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Peju Province Winery
8466 St. Helena Highway
Rutherford, CA 94573
Telephone: 800.446.7358
Website: http://www.peju.com
Tasting Room Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
We visited Peju our first night in Napa. We had driven up a bit late the day before Thanksgiving and by the time we checked into our hotel, it was already about 5:00 p.m. We decided to drive up from the city of Napa into the thick of the valley. Nearly every winery was closed, except for Peju. The architecture is over-the-top. The attention-getter is a large (looks about three stories) tower in a vaguely mock-French provincial style, but with oddly-slanted walls and a mansard roof. The proportions are completely off and I’m not sure any architect in the history of France (where I assume the architect for this structure drew inspiration) ever purposely designed a building with walls sloping so strangely.
Entering the winery, they organize visitors into groups and assign them to a specific tasting room/bar with a dedicated staffer. For a large winery, this is welcome, particularly in contrast to what we experienced the following day at V. Sattui. Once we got situated with our tasting specialist, the theatrics began. This gentleman had clearly memorized a script – including jokes – that he followed across the whole tasting. I had never experienced it before and it made me really uncomfortable. Add to that the fact the wines weren’t very good, and you have a recipe for a place nobody should visit. I struggle to find the redeeming value of this winery beyond the way they handle large numbers of visitors.
V. Sattui Winery
1111 White Lane
St. Helena, CA 94574
Telephone: 707.963.7774
Website: http://www.vsattui.com
Tasting Room Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Gina and I visited this winery on Thanksgiving Day for two reasons: 1) they have sandwiches, and 2) it was one of only five wineries open that day. The winery is located just south of St. Helena on Highway 29. The building itself is vaguely Tuscan in style (much like many other wineries in Napa Valley). The place is humongous and it is packed all the time. This is due in part to the fact it has a deli and cheese counter alongside the massive tasting room. The deli has a variety of different hot and cold sandwiches, all of which are overpriced and mediocre. We decided to go there because we wanted to have a picnic so we bought the sandwiches after the wine tasting and ate them outside in the (also packed) picnic grounds.
They weren’t working with a full staff the day we visited the winery, but there certainly were massive numbers of people all trying to wiggle their way up to the tasting bars. It was a bit out of hand, with tons of foreigners and clueless people all trying to fight for limited space. It took us about 10-15 minutes to get a spot at the tasting bar and then the staffer in charge of our tasting essentially would pour the wines, say as little about them as possible, then disappear for a while as he had to do tastings for (at least) 10 other people. This was the second winery we visited (the first being Peju the night before), and the wines were only marginally better than those from Peju, but still nowhere close to the quality of wines I had tasted in Santa Ynez Valley, Edna Valley, or Paso Robles. We did buy a mediocre bottle of their red table wine and two bottles of this strange wine/brandy mixture that we decided would be amazing in champagne cocktails. Altogether, the place was a disappointment and I would definitely recommend against it. It’s interesting for a few minutes to see people behaving at their worst and to see a winery so proud of such mediocre product, but that passes by the time you get elbowed for the third time and you have still yet to get a single measly pour.
Castello di Amorosa
4045 N. St. Helena Highway
Calistoga, CA 94515
Telephone: 707. 967.6272
Website: http://www.castellodiamorosa.com
Tasting Room Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Reppin' the suit of armor, the Castello keeps it real.
We visited this winery on Thanksgiving as well, and the visit was set up by the concierge at our hotel (AVIA Napa). Truth be told, the concierge (her name was Pamela Anderson, no joke), was either a moron or a liar, because she said the Castello was by appointment only, and the wine tastings included a tour (they couldn’t be done separately) for 35 dollars. Given there were so few places open that day, we decided to have her book us a tour and tasting. We were not particularly excited because we really wanted to see smaller wineries on our trip, but the fact it was Thanksgiving really meant only a handful were open, and all of those were big.
Pulling up to the Castello, it certainly is an impressive structure (complete with a drawbridge). The winery was completed only in the past few years. It was the dream of Dario Sattui, current owner of V. Sattui. The Castello took more than a decade to build and used a bunch of stone brought in from Tuscany, where there are castles, all of which (apparently) informed the style and layout of this gigantic Castello. We learned all this (and much more!) during an hour-long (at least) tour of the facility which covered some of the rooms (great hall, dungeon, torture room, barrel rooms, fermentation rooms, caves, etc). The reason we were on the tour, once again, was because that idiot/liar Pamela Anderson (mis)informed us as follows: a) we needed a reservation to do a tasting (not true) and b) the only way to do a tasting was to do a tour (not true). We showed up and were told we didn’t need to do the tour to do a tasting, but given we had already paid for the tour over the phone when we reserved it (I believe you do have to have a reservation to do the tour), we stuck with the tour, and were ultimately glad we did. Our tour guide was essentially a dead ringer for the comic book store owner from The Simpsons. He knew everything about the Castello and how the wines are made and was really psyched about everything. He cracked jokes and made us love the Castello, but not for the reason the Castello would like us to have loved it. We thought the whole thing was delightfully kitschy and so over-the-top that it was impossible to resist.
Cellar dweller
At the end of the tour they organized the whole tour group around a tasting bar and the tour guide ran us through a tasting of pretty much whatever wines we wanted to taste. I ended up drinking enough tastes to equal about two and half normal tastings. It was fantastic. And the wines themselves were surprisingly good! We were in the mood at the time for inexpensive wines we wouldn’t think twice about drinking on weekdays with regular meals. We liked most of the wines, but really liked the pinot bianco (a lighter white wine), the Gioya (a sangiovese rosé), Il Brigante (a red blend), and La Castellana (a super Tuscan blend). I would definitely recommend people go back there, if you’ve got a good sense of humor and like big castles.
Van Der Heyden Winery
4057 Silverado Trail
Napa, CA 94558
Telephone: 707.257.0130
Website: http://www.vanderheydenvineyards.com
Tasting Room Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
This winery was the first one we visited on the day after Thanksgiving. We were told the wineries along the Silverado Trail were smaller and had more interesting wines, and given up til this point we had only been to huge, impersonal wineries, we were excited to see some more intimate wineries. Van Der Heyden was fantastic, it is impossible to think of something that could be further from V Sattui, Peju, and the Castello. At the end of a narrow driveway there are a few parking spaces on one side and a series of small bungalow-style homes and an assortment of cars (given we were the only visitors at the time, I assume they belonged to winery staff). There is plenty of clutter and an assortment of outdoor furniture (apparently when it’s busy they do the tastings outdoors). Getting out of the car we were greeted by several dogs, which was frightening at first, but they meant no harm so it was cool.
The tasting room is in one of the back buildings and is barely large enough for five people, including the staffer doing the tasting. This was pretty refreshing for us, there were no frills and little or no thought went into design for the room or property. What this means is all the winery thinks about is making good wines and selling them at a reasonable price. The wines we tasted were excellent, the highlights being the cabernet sauvignon (we bought a bottle) and their white table wine. I definitely recommend anybody visiting Napa go to this winery.
James Cole Estate Winery
5014 Silverado Trail
Napa, CA 94558
Telephone: 707.251.9905
Website: http://www.jamescolewinery.com
Tasting Room Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
We visited this winery on accident as we were looking for a place to have a picnic with meats and cheeses we had bought at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa. It is not far up the road from Van Der Heyden, which is to say it’s near the very southern edge of the Silverado Trail. The building itself is modest, at least in contrast to the buildings at V. Sattui and the castle we had visited the day before. We were the only people tasting at the time and the staff was extremely friendly. The tasting itself is on the pricier end of the spectrum, but given the quality of the wines, I believe it was priced appropriately.
The tasting covered four wines: the malbec, the petite verdot, the cabernet sauvignon, and the reserve cabernet sauvignon. They also have an “ice wine” reisling that you can taste, as well as a chardonnay, though I didn’t see any while we were there (we saw only reds and the ice wine). We absolutely loved the four reds we tasted. They were all bold in flavor, yet balanced at the same time. It was really refreshing to finally taste truly high-quality wines. Up to this point we were wondering what the big deal about Napa was. We hadn’t had anything there we couldn’t get somewhere else. Once we tasted the James Cole wines we got it. Their production levels are low (they do 400 cases of their cabernet sauvignon, and no more than 180 cases of any of the other wines), which is generally an indication the winery puts more care into its wines. The prices of the wines are higher, but the difference in taste is palpable. We purchased a bottle of the malbec (75 dollars). I would definitely recommend visiting, just be ready to spend money buying the wines you will end up loving there.
Mumm Napa
8445 Silverado Trail
Rutherford, California 94573
Telephone: 707.967.7770
Website: http://www.mummnapa.com
Tasting Room Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
On the patio at Mumm Napa
Gina and I both love sparkling wine, we can drink it all day no problem. We both agreed we wouldn’t leave Napa without tasting some sparkling wine so we looked at the map and decided we would go to Mumm Napa because it was right up the Silverado Trail from James Cole (about 10 minutes or so). This place is huge, but I really didn’t mind it, in large part because of the way they’ve arranged their tastings. You are seated at a table (either inside or out) and a waiter brings you a menu of different tastings ranging from 6-25 dollars. You select one of the tasting menus and the waiter pours your entire tasting right there then leaves you alone for the rest of the time. We decided to sit on the edge of the outdoor patio, overlooking the valley. It was absolutely gorgeous, we loved the view and really loved the wines (we did just the regular tasting, with four nearly-full glasses of wine each for 12 dollars). You can also pay more and sit down in special areas if you’d like. I would definitely recommend a visit to Mumm Napa if you’re in the area, probably the best value in the valley in terms of wine tasting.
AVIA Napa
1450 First Street
Napa, CA 94559
Telephone: 707.224.3900
Website: http://www.aviahotels.com/hotels/napa
Dates of Stay: 11/24/2010 to 11/26/2010
Rate: $135.20 (two nights)
Gina and I spent two nights here on our Thanksgiving trip to Napa. The low rate is due in large part to the fact we were in Napa on Thanksgiving. Late November appears to be the start of the slow season up there.
Location: The location of the hotel is good. It’s in downtown Napa, which is more or less at the southern edge of the Napa Valley. Most of the action in downtown Napa is a little further east, closer to the river, but there are some newer developments near the hotel that have good restaurants and shopping. Downtown Napa is also small enough that walking to the river (and beyond) is quick and easy. While we were there, downtown Napa was really dead, with few people walking around. There are definitely better locations in the valley if you’re interested in wine tasting, but we got a good rate and the hotel is fantastic.
Facilities: The hotel looks to be the largest non-public building in downtown Napa. It towers over the surrounding blocks. It is a little confusing figuring out where to park (apparently you’re supposed to park in the structure behind the hotel, on the third level or higher). The lobby is spacious, with a wine bar at one end and the front desk and concierge at the other. Front desk staff was extremely courteous and welcoming. The concierge was named Pamela Anderson (can’t make that up) and either lied to us or maliciously tricked us about the Castello di Amorosa (see that review for details). The room was small, but overlooked First Street and had a really badass shower. The shower was definitely the highlight of the room, and really helped us relax after long days of drinking.
The hotel also features a back patio off the second floor with a fire pit and plenty of seating. It was much too cold while we were there for us to spend any time out there, but it looks like a lovely place to spend the evening with a bottle of wine or a 12-pack of High Life. On top of all that, the hotel features a wonderful restaurant (AVIA Kitchen) where we enjoyed a three-course Thanksgiving meal.
Overall: I would highly recommend this hotel for those looking to enjoy a trip to Napa. There will be more driving involved to get to wineries versus staying at a hotel in Yountville or St. Helena, but you definitely get more for the price in Napa versus those locations. Rates approximately double during spring and summer, when tourists descend on Napa Valley.
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