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San Fran & wine country in Sept.

taking shit wayyyyyyyyyyy too seriously. wasting expensive food= giving it to a 4 YO. other than that ho hum nothing wrong with dropping $500 per person for food.
 
DeacWatcher said:
I am going to be spending 4 nights in October in the Kenwood/Sonoma area. We are going to Benzinger for the partner's tour & probably going to do the Platypus tour of north Sonoma/Russian River Valley. http://sonomacanopytours.com/
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My only experience with a Platypus wine tour was not a good one. It was part of a package with a hot air balloon ride. We had zero input on the itinerary and the wineries we visited were definitely subpar. My guess is they have "relationships" with some of these wineries in exchange for bringing customers there. Otherwise, there is no good reason to take a paid tour to a kosher winery!

This was in August of 2010 and hot as hell, yet the driver wouldn't leave the AC on while we were in the winery. So every time we came back to the vehicle it was smoking hot inside. It would usually cool down by the time we got to the next winery. Rinse/repeat. The only thing that saved the day was a great dinner at Bottega.

YMMV but I would ask if you have any input with respect to the itinerary or be allowed to see it before you book the tour.
 
And we wonder why people in the Middle East want to kill us.
 
84Deac said:
My only experience with a Platypus wine tour was not a good one. It was part of a package with a hot air balloon ride. We had zero input on the itinerary and the wineries we visited were definitely subpar. My guess is they have "relationships" with some of these wineries in exchange for bringing customers there. Otherwise, there is no good reason to take a paid tour to a kosher winery!

This was in August of 2010 and hot as hell, yet the driver wouldn't leave the AC on while we were in the winery. So every time we came back to the vehicle it was smoking hot inside. It would usually cool down by the time we got to the next winery. Rinse/repeat. The only thing that saved the day was a great dinner at Bottega.

YMMV but I would ask if you have any input with respect to the itinerary or be allowed to see it before you book the tour.
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I had a good experience with them (with AC), but yea, you don't know wineries you're going to ahead of time, and there probably are deals being cut, but it is a business. We hit 2 really good ones and 2 average.
 
Pretty big (6.1) and long earthquake in the middle of the night roughly 20 miles from Napa. Would have scared the crap out of any visitors...
 
That's a pretty big sized quake even for native Californians and it did a fair amount of damage. Tourists had to be absolutely crapping their pants.
 
I am 6 weeks out from being in the wine country. I am not looking to hit all the trendy restaurants but will try to some pretty popular ones. Should I go ahead and make a reservation now?
 
DeacWatcher said:
I am 6 weeks out from being in the wine country. I am not looking to hit all the trendy restaurants but will try to some pretty popular ones. Should I go ahead and make a reservation now?
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At the "trendy" you might have to. It's never a bad idea to be over-prepared to cover yourself.
 
Travel the ridge between Sonoma and Napa...I think one "mountain" is Mount Veeder...anyway there are some good vineyards up there, some commercial, some very small stuff that is hard to get on the east coast without the internet. It's great because you do your tasting while sitting on a bench with a mountain view over a vineyard.

http://www.mtveeder.com/

www.chateaupotelle.com
 
WinkinDeac said:
Flanagan vineyards is owned by Eric Flanagan, Class of '85. I hear the wine is very highly rated. I know it's in the wine country, but I don't know if it's close to whee y'all are going.
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Has anyone been over to Flanagan's before? They do not do normal tours as they don't staff those employees, but certified vineyard sommeliers will show you around by appointment. Their vineyard is close to where we are staying.
 
DeacWatcher said:
Has anyone been over to Flanagan's before? They do not do normal tours as they don't staff those employees, but certified vineyard sommeliers will show you around by appointment. Their vineyard is close to where we are staying.
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I don't know anything about it, but that sounds great. I found that the smaller vineyards were better in Sonoma.
 
deacphan said:
let me know if anyone comes down ill.
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In case you were wondering, it was a really good lunch (obviously), and some of the dishes were the best of their type I've ever had. All in all, it wasn't really worth the cost for the meal itself, and probably not altogether, but the experience was pretty great. Everything was as top-notch as I've ever experienced at any restaurant in my life, even if I have had some better individual dishes at other places. I can post the menu if you (or anyone) is interested to see what it consisted of.
 
deacphan said:
please do
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Menu

Add in a whole bunch of desserts and a couple snacks along the way and you've got yourself a 4 hours lunch!

The oysters and pearls was amazing, as was the wagyu. The other plates were all very good, but those were the standouts. You couldn't even see the mac & cheese underneath the amount of black truffle they shaved over it, but strangely the truffle wasn't overpowering. There was a "rocky road" deconstructed dessert that was great, the specialty bonbons at the very end were great, as were the tiny macaroons they had. The robiola dish (it was a somewhat sour very creamy cheese that was a mix of goat/sheep/cows milk, kind of odd) was pretty awful, as agreed upon by everyone at our table, but hey, not everything can win.

Service was included! what a steal!
 
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Why is it cheaper to rent a premium/luxury sedan than it is a hatchback/compact car? Those are like $20 more per day. Is it the gas mileage?
 
bringing this thread back up. Going for a girls weekend in either Napa or Sonoma in early November. Where should we stay? We want to probably book a tour or two, and get some reservations. Looking not to be too $pendy.
 
dashionista said:
bringing this thread back up. Going for a girls weekend in either Napa or Sonoma in early November. Where should we stay? We want to probably book a tour or two, and get some reservations. Looking not to be too $pendy.
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Look for a VRBO. So much cheaper than the hotels.
 
Looking for somewhere good to eat in St. Helena.

Any suggestions?
 
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