Wine tasting practicalities for newly weds

[peb2bles]

My partner and I are honeymooning in California in September and have enjoyed much advice from hounds in recent weeks and months regarding our trip. We have sorted out most of our main targets for evening meals and are now attempting to plan out what wineries to visit. We are hoping to taste in Napa/Sonoma and also in Santa Barbara County. We are inexperienced tasters and are not really sure what to expect. How much wine (in terms of volume/quantity, i.e. about a glass?) can we expect to sample at each tasting session? How many wineries/tastings would you recommend in a day and is driving between wineries feasible or is it better to go on a coach tour. We don't mind using public transport if any is available but would really prefer to see some of the less touristy places.

[Densible]

Congratulations. We honeymooned in Napa 3 yrs ago and loved it. We go back every year for our anniversary.

Most wineries we visited charged for tasting and served a flight of wines. The total amount per tasting was not more than a glass in most cases. I do suggest you have breakfast first (protein) as you can start tasting as early as 10AM. We usually did three-five wineries per day. We always took a break for lunch too and had plenty of water. One winery we visited called Del Dotto (the same guy who used to sell get rich quick real estate schemes) takes you on a barrel tour and one can get quite tipsy...the wine was not particularly memorable but we had a very good time there.

We stayed outside Napa and drove to all the wineries we visited as far as Calistoga. I know there are coach trips -just does not appeal to us as we like to be independent (i.e I am a control freak). I can see the utility though for a first trip especially if you are unfamilar with the area. We live in LA and it was not our first trip.

When we go now, we visit only two or three wineries during the entire trip, spending more time eating and hiking/biking etc. I have discovered many of my favorite wines at restaurants through the help of a sommelier or waitperson. It may be fun to work backwards, if there is a wine you particularly enjoy during a meal, ask if it is local and then make plans to visit the winery.

[maria lorraine]

You'll find a recent post on Santa Barbara wineries on this Wine Board.

To answer your Napa/Sonoma questions, I would urge you to re-post this on the San Francisco Bay Area Board, as that board regularly answers inquiries about wine-tasting in Napa and Sonoma. Use the search window.

Two brief answers: wine-tasting pours are about one ounce, so you can expect about four ounces of wine at each winery. It makes lots of sense to taste and then spit, or to pour the remaining amount of wine in your glass into the dump bucket if you don't care for it. There is little or no public transportation in wine country; you really must drive (safely! -- perhaps have a designated driver) or hire a driver. Many good, detailed maps are available, and I wouldn't try to visit more than 3 or 4 wineries a day. Certainly there are tours. Make sure you have food in your tummy so the wine doesn't hit you too hard.

[mojoeater]

Are you planning to be all over California? Napa is north of San Francisco, and Santa Barbara is 7-8 hours away.

In either area, it is possible to drive between wineries. Each vineyard will offer a certain number of wines to taste, some as few as three, others as many as ten. Usually, they will give you the equivalent of a couple sips of each wine. Definitely bring water with you and eat well that day. If you want to tour the vineyard as well as sample wines, maybe plan on hitting three a day. A proper tour and tasting can take a couple hours.

[whiner]

This is a DICEY question. The truth is that I spit everything I don't love and drive myself. You just can't hit the best or most interesting places on a tour. And public transport won't work. You either need to hire a car for the day or know that you can't swallow everything you are poured. Those are your only two good options -- and neither is ideal, they are just far better than the alternatives.

Go to small wineries that I and others have reccomended. They rarely charge and half the time the owner or winemaker is your tour guide. You're not looking to buy wine but to learn? These people often don't have wine to sell, but are the most accomodating and some of the greatest people in Northern CA (or in central CA, in Santa Barbara). I can easily re-type a list for you.

Let me just recount... I took a few 23 year old friends of mine to Kosta Browne last year. This was after Wine Spectator had given them the greatest write-up of any Pinot House in CA ever (97, 98 point wines) and their mailing list was closed with a 5+ year waiting list. Dan Kosta poured over a bottle of wine per person for us, took us thoguh barrel upon barrel, and with no irony, no patronization, fielded their questions which included, "would you consider this sweet or dry?"

Under certain circumstances (eg. you hit Jaime Kutch, Kosta Browne, and Deerfield Ranch all at once because they are in the same building) you may not want to schedule more than two stops in a day. In general, the rule of thumb is 3 stops, or if you are really hardcore and going to start drinking at 11am and not finish until 6, 4 stops. You can always just drop by a winery if you have extra time on your hands.

Bring water and bread and remember, unless you absolutely have to swallow, just open your mouth when you are done tasting, and let the wine fall out. No one will think poorly of you.