I remember the first time I visited Napa. It was early 2000s - 2001 to be specific. Other than booking our flight, a hotel, and renting a car, we didn’t do a lot of planning. We were fortunate enough to know someone whose family owned a wine store. When we mentioned booking a trip to Northern California to go wine tasting, he was quick to offer to set us up with tastings. In terms of scheduling, everything was quite last minute; we received most of our appointments by fax 😊 the day before our flight to SFO, as well as additional appointments through phone calls/messages once we had arrived.  It may sound hard to believe but not a lot of people were using email to communicate!

During that trip, when we had free time, we referred to the lists and maps in the Presier-Key and drove around looking for signs that said “Open” and/or “No Appointment Required”.  I remember we walked in to one place and the person said: “You need an appointment to taste here” and as we turned to leave, he said: “Just sign this book and that will serve as your appointment”.

Before that trip, I enjoyed drinking wine…but that trip is what sparked my real interest in wine. Since then, I’ve visited Napa more than ten times, and things have changed. There are still many wineries and tasting rooms that permit walk ins without an appointment, but with a bit of planning your experience can be much more enjoyable.  

Why Should I Plan?

Napa Valley continues to grow in popularity. The 2018 Visitor Profile assessment shows the following:

• 3.85 million people visited Napa County in 2018;
• Average annual visitors grew 8.9% since 2016 (3.5 million in 2016);
• Total visitor spending in 2018 was $2.2B (yes, billion) which is up 15.9% from 2016.

Source: www.visitnapavalley.com

Below are some reasons why you should consider spending time planning before you arrive in Napa Valley. Once you arrive, you want to be able to focus on the task at hand, which is wine and food! Start planning as soon as possible. Remember: focus on the end goal of drinking wine!

• Making an appointment at a winery or tasting room allows the staff to prepare for your visit. This way, you won’t be cramped into the last available spot at a tasting bar. You may have a semi-private or private tasting depending on the winery. You'll be comfortable and able to enjoy your tasting, and you’ll likely get more personal service from your tasting host, also referred to as wine educator. Use the time in the tasting to your advantage: ask your host more about the wines and winery, as well as about their favorite places to go for food and wine.
• Many locations are not permitted to host visitors who do not have a prior appointment. If you are able, reserve an appointment well in advance as it is often possible to select the exact date – and time – that you want to visit.
• Many wineries offer more than one tasting option. You may be offered several options, including current release tasting, winery tour and tasting, cave tour and tasting, reserve tasting, or wine and food pairing. You can usually find this information on the winery’s website, but some smaller wineries may want to share the options with you over the phone or by email.
• If you are traveling as a group larger than six people, many wineries will not allow you to visit without an appointment.
• Some restaurants are booked weeks – or months – in advance (e.g. The French Laundry).  Are there restaurants that don’t accept reservations? Of course. But many do. Do you really want to spend time waiting for a table at a restaurant?  You could be tasting amazing wine and eating fabulous food!
• Accommodations may be sold out in advance, especially in the summer and fall.

When Should I Go?

There is no one way answer to this. This question can only be answered by you because it depends on what you want to experience.

Winter season means rain, and it’s not very busy.  We visited once in February and while we had a lot of rain, the weather was better than the snow we’d have at home! We had some great tasting experiences with few other people around.

Late spring is the beginning of the busy season.  Summer and fall are by far the busiest. Fall is the harvest season. Weekends in summer and fall are sometimes chaotic. This means one thing: to avoid disappointment and frustration, planning is even more important.

Another thing to consider when planning your trip are the festivals and events that occur in Napa County, as well as federal holidays. This includes:

• BottleRock, a three day music, food, wine and beer festival usually held on Memorial Day weekend
• Auction Napa Valley,a four day charity wine event held from Wednesday to Sunday around the first weekend in June
• Safeway Open (Golf) in September. Phil Mickelson is a California native and he definitely draws a crowd!
• Independence Day and Labor Day

For many people, the summer period is a premium time to take holidays. Napa Valley will see a lot of visitors during the summer. You will likely experience hot days during the summer and early fall. If you are purchasing wine to bring with you, take precautions with coolers and ice packs when possible, as your vehicle will get extremely hot – at least as hot as a preheated oven – and that is not a good way to store your precious wine purchases, even for a short time.

The fall is the busiest season for a winery. It is the time for harvesting grapes, crushing grapes, and the start of the wine making process.It is a magical time to be there, but the roads are busier with more visitors as well as the additional traffic from trucks hauling grapes. Winery personnel are busier as they begin to focus on the harvest and the wine making process.

Another important fact to consider is that weekends get very busy with residents visiting from San Francisco and surrounding areas. Restaurants will be packed, hotels will be sold out, and wineries will be busier all day Saturday and Sunday morning.

Where Should I Stay?

Napa Valley is about 30 miles long and a few miles wide. There are several areas to stay in Napa Valley:

Napa – The city of Napa is at the south end of Napa Valley. Here you’ll find hotels, tasting rooms, restaurants, and shopping. A note about AirBnB - there are strict regulations in the city of Napa for rental properties. A list of properties with valid vacation rental permits can be found on the city of Napa website.

Yountville – The town of Yountville is north of Napa, towards the middle of Napa Valley. The downtown area is just over a mile long so you can easily walk (or bike) everywhere. You’ll find hotels, restaurants including the Michelin-star The French Laundry, tasting rooms and shopping. East and west of the downtown area you’ll find plenty of wineries to enjoy.

Oakville – The town of Oakville has a lot of wineres and vineyards, and is home to the Oakville Grocery. When you drive through the area you'll see a lot of grapes on both sides of Highway 29.

Rutherford – The town of Rutherford has wineries and is home to Rancho Caymus Inn. As with Oakville, when you drive through the area you'll see a lot of grapes on both sides of Highway 29.

‍St. Helena – The town of St. Helena is north of Yountville and south of Calistoga. You will hear locals refer to "up valley" and that includes St. Helena. You’ll find hotels, wineries, tasting rooms, restaurants and shopping. Like the city of Napa, a permit is required for vacation rental properties. A list of properties with valid vacation rental permits can be found on the town of St. Helena website.

Calistoga – The town of Calistoga is located at the north end of Napa Valley. You’ll find hotels, spas, restaurants, and wineries.

‍American Canyon – The southern part of Napa County. There a couple of hotels and restaurants, but you're pretty far from the action here. It's not a bad home base if you're going to spend a lot of time in the Carneros region.

Where Should I Taste?

This is another one of those questions that only you can answer. Wine is very personal. What I like and dislike is different from others.

We typically plan no more than three tastings per day. If we're scheduling tastings at appointment only wineries, we plan one winery in the morning, lunch, and one winery in the afternoon. We may stop for a tasting at a winery or tasting room that accepts walk ins. Drinking lots of water and eating is really important when you are wine tasting. If you're offered food at a tasting, eat it!

Some points to consider include:

• How much do you want to spend per person on a tasting?
• Do you want to learn about the wine making process?
• Are you interested in a cave tour?
• Are you interested in food and wine pairings?
• What wine varietals – e.g. cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay – do you enjoy?
• Are there any wines from Napa Valley you've tried at home or on vacation that you love?

There are over 400 wineries and tasting rooms in Napa Valley. Here is a map to give you an idea of what you're dealing with!

You can pick up a free copy of the Napa Valley Winery Map at any Napa Valley Welcome Center. Locations can be found by clicking here.

For me, planning a trip to Napa Valley is always about maximizing my time tasting wine. I always have a wish list of ten or more wineries. I try to plan our days to make sense geographically, but that doesn't always work out. We usually stay in Napa, so if we start our day in Calistoga, St. Helena, or Yountville, we stay around there for the day, or gradually work our way south.

Read my posts on Planning Our Trip To Napa Valley to see our itinerary!