Thursday
Cousin Ed's house overlooking downtown Napa: Kicking off the weekend with a totally casual start to a blowout weekend. Margaritas, beer and of course wine served on the patio. We will also have a taco truck pulling up in front of the house to serve made to order tacos, burritos, quesadillas and lots more----so come hungry and order anything you want. The party starts at 6:00pm. No bus provided.
Friday
Lobster boil at Tudal winery. A fun, casual, and very rustic setting with a great country garden, bocce ball and working winery set right on the valley floor. This small family winery has excellent award winning Cabs that are small production and all estate grown. Their wine maker is Kirk Venge, son of Nils who is one of the most famous wine makers in Napa (Groth, Saddleback, DelDotto, Keenan, Plumpjack). Kirk is following in his father's footsteps and has already built a well earned reputation. Transportation will be provided from the Napa River Terrace Inn at 5:15pm. ----You might not want to wear your “Sunday best” as you will be cracking lobster claws and feasting on all of the other goodies......handy wipes provided...promise!!!
Saturday
The culmination of the weekend will be Paraduxx Winery for a really great sit down gathering with world famous wine from the Duckhorn family. Paraduxx is the newest winery built by Duckhorn and features a contemporary tasting room with a beautiful courtyard. Transportation provided from the Napa River Terrace Inn at 6:00pm
Count on huge swings in temperature - we may be baking during the day and freezing in the evenings over the course of the weekend. Probably won't be this extreme but come prepared with a sweater and jacket as it can be chilly at night.
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You are free to explore Napa during the day and with more than 350 wineries in Napa to choose from your options for wine tasting are wide open. You can choose to just drive around and stop where you like as many of the wineries do not require reservations. However you might want to mix in some that do require reservations as this tends to cut down on the crowds and sometimes provides a more intimate and informative visit.
There are a multitude of institutions in the Napa Valley that are internationally acclaimed (Mondavi, Opus One....etc) and countless guidebooks will point you in their direction. Additionally, many of you have been to Napa before and have your favorite spots to visit and already know where to go----however, if you need some suggestions we have provided some below. These places have caught our imagination usually because of the people, architecture, the setting or the quality of the offerings....so here are a few suggestions for wineries, restaurants for lunch, and shopping that are new, or perhaps you may not have heard about. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Oxbow Market:
Two blocks from your hotel and has more than a dozen stores and shops:
Model Bakery Great breakfast sandwiches and pastries
Wine Merchant Sit down for lunch with salmon BLTs. They also have a great cheese shop...again stocking up for picnic items
Hog Island Oyster Step up to the bar for a dozen or two oysters for lunch
Taylors Refresher Wine country's most famous burger and shake joint.
There are also four wine tasting rooms right by Oxbow:
Taste Featuring Mahoney and Waterstone wines
Mason Cellars
Gustavo Thrace Wine maker from the movie Bottleshock
Uncorked Featuring Ahnfeldt wines
Yountville:
The town just north of Napa
Bottega Great lunch spot from celebrity chef Michael Chiarello
Redd Lunch or brunch in this modern Cal cuisine establishment
Bardassno Brand new hotel with fun bar and good restaurant
Maisonry Sample wines and shop in this eclectic high-end shop---tasting in the courtyard out back
Jessup Cellars Tasting room across the street from Maisonry
Wineries (in no particular order)
Cade New, modern and high up on Howell Mnt—great views---go for a formal tasting with food pairing or just a bar tasting (reservations required)
Kuletos Takes forever to get there, but you’ll be amazed at the property and friendly atmosphere from restaurateur and designer Pat Kuleto (reservations required)
Regucci Friendly rustic winery---great reds and olive oil. They have a picnic table if you ask to use it
Darouish Designed to be modeled after Persepolis, this is a palace that is over the top—can be crowded, but great wines
Cliff Lede Wine and art mix at this casual winery—great courtyard to relax and have glass or two
Diamond Oaks Picnic, Picnic,Picnic---wines are okay, the views better (call ahead to reserve a table)
Schramsburg The best sparkling wine tour takes place in their 120 year old dug caves—one of our favorites (reservations required)
Domaine Carneros Another sparkling wine house located in Carneros. Sit on the great patio and have a tasting or just order a bottle and a cheese plate and stay for awhile
Chappellet Natural beauty atop Pritchard Hill and overlooking Lake Hennessey (reservations required)
Pride Straddles Napa and Sonoma counties at the top of Spring Mtn. You can’t beat their reds. They also have picnic facilities, but just ask to use them first (reservations required)
Palmez Built into the side of a cave in a flawlessly engineered maze of tunnels and lofty domes. The height of the wine cave is equivalent to an 18-story building. Tours are given by the winery family—truly impressive and a expensive ($60 a person), but worth it and if you buy some wine (again expensive) the tour fee is waived (reservations required)
Jarvis Another underground winery with natural underground waterfalls and amazing architecture (reservations required)
Alpha and Omega Great outdoor patio with lounge chairs and sofas a plenty, good variety of wines and you can also bring a nosh to enjoy with the vino
Round pond Their winery is on one side of the road and their olive oil production on the other. Winery has a great deck (reservations required)
Swanson A très chic little tasting room. If you want to splurge go for the Harvey tasting where you will be treated to a beautiful sit down tasting of six wines paired with cheese and caviar ($60) (reservations required)
Peju Fun and interesting boutique winery with a French provincial tower and neat outdoor sculptures
Below is a link to a map of the Napa Valley with all of the wineries listed. Click on the wineries for more information, addresses and phone numbers. There is also a search feature on the top right corner…just enter the winery name
http://www.napavintners.com/maps/maps_of_napa_wineries.asp
