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107.205.10.55
...we toured 3 last Friday.
Darouish - amazing Persian architecture. Had a tasting downstairs in the cellar room. Really interesting place and good wines but a little high priced.
Clos du Val - up a ways on the Silverado Trail in the Stags Leap District. The regular tasting is about 5 wines and none of them were very impressive. I also tasted a good pinot noir for $50 and their $80 cabernet was pretty good. We had a picnic lunch outside in one of their cabanas - the setting among the vinyards was terrific.
Raymond - near St. Helena. We had a tour here and this place is spectacular and my favorite. Everything about is fun and a little edgy. There is a red velvet room that looks like a whorehouse. The Baccarat Crystal tasting room is where their stainless steel tanks are and there a manikins in flowers and bikinis posed around the top railings - the lighting is a little dark so it looks like a club. The wines in here are their best reds and and are all decanted for tasting. We tasted three 2011 cabs and a their Generations blend. All were very good - I can't wait for their 2012s to come out.
You can see pictures of all of these on their websites.
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Went to Darouish last time there. Way over the top but cool. A bit high on the tasting fee. And something tells me they don't need the money.
I also like Phelps. Nice setting.
White Rock Cellars is fun too. Call for a tasting and tour.
Shramsberg tour is special.
Not saying these are my favorite wines, but my favorite places to visit.
...never heard of White Rock Cellars.
Will have to check it out.
But they share their cave with other small wine makers. Just a cool place, not your typical belly up to the tasting bar kind of deal.
Again, not easy to find and you need to call first. Not because they're elitist, just not that much traffic.
...next time we are going to do a cave tour at Del Dotto in Napa (not St. Helena) near the entrance to Silverado Country Club.
It's a little pricey - $60 per person - but includes an interesting tour, barrel tastings paired with cheese and then bottle tastings.
We've done the tasting bar and found the wines good but way overpriced - $70 for a chardonnay, two pinot noirs are $85 and $125.
The people are there are fun and pour a lot so by the time you're done I guess they figure you'll be drunk enough to buy some. Nicknamed "Del Blotto".
...last year we toured this place which I thought might be similar.
Someone cut all these elaborate caves into the side of the mountain. Now four wineries share the space.
Off the beaten path - an interesting place but mediocre wines.
Their caves are much more rustic. Looks more like a coal mine. And the tour is much more informal and informative.
I was shocked by the new WS that shows how much they are charging for wine tastings in Napa. Obviously the days of free tastings just trying to sell you a couple of bottles is over.
...it used to be that the tasting room was considered part of the winery's hospitatality and there was a minimal charge if any, which was applied to a bottle of wine you bought. Or they'd let you keep the glass.
Then maybe 10 or so years ago in Napa on hiway 29 that runs from Yountville to Calistoga weekend drivers with too much to drink were causing problems.
So they required the wineries to charge for their tastings to discourage drinking too much.
The wineries then realized the tasting room could become a profit center which they are now.
Now the average tasting fee for Napa is about $30 and up to $60 for their better wines.
In Sonoma, Paso Robles, Livermore, Pope Valley, Plymouth, Santa Cruz and other winery areas it's less, but they pretty much all charge something.
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