You could head over to Mumm Napa on Silverado Trail and wander through their fabulous photography exhibit. Right now there’s an exhibit of photographs by Jim Marshall, well known rock n roll photographer. And a selection of Ansel Adams. Well worth the time.
Depends on who the group are. Are they people that haven’t been in the area and a nice view winery would be a good choice or winos that the tasting matters more? We spend almost all our visits to the area on Silverado Trail, so I’m partial to those as well, but wasn’t impressed with the tour at Mumm itself.
So you’ll be coming from Nap up towards Rutherford/Yountville for Alpha Omega. Depending on style of wine you have lots of options, especially if you head a few minutes north towards St. Helena.
If you can arrange it, Larkmead is a great experience, but expensive ($100) and fills up fast. Other ones to arrange would be Phelps or Opus One if your friends are into Blue Chips.
Places you would have less difficulty getting a reservation but are great anyway: HALL, Ehlers Estate, just to name a few. And Heitz’s tours are both free and walk-in.
If you call/email Martin Estate, which is next to Forman, they may arrange a private tour - it’s amazing. Good wine, made by Aaron Pott. The house has been used in Ralph Lauren photo shoots and the owner has a magnificent collection of medieval armor and weapons.
Thanks for the replies! I was looking into heitz. My group is pretty easy going. I used to be a member of larkmead until their pricing jumped the shark, which is too bad because I liked their wines, just not for 125/bottle.
I’m a big fan of Pine Ridge not too far from that area on Silverado- great wines, pretty spot- have tasted there several times- though as a guest of my sister who is in their club
I wouldn’t necessarily argue that their wines are underoaked to say the least- but I haven’t found the oak really out of place in these relatively big fruity wines.
When I think ripe and rich and OTT I think more frank family or rombauer- these wines are not close to those IMO.
I find them quite delicious and appealing to a broad group-
Regarding tasting fees- I don’t know since I have primarily tasted as a guest of a club member
Thank you for mentioning Ehlers Estate. We are booked on Saturday and we are closing early for an event that evening. We do appreciate the referral, though.
Just up the road from Press is the tasting room of Behrens Family (old Karl Lawrence tasting room). Worth a look. For something new, we liked Mending Wall…beautiful facility and pretty darn tasty wine. A little further up the Trail from Press location. After AdHoc, you can also do the Yountville crawl of all the tasting rooms. Quiet a few. Altamura was doing tasting in his restaurant a while back. North end of town.
Danny- not sure if your still trying to figure this out but here are a few options
Blankiet is across from Addendum in Yountville and the wines are terrific and so is the visit. They are on the higher end though for pricing.
Turnbull would be a great option and their line up is getting better and better.
Bressler - if you like Forman you’ll probably really enjoy Bressler. Great site in St Helena surrounded by some of the top vineyards. The wine is excellent and would be similiar to Forman stylistically. Pm if your interested and I’ll send you contact info.