The Flora Springs tasting room is right next door to the gourmet, high-end Dean & Deluca food shop, just before entering the city of St. Helena. The Flora Springs winery facility is in a different location, on Zinfandel Lane. The tasting room is a rather recent addition and has increased the presence of this fine winery of the Napa Valley. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit here, quite the opposite of our visit to Provenance Vineyards earlier in the day.

Our hostess was fun, knowledgeable, and made us feel at home. The wines range in price from very affordable to expensive. A deliciously fruity and dry Sangiovese Rosato can be purchased for $10. At the opposite high-end, the fine Hillside Reserve Cabernet is $100.

For a tasting fee of $5, you can taste five wines and there is also a premium wine tasting that is $12. We purchased a bottle each of the Sangiovese Rosato, a crispy Pinot Grigio ($12), and a fruity Sangiovese ($16).

The Good: Very friendly staff, a wide price range of wines from $10 to $100.
The Bad: Winery is located elsewhere, picnic area not very secluded.

This renowned winery was most recently known as Niebaum Coppola. In early 2006 the name was changed to Rubicon Estates. Rubicon denotes the series of “reserve�? premium wines produced by owner Francis Ford Coppola. The name change also brings about a focus on a different clientele. It’s $25 a guest just to enter Rubicon and take a look around.

Our first visit to this magnificent winery was in the early 1970s when it was then Inglenook Winery. We have been back many times since. It is a wondrous estate with beautiful vineyards and stunning architecture.

We heard about the changes and out of curiosity, we decided to venture into Rubicon. We drove down the long beautiful driveway and were greeted midway by a group of young men. They handed us a welcome card detailing the visit. For $25, a visitor can taste five wines, tour the Inglenook Chateau, browse the museum, plus have valet parking. We said “no thanks” and we were shown the well-marked turnaround route.

Although $25 is a lot to pay, a few other wineries do the same in Napa Valley, such as the tour and tasting at Schramsberg or Chateau Montelena. We would say it is definitely worth a visit, especially for the first timer. The grounds and historic buildings are spectacular and one can learn some history about wine and the Napa Valley.

Provenance Vineyards is located just past the town of Rutherford on the west side of the road on Highway 29. It’s hard to miss; it is the big red barn-style building. We visited this winery a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday around 11 am.

Two people were working the tasting room and it seemed as though they didn’t quite have their act together. One was spending most of his time with one customer, a visitor from Germany. The second may have been newly hired, not sure of herself as she made the rounds. All in all, we felt our experience there was a little on the uncomfortable side so we did not stay long.

The tasting fee at Provenance is $10. The wines are extremely good but range in price from $19 for the Sauvignon Blanc to $50 for their top Merlots. Our favorite wine that we tasted was the Sauvignon Blanc. However, we think there are several other wineries that produce a Sauvignon Blanc that is as good or better for around $14 to $16 a bottle.

We held our 2nd Annual Bocce Ball tournament on June 23, 2006, at the Larson Family Winery. The Larson Family Winery has a beautiful Bocce Ball court that overlooks their Chardonnay Vineyards.

This winery is not exactly in the Napa Valley but in the Los Carneros wine region that spans both Sonoma and Napa Counties. Many people consider Carneros to be just a portion of the Napa Valley. It is in actuality, an entirely separate wine region where Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and sparkling wine reign.

The Larson Family Winery is a much different experience from what you are likely to find when visiting other wineries in the Carneros wine region. It is a more homey and relaxed experience. The staff is very friendly and a casual style permeates the tasting room. The winery was once the site of the largest rodeo in the Bay Area. A beautiful mural in the tasting room depicts this event.

The Larson Family produces some very nifty wines. This year they began making two jug wines, a one-liter cute jug of white wine and a red wine. The white wine is a Chardonnay and called Wingo White. The red is called Sonoma Red and is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Both wines sell for $20. Another new wine, and our favorite of the Larson tasting was the Pinot Grigio. It is a very fruity and crisp wine and was utterly refreshing for our Bocce Ball lunch. This wine sells for $20 and this is generally more than you would pay for most Pinot Grigios. The Pinot Noir has a knockout aroma of raspberry and strawberry and delicious delicate flavors. The Pinot sells for $30.

The Good: No tasting fee except for the Cab; relaxed and pleasant environment, the Pinot Grigio, the Jug wines; Bocce Ball Court available, nice picnic area.

The Bad: We didn’t care for the 2005 Gewürztraminer, last year’s 2004 was much better but it is long gone.

We recently went on a hunt in the Napa Valley for wineries that do not charge a tasting fee. Tasting fees are the norm in the Napa Valley. The highest we know of is at Rubicon Estate where you need to shell out $25 to taste five wines.

We can understand why wineries need to charge for tasting. Bottom line, they need to make money. They also want to avoid pouring wine to those who are not interested in discovering their wines but are more interesting in maintaining their wine “buzz.�?

We must admit however, that we prefer not to pay a tasting fee or second best, at least have your tasting fee applied to a wine purchase. Some wineries offer a logo glass. We have enough of those, and besides, they break easily. Our first report on tasting rooms in the Napa Valley with no tasting fee is the August Briggs Winery

August Briggs Winery is located at the north end of the Valley on the Silverado Trail near Calistoga. We got a chance to taste some delicious wines from both the bottle and the barrel. August “Joe” Briggs, the owner and winemaker, happened to be in the barrel room at the time and took some time to chat with us. Nice guy! We liked very much the August Briggs 2003 Napa Valley Zinfandel and the 2003 Russian River Pinot Noir.

The winery purchases most of it’s grapes from long-term vineyard contracts they have in Napa and Sonoma counties. They make many different labels of wine, all in relatively small amounts.

We very much enjoyed our visit here. The tasting room was warm and welcoming. Grandfather Briggs was happy to show us around the barrel room and gives a few barrel samples.

The wines at August Briggs are on the expensive side, that means for us anything over $20 bottle.

The Good:
Good tasting room staff, no tasting fee, nice picnic area, barrel tasting on occasion.
The Bad: Not open daily, wines are over $30 a bottle.