TRAVEL TIPS: With so many wineries and activities to choose from, you don't want to feel rushed, so let The Traveling Grape plan your trip! You want to make the most of your visit, so pick an area or varietals that you want to explore, selecting no more than 3-4 wineries to visit for a given day. Each tasting time varies, anywhere between 30 minutes to a couple of hours. You will find yourself meeting new friends and tasting new wines and before you know it, an hour has passed. The best general rule is to allow 1 1/2 hour at each winery.
When planning your day consider the following:
Don’t plan more than 2 appointments per day or one full estate winery tour. Take time to enjoy the scenery and other walk-in wineries
Get up no later than 8 to eat a hearty breakfast & be ready to arrive to your winery at 10am (a few do open at 9:30 – and yes, it’s ok to start sipping in the morning)
Bring a picnic basket and small cooler with you in the car. Fill with bottled water, breads & cheeses, Tylenol and a camera! Drink water in between each winery visit
It is very important to put a cooler in your car to store purchased wine. The hot temperatures can harm your wines in a short amount of time
Bring along a small notebook to make tasting notes, notes of who bought what so you can sort when you get home as well as jot down places of interest you pass you want to visit another time
Take time to nourish yourself with lunch at many of the great eateries or pack a picnic to have on the winery grounds
Don’t try to visit more than 3-4 wineries
Take time for an olive oil tasting
Proper etiquette would advise to buy something at each winery
Don’t let shipping stop you from buying all the wine you want. Local shippers are experts and will get your liquid gold home to you safely
Wineries are normally open from 10-4:30 or 5
Start with Sparking wine if you plan on doing several different varietals
Share a tasting with your friend and don’t be afraid to use the dump buckets
Even when the temperature get to 80, the nights can get chilly. Bring along a light jacket or sweater. Also many of the wineries can be chilly during the tours of the cellars or caves
Wear comfortable shoes, high heels and wineries don’t have a good relationship-so always toss an extra pair of comfy shoes in the back of the car
Drive slowly, and don’t drink & drive
FUN WINE FACTS 1. It takes 3 years before a vine can produce useful wine grapes 2. It takes 5 years before a vine is at full production 3. There are 40 grape clusters on a vine 4. There are 75-100 grapes per cluster 5. A bottle of wine has 7-8 grape clusters per bottle / 500-600 grapes per bottle 6. An acre has 400 vines / Produces 13.6 barrels per acre & 4,000 bottles per acre 7. George Yount planted the first grapes in Napa in 1838 8. Stony Hill was the first winery built after Prohibition 9. First large winery built in 1967 after Prohibition– Robert Mondavi 10. Prunes were the largest crop before grapes 11. Red wines should be served at “cellar temperature” around 65 degrees 12. White wine should be served between 55 degrees & 60 degrees 13. A 750 ml bottle of wine typically pours six 4-ounce servings 14. If not from France, it is not “Champagne”, it is Sparkling wine 15. The roses planted along the edge of vineyards are there as an early warning sign as they are susceptible to a fungus that can ruin the grapes 16. “Falcon Crest” was filmed at Spring Mountain Winery
REASONS TO BUY LOTS OF WINE DURING YOUR VISIT Like you really need a reason, but this is the time to stock up and have it mailed back to your home & join a wine club while you are there! Here you will find wines that are hard, if not impossible, to find back home. Many of these wines are very limited production and only sold at the winery. When you get home and have your own wine tasting party, you will have great stories to tell with each glass poured. If you can swing it, buy a case of the wine you enjoyed the most. This way you can open a bottle every 8-12 months and really enjoy how the flavor is changing and developing over time.
