Napa winery trip report

Just returned from my first Napa experience. LOVED IT. Here a quick review of what we did.

Stayed: At the Andaz in downtown Napa. Really liked the hotel and the location. I know downtown does not have a “wine country feel” but we were out in wine country all day, so coming back downtown with the ability to just walk to dinner and walk to breakfast in the morning was great.

Driver: Hired My Napa Valley Driver for a designated driver for two days and could not be happier. Laura was our driver and she was great. Well, well worth what we paid.

Note: After doing some research, we were more interested in the total experience vs. just tasting the wine, so we avoided just bouncing from tasting room to tasting room and focused on places where you could reserve space on a patio and/or included some food pairings and I’m glad we did. It’s more expensive but was so relaxing and enjoyable. We were outside basically the whole day with comfy and quiet places to sit. And I will add that every single one poured at least one additional wine that wasn’t technically included, not sure if the bar tastings do this, but they were all generous with additional pours without us even asking (in fact we never asked). So, with that said, visiting 3 wineries a day is plenty.

Day 1: Hit up Round Pond, Robert Sinskey, Cliff Lede, and Silver Oak.

Round Pound: Gorgeous setting on their second floor patio, excellent little food bites that came with our experience, and they gave us a couple olive oil samples to take home. Host was extremely nice and friendly.





Robert Sinskey: This was the only sort of negative experience. We decided to share a pour given that we planned 4 stops. Before we could tell the main host, he has already poured us both a welcome pour of wine. Well, we get a death glare when we told him we wanted to split one tasting. We went to the bar and told the woman we wanted to share. She set out two little bowls of some crunchy snacks they provide. He proceeded to come back over and nearly yank one bowl out of my hand and place it back behind the counter before I tried to take a cracker, saying “they only get one”. A little embarrassing. This was all saved by the woman behind the counter, who was great. She poured basically two tastings anyway. The guy came back over again and told her that we should only get one glass. Again, a little embarrassing. The woman at the bar seemed to just ignore him some more. We ended up buying two bottles of the wine but that host was the only rude person we interacted with. Hopefully she gets all the sales credit.



Cliff Lede: Very, very laid- back vibe with a beautiful veranda. The host felt it was a little hot on the veranda, so she moved us down to the members only couches, which had more shade. I could have stayed there all day and I’m not sure they would have cared if we did. They told us to wander around all we wanted, just don’t squeeze or pluck the grapes. Bought a bottle here.




Silver Oak: This was a cab vertical, so more of a structure tasting in a conference room type environment, but it was great. As I’m not a huge wine drinker, this more educational tasting was nice. The vertical was to be 6 years, but we got 2 bonus years, so it was A LOT of wine. Glad it was the last stop.




Day 2: No driver, we hit up Russian River Brewing for a beer as it was a bucket list item for me and then, since we were going to drive through Sonoma anyway, we hit up one place called Hamel Family Wines. This place is small but spectacular. Great personalized tour then set up at a table on their beautiful patio. Very modern vibe here. This is probably the best view we had. Amazing. Great attention to detail and they get the little things right like giving you a cute glass reusable water bottle with their logo on it when you leave. Bought a few bottles here.






Day 3: Hit up Stags’ Leap, Robert Biale, and Shadybrook Estate

Stags’ Leap: Chose, in part, due to the building and its history. This was a personal tour of the building and the vineyards and as a history geek I loved it. It was the priciest tour we had, but it was great. Poured us 3 wines during the tour and then sat down for the “real” tasting, which was 4 additional reserve caliber wines. We were there for almost 2 hours, just the two of us and a guide.







Robert Biale: This was certainly different from Stags’ Leap as it was very small and casual. Great little patio and fantastic Zinfandels. Also, some great history here as a winery that bootlegged wine decades past prohibition. A very relaxing and enjoyable hour. Bought a few bottles here.




Shadybrook Estate: Off the beaten path near downtown Napa. This is a hidden gem. Beautiful new patio with a gorgeous view. We did the cheese pairing and it was a fantastic charcuterie board. Bought a few bottles here too. Great host. Horseback riding isn’t our thing, but they offer that here.




that’s my brief winery review.