posted 11-06-2012 06:51 AM            

Damombo, Flying into Oakland from Chattanooga, via Atlanta, is always at least $100.00 more for plane fare . . . in fact, right now it is $102.00. Flying into Sacramento takes us about 2 hours from the time we land until we get to Napa Valley which I don't think is too bad. The drive is not too bad either.

Hi Rebel, When in March? I am planning March 21 to 26.

posted 11-05-2012 02:43 PM            

We like flying into Oakland because it's a non-stop on Southwest from Houston. Neither Sacramento nor San Francisco are non-stop and I prefer just one white knuckle take-off and landing

It takes us about 45 minutes from landing until we are in the rental car and heading out, and then it usually takes right at an hour to arrive in Napa. Rental car companies are all in one spot, right down the road from the airport and there is a shuttle that takes you back and forth. Very convenient and easy. We generally use Dollar and have their membership thing that lets you just walk right out to the kiosk and sign your paperwork and get the car. Usually very quick. We also usually have an early morning flight home, so we leave wine country around 5:00-5:30 the night before, head to Oakland, but stop in Berkeley to have dinner. Then we check into the Hilton Oakland Airport, take back the rental car, the hotel shuttle picks us up at the rental car place and then it's back to the hotel. Up early the next morning, the hotel shuttle drops us at the airport and that's it! Easy!

posted 11-05-2012 02:24 PM            

Looks like you had a great trip. Ditto on Hall Rutherford. I loved that place.

It looks like we will go back in March. I think I read where you flew into Oakland, if that is the case, how long did it take you to get to Napa Valley from the airport?

I hate flying into Frisco but our meetings took us there last time. Air fare out of Memphis is outrageous but Oakland and Frisco are about the same. I haven't found a good rate to Sacramento otherwise we would fly there.

Again thanks for the report. I so enjoy reading these.

Cheers,

posted 11-04-2012 07:58 AM            

I did miss this post, guess there were others ahead of it.

Hall Rutherford is one of our favorite visits. Not only do they have excellent wines, but the venue is breathtaking. Of course, we are paying for it when we purchase wines.

Have never been to Rutherford Ranch but it sounds like we can skip it. Visited Vincent Arroyo a few years ago and at that time was not very impressed. May have to try it again.

I am glad that your visit with Scotti Stark turned out well. We enjoyed the Charnu wines also. Their Red Dye Cab is ready to drink now which is very nice considering I probably don't have 15 years to lay it down. We also met Suzanne and her father in law at Phifer Pavitt, and you are correct, she is a gem. Their wines are not too shabby either. Besides Charnu and Phifer Pavitt, what other wineries does Scotti represent?

I believe it was last October (or maybe the one in 2010) we visited Guilliams. We tasted down in their basement where they had vats of Cab grapes working. She let me "punch down" one of the vats and then followed up re-doing it.

We felt the same way, our last trip was one of the best we have had and we sent home more wines that needed.

-Hawkeye

posted 11-02-2012 06:28 PM            

Day 4 started out at Cakebread, where we are members. They are always fun for us to visit and we enjoyed their wines. Then we met with a fellow Hawkeye told us about, Scotti, and got to try Charnu wines. We tasted in Scotti’s St. Helena office - apparently we were his inaugural tasting. Nice office, right down the street from Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen (which is very handy for a delicious lunch). Really enjoyed the Charnu Cabs. Our visit with Scotti was somewhat last minute in our planning, so our visit was split - we were to meet him at the end of the day at Phifer-Pavitt. So we said “see ya”, had a “life altering” (Scotti’s words) duck burger at Cindy’s, and then ran to Madrigal. We do love their wines, so we sampled through their offerings and sent home a mixed case. Then we dashed up Spring Mountain to find Guilliams. Tiny producer of some very nice wines. Lovely to sit among the vines and chat with the owner/wine maker/farmer/laid back dude. Enjoyed his wine and his conversation. Sent home a mixed case. Next was a dash not too far away to Barnett. They have wonderful wines and there was another couple there - the second couple we had met stranded by Hurricane Sandy. They couldn’t fly home for an extra day or two - so sad!! We couldn’t linger at Barnett because we had to fly down Spring Mountain and meet Scotti at Phifer-Pavitt on the Silverado Trail. Kind of a hectic afternoon of wonderful wines (we had to leave Barnett so quickly that we didn’t have the opportunity to buy any wine!) Anyway, we located Phifer-Pavitt and Scotti and had a (finally!) relaxed tasting of their Date Night, met the owner (and she is absolutely adorable), met her parents-in-law, tasted the Sauv Blanc that dad-in-law is making (straight from the stainless steel vats), and tasted another of the wines Scotti represents - a fantastic afternoon Sent home a mixed case of Scotti’s client’s wines. Would have sent two if we had room.

That was it for our Napa adventures. Our last day was spent in Sonoma County, namely in Glen Ellen and Sonoma...

The husband thinks we tasted some of the best wines we’ve ever tasted this trip: the wines at Maisonry, Hall Rutherford, and Scotti’s clients are the ones he is referring to... but he was also pleased with Guilliams and, as always, the Cakebread Dancing Bear.