Things to do in Napa, CA

Smug Duckling

I'm taking a trip there this weekend, and beyond the obvious of wineries (which we'll visit a bunch of), is there anything else that's cool to do there? Actually, even recommendations of good wineries to visit would be helpful. I have a list (stolen from a wine tour's website), but don't know much about them.

dlinfiniti

bike
that entire valley is made for biking

Thanatos

You're really not going to find many bad wineries in Napa.

Your options are pretty much wine tasting, restauranting, or doing nature-related shit. There's really absolutely nothing else there.

Gdiguy

There are some orchardy places you can do stuff like apple-picking, but that's the only kind of stuff I'd think you'll find up there

Lewisham

Thing to keep in mind is that Napa itself is a town that actually serves the wine industry and its people, its not very touristy. If you want good food, I cannot recommend Bouchon in Yountville (a little bit North) enough. It's run by superstar chef Thomas Keller, and its much cheaper than The French Laundry, his main restaurant. It had the best steak I had ever, ever tasted. It's not that cheap, but at $35 for the steak, it's soooooo worth it.

As far as vineyards, like Banantos said, they're all good. I've never had a bad wine. Opus One is now by invitation only, so don't bother with that, but otherwise, I would just drive up and down and see what takes your fancy. The Francis Ford Coppola vineyard is super, super Disney-style touristy, but sorta fun.

mts

to be accurate nappa valley is oakville/st helena area.

Napa the city is not very nice.

Sterling has a cool gondola but i think the wine is not worth it. (website has coupons)
Coppala or whatever its called now is pretty good wine and they have a movie muesem.
Via Sattui has good wine , it used to be free but now they charge on weekends. they have a great deli but its also across the street from Dean and delucas.

There are some good wineries on Silverado Trail. Mumms if you like sparkeling wine. Frogs Leap has cool garden area and the wine is great. My new favorite winery is Robert Sinsky. Fully organic wine is amazing, and they do a full tasting menu (also organic and damn tasty)

Jope

Go to Six Flags in Vallejo!

Smug Duckling

Awesome, I am formulating a list of wineries to visit.

This "nature related shit"... any nice trails in particular or what have you?

LuvTheMonkey

mts wrote: »

Via Sattui has good wine , it used to be free but now they charge on weekends. they have a great deli but its also across the street from Dean and delucas.

Holy christ V. Sattui is a wonderful place. If you like reds, get a couple bottles of their 2005 Preston Cabernet. And yes the deli is awesome. (And they can ship into Pennsylvania, thank god).

Andretti has OK wine, very pretty buildings. And a non-zero chance of running into Mario Andretti there (yes it's his vineyard).

Chandon is more of a mass production place, but interesting nonetheless. They do sparkling wines pretty much exclusively, so if that's not your thing probably not worth your time. The old guy who did our tour was cool though, I think the only thing he liked more than drinking wine is getting other people to drink wine.

And I agree with the biking thing, if I had actually been staying in Napa (vs. downtown SF) I would have done the same thing.

3v

Ya uh.. Napa city should be avoided.

I should know I have lived here for 22 years. Stay up valley like suggested and you're golden.

Thanatos

LuvTheMonkey wrote: »

mts wrote: »

Via Sattui has good wine , it used to be free but now they charge on weekends. they have a great deli but its also across the street from Dean and delucas.

Holy christ V. Sattui is a wonderful place. If you like reds, get a couple bottles of their 2005 Preston Cabernet. And yes the deli is awesome. (And they can ship into Pennsylvania, thank god).

Andretti has OK wine, very pretty buildings. And a non-zero chance of running into Mario Andretti there (yes it's his vineyard).

Chandon is more of a mass production place, but interesting nonetheless. They do sparkling wines pretty much exclusively, so if that's not your thing probably not worth your time. The old guy who did our tour was cool though, I think the only thing he liked more than drinking wine is getting other people to drink wine.

And I agree with the biking thing, if I had actually been staying in Napa (vs. downtown SF) I would have done the same thing.

Sattui is, in fact, fantastic, and I'm going to go ahead and disagree entirely about Chandon. It's fucking great. If you like sparkling wines (a.k.a. "champagne") at all, or have never tried them, you should hella go there. They sell pretty much the best budget sparkling wine I've ever had. Like, it tastes like a $70 bottle, and it costs $18. I was thinking it was in Sonoma, or I would have recommended it in the first place.

As for the nature stuff, I wouldn't have a clue, as really I just went there to drink as much hella cheap/free wine as humanly possible.

LuvTheMonkey

Thanatos wrote: »

Sattui is, in fact, fantastic, and I'm going to go ahead and disagree entirely about Chandon. It's fucking great. If you like sparkling wines (a.k.a. "champagne") at all, or have never tried them, you should hella go there. They sell pretty much the best budget sparkling wine I've ever had. Like, it tastes like a $70 bottle, and it costs $18. I was thinking it was in Sonoma, or I would have recommended it in the first place.

As for the nature stuff, I wouldn't have a clue, as really I just went there to drink as much hella cheap/free wine as humanly possible.

Oh I enjoyed Chandon, their wines are very good. Some aren't fans of the sparkling stuff though. I did love checking out the GIANT barrels they use for whatever step of the process. One could fit a significant amount of monkeys in them!

shugarae

Thanatos wrote: »

LuvTheMonkey wrote: »

mts wrote: »

Via Sattui has good wine , it used to be free but now they charge on weekends. they have a great deli but its also across the street from Dean and delucas.

Holy christ V. Sattui is a wonderful place. If you like reds, get a couple bottles of their 2005 Preston Cabernet. And yes the deli is awesome. (And they can ship into Pennsylvania, thank god).

Sattui is, in fact, fantastic, and I'm going to go ahead and disagree entirely about Chandon.

Another vote for V. Sattui. They have a really cool picnic area outside - buy some wine, cheese, fruit, etc. from the deli and go chill outside. If you like sweeter dessert wines, I highly recommend their Muscato.

Also, check out the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). You might need reservations for dinner, but it's usually easy to get in for lunch.

Thanatos

shugarae wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

LuvTheMonkey wrote: »

mts wrote: »

Via Sattui has good wine , it used to be free but now they charge on weekends. they have a great deli but its also across the street from Dean and delucas.

Holy christ V. Sattui is a wonderful place. If you like reds, get a couple bottles of their 2005 Preston Cabernet. And yes the deli is awesome. (And they can ship into Pennsylvania, thank god).

Sattui is, in fact, fantastic, and I'm going to go ahead and disagree entirely about Chandon.

Another vote for V. Sattui. They have a really cool picnic area outside - buy some wine, cheese, fruit, etc. from the deli and go chill outside. If you like sweeter dessert wines, I highly recommend their Muscato.

Also, check out the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). You might need reservations for dinner, but it's usually easy to get in for lunch.

Their Muscato is delicious. You should try it even if you usually don't like sweeter dessert wines. It's pretty great.

mts

v. sattui madeira is infinitely better than the muscato. plu sit comes in a sweet bottle.

just to clarify, v. sattui is one of my favorites, i was just stating it is no longer free on weekends to taste and ever since they won some awards it has been a bit of a zoo there.

they also have great reislings