Don't go Napa, go to Safeway instead

Seriously. Before you decide you commit to making the trip to Napa you should do some math:

Gas:  $50ish
Hotel for 2 nights:  $300 on the conservative side
Dinner for 2 x 2 nights: $300 easy
Tasting fees x 3 wineries: $60ish assuming you don't buy a single bottle

Assuming you decide you want breakfast and lunch pretty soon you're at $1000 without blinking an eye.  Then there's the fact that Napa has become a theme park of itself.  Traffic is typically a bear.  Wineries have become an exercise in retailing.  I wish I had a nickel for everyone who got all sauced up and joined a wine club only to wonder why they're getting all this mediocre crap in the mail month after month.  Throw in a few tour buses full of idiot drunks and you've got plenty of reasons to stay home.  Particularly if you like an oaky Chardonnay or a big name Cab, a trip to Safeway would probably do the trick for you without the bother.  And for that kind of money you would use the rest to hire a personal chef to cook a meal in your own kitchen. 

Admission time:  I'm writing this from my hotel room in the town of Napa in the midst of one of the best trips I've made here in a long time.  So here are a few thoughts on making it worth the time.

1) Make an appointment:  Many of the better wineries require an appointment to keep the crowds manageable.  A little time spent in advance thinking about what you want will do you right.
2) Go to fewer wineries:  After 3 wineries, how much are you really going to retain anyway?
3) In addition to varietal and geography-- consider who owns the winery.  Many of the most well known names are owned by big companies. It's a pretty good rule of thumb that if your winemaker is also the owner, they're going to create a more interesting product and care more about your experience.  I've typically done this in a one-off fashion but this is a pretty cool resource:  http://napavalleyonline.com/vineyardlist.html
4) Don't forget about nature.  This time we did a hike at Bothe Napa State Park and it was wonderful to see what the landscape must have looked like before we all got here.  Walking among the redwoods in this park just north of St. Helena put us in another world from the valley below.

Here are a few of the particulars from this weekend's trip that stand out:
Corison (Corison.com)  You're on the way up 29 for lunch at V. Sattui and about to turn right.  Don't.  Turn left instead and enter into the unassuming world of Cathy Corison whose near sole focus is Cabernet.  The 2008 was just listed as a Chronicle Top 100 wines.  But there are plenty of earlier vintages available including a wonderful '01 at the same price as the '08.  It'll speak for itself and you won't be sorry.

Failla  (http://www.faillawines.com/)  Think about stopping here earlier in the day.  They offer wonderful Pinots which are best before you've turned to the big reds.

Farmhouse Restaurant  (http://www.longmeadowranch.com/Farmstead-Restaurant)  What Farmhouse has in common with a lot of my favorite places is an emphasis on quality without pretension.  Starting with the Cheddar Biscuits with Honey Butter and on through 3 courses of yummy for 3, there was not a single miss.  We found the service to be thoughtful and attentive.  The dining room is attractive but we're looking forward to coming back for the outdoor seating.  And while the wine list does plenty to support local producers, they have an Other International Red section which at the present moment is exclusively Italian selection.  We had the COS Frappato which was fresh and distinctively a change of pace from the day's experiences.

We're hearing great things about the Oxbow market in the town of Napa.  So that will be on the list for tomorrow.  What have your best Napa experiences been?

Thanks to Rob Sudakow for the photo.