We tasted some Saddleback Cellars wines at the recent Family Winemakers event in San Francisco. We thought all the Saddleback wines were very good so we decided to visit this small winery in the Napa Valley. The winery is open by appointment only so we scheduled an appointment via email for noon during the mid-week. … Read more
Last Friday, we booked a vineyard and winery tour with George Hendry, owner and winemaker at Hendry Wines. Anyone can arrange one of these tours as George really enjoys leading these for parties of six or less. There is no fee for the tour or the extensive tasting that follows. Total tour time is about … Read more
The Culinary Institute of America offers wine and food classes at its campus in the historic Greystone building in St. Helena. What an adventure to combine a trip to the wine country with a wine or a cooking class. If nothing else, a traveler to the Napa Valley should wander in on this lovely historic … Read more
What seems “hot�? right now is an interest in taking wine classes or participating in activities centered on wine education. We have noticed a recent increase in emails from visitors to our Wine Country Getaways Web site requesting information on how and where they can learn about wine. We thought it to be a worthy … Read more
Our good friend Dale Perkins is a successful watercolor painter. Dale’s focus in watercolors has been scenes from the beautiful city of San Francisco. Now he has added wine country watercolors to his portfolio. Dale got the bug for wine country once he visited our web site, Wine Country Getaways, and viewed the various photographs … Read more
This is a funky little winery on the Silverado Trail not too far from the town of Calistoga. They only make 1500 cases of wine per year, and many of these wines are unusual varietals that you don’t normally see. The tasting room is a kick, mostly cluttered with memorabilia. Years ago Elvis Presley shot … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
One of the local favorites for breakfast and lunch in Yountville is Gordon’s Café & Wine Bar. We arrived there around 9:15 with a party of 14. Luckily for us, the restaurant was not crowded and we were all seated together. Gordon’s is a relaxed place with a country style decor. You order at the … Read more