What makes your Napa wine tours unique?
I like to start out all of my tours with one simple mindset: You’re my best friends from out of town, and I want to show you the most amazing things I’ve discovered in the Wine Country! For me, it’s personal to put together an itinerary for the people I’m taking on a tour, and so I go out of my way to listen and learn about my clients so I can surprise them with a tour they will never forget!
Can you tell us what your three favorite Napa wineries are?
Narrowing my list of favorite wineries down to three isn’t easy for me because I love so many wineries, but all for different reasons! I’ve got so many unique wineries in my mix, but lately, the wineries that I think offer my clients the most unforgettable experiences and truly delicious wines have to include Patland Estate Vineyards, Madrigal Family Winery and Tedeschi...oh, and Aonair. (I really like Aonair!) These wineries always impress my clients, and I honestly love taking guests to these places every time.
We know you can’t enjoy good wine without great food. Give us some inside tips on the best dining experiences in Napa.
As a pure and simple foodie, I’m always more excited by a restaurant that has delicious and unforgettable tasting food than one that has a fancy atmosphere. So my top pick in the Wine Country has to be Cafe Citti. It’s this tiny little hole in the wall restaurant in Kenwood — which is in Sonoma County — that features the most mind-blowingly delicious Italian dishes that pair perfectly with every wine I’ve ever taken in for a meal.
But to answer the question more specifically about my favorite place in Napa, when I want to keep things low-key and casual, and I want to have a lot of options, the Oxbow Public Market is a super choice! The Oxbow is like the most impressive food court you’ve ever seen! Every choice is exceptionally delicious — and they honestly have the most amazing hamburger you’ll put in your mouth while in the Wine Country. But for a more elevated dining experience, Cole’s Chophouse is an exceptional choice, as is Oenotri — which is a beautiful Southern Italian restaurant located in downtown Napa. And then, of course, there’s ZuZu, which features incredible tapas and some of the most flavorful paella for one heck of a memorable dining experience!
What’s the craziest wine tour you ever took someone on?
Hands down, the craziest winery I’ve taken my guests to is Palmaz Vineyard. This place is crazy, and the tour of the 18-story cavern is truly unforgettable! The design and engineering that went into creating this winery are unlike any other experience in the whole Wine Country. Every winery I take my clients to has something special to offer, but Palmaz Vineyards is sincerely the most memorable place I’ve discovered so far.
Napa’s getting expensive, can you tell our readers a few ways they can save money on tastings?
The top three ideas that come to mind are Priority Wine Pass, Priority Wine Pass, and Priority Wine Pass! This is just the best way to go, in my opinion.
But there are also a few other tips I can offer. When I take a client to a winery, and they really like one of the wines, most of the time, purchasing some wine on the spot will almost always ensure that the tasting fees are waived -- which can save you some money for sure. Additionally, if the wine truly does impress my clients, I encourage them to join the wine club — which again will typically result in waived tasting fees, often for the whole party, but not always.
Wine clubs are a super smart choice because the winery is eager to offer better deals on bulk purchases, and getting the wine directly from the winery means you will always get the wine you enjoyed in the tasting room -- not a retail version of the brand that's distributed nationwide.
The tasting rooms are there to give people a chance to experience their best wines, but ultimately, they want to sell you bottles of the wine after you taste it. And when you’re in the tasting room and are willing to buy in bundles of 3, 6 and 12 bottles, the pricing can really get affordable.
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