On a whim, we decided to make one more visit to Napa Valley this year and went out during Thanksgiving weekend. We were pleasantly surprised by the quietness we experienced in restaurants and tasting rooms, as well as the festive, holiday décor already in place. In a previous post about the best times of year to visit, I didn’t include anything about the holidays. Now, I would highly recommend a November-December trip if your schedule permits!
This time, we really made a point to taste at “new-to-us” wineries, having received several great tips from the Barlin’s of BarlinWine.com and Tasting Scout. As a result, there are plenty of highlights to share about our Napa Valley itinerary.
Wineries
We were able to hit 13 wineries in 4 days, which was a comfortable amount for us. Sometimes, we’ve overdone it and had to race all over to ensure we get to appointments on time. At nearly every stop, we were the only people present!
Old Favorites
- Laird – Our first, unplanned stop and one of my favorites from this visit. We’ve ben to Laird several times now and I continue to be amazed by the number of wines they produce – we tasted at least 12. Quality is also high on all of them. My top picks were their 2012 Cold Creek Pinot Grigio, 2010 Cold Creek Ranch Chardonnay, 2011 Phantom Ranch Pinot Noir (sadly, the Ghost Ranch was sold out).
- Hall – We squeezed in a stop at Hall and were glad we did. They were two days away from opening their stunning new winemaking and
Hall’s new tasting room tasting center. (More on this to come in a future post.) We received a nice, advanced tour of their campus and got to see more of the Hall’s renowned art collection. Back inside, we tasted four or five wines from their higher-end menu, which included T Bar T Merlot, Kathryn Hall Cabernet and new Walt Pinot Noir. They recently acquired the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir-producing Walt, which happened to be my favorites this time (although everything Hall does is delicious).
- Round Pond – This was the third time we tasted at the picturesque Round Pond winery. They do a unique wine and food pairing, bringing visitors three small bites from their gourmet kitchen to complement a Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet and Proprietary Red. Each time I’ve left Round Pond, I’ve slapped myself for not joining their reasonable club and decided to do so this time. Their reds are just so velvety and they’re not readily available to me in Chicago or anywhere else.
- Larkmead – If there’s only one winery we could visit or recommend, it’s usually Larkmead. A) The setting is beyond beautiful, B) They have stellar, stellar, wines and C) The staff is so friendly and knowledgeable. Larkmead has a long and storied history and their farming expertise shows through the quality of their wine. However, we miss the Sauvigon Blanc and have been unable to taste the new one due to limited availability. Continue reading Napa Valley Itinerary – November 2013 Visit
