak
Sterling
Have fun and enjoy!
The train there would be good for you to tour and drink..It is great there
Sober