Napa Valley

Napa Rewards the Person Who Books Three Tastings, Not Six

The commonest way to spoil a Napa trip is to book too much of it. A tasting runs sixty to ninety minutes, and that is before the drive between estates, the conversation you did not expect to have, and the lunch that ran long because it should have. Two to three wineries a day is the pace the valley itself recommends. Five is a schedule rather than a holiday. The second commonest mistake is assuming you can walk in. Almost everything here now runs by appointment, reservations are recommended and often required, and the rooms worth sitting in are committed well before you arrive.

Know before you go

• Fly into San Francisco for the flight choice, at an hour and a half to three hours up to the valley depending on traffic. Oakland is one to two hours, Sacramento about an hour and a half, and Sonoma County, code STS, is only about thirty minutes from Calistoga at the northern end. Napa County Airport is ten minutes from Napa but takes private and charter aircraft only.
• Trip length Three to four nights. At two to three tastings a day, dropping a night removes roughly three appointments, which in practice is a whole sub appellation you will not see.
• Best months May and June, then September and October. Average highs run 77°F / 25°C in May, 82°F / 28°C in June, 84°F / 29°C in September and 78°F / 26°C in October.
• The quiet months January and December are the coolest, both averaging highs of 59°F / 15°C. That is a cardigan rather than a write off, and it comes with the easiest reservations of the year.
• Entry rules Domestic for a United States passport. International visitors arrive under their own nationality's requirements for the United States, usually through San Francisco, and should build the valley transfer into the arrival day rather than onto the end of it.
• Money and fees The dollar, cards everywhere. Tasting fees are charged per person and vary a great deal between estates, so ask what yours costs at the point of booking rather than at the counter.
• Getting around A car is required to move between estates and a liability if you are the one tasting. A hired driver is the standard answer here and the only sensible one for a full day of appointments.
• Tastings by appointment Reservations are recommended and often required, because most estates now run by appointment rather than drop in. Book several days to two weeks ahead for weekdays, several weeks ahead for weekends, and as early as you can manage in peak season and around holidays.
• The daily pace Two to three wineries, not five. A single tasting takes sixty to ninety minutes, and over scheduling is the most reliable way to ruin a day in the valley.
• Harvest is peak season Crush runs from early August through December with the weight of it across the autumn, and it is explicitly the busiest time in the valley, with advance reservations advised for tastings and restaurants alike. Sparkling fruit is picked first in early August, Cabernet Sauvignon starts latest and runs longest, and late harvest fruit can carry into December.

Three tastings in a day is one too many

Take the position seriously, because it is the difference between a trip you remember and a trip you got through. A tasting is sixty to ninety minutes if it is any good, and the ones worth booking are precisely the ones that run long. Add fifteen to thirty minutes of driving between estates, a proper lunch, and the small matter that you are drinking, and a third appointment at four in the afternoon becomes something you attend rather than enjoy. Two in a day, one before lunch and one after, leaves room for the estate that turns out to be the best thing you did all week. Three works if they sit close together and one of them is short. Five is a schedule somebody sold you.

Hire the driver, and build each day geographically

The valley runs north from Napa through Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford to St Helena and Calistoga, and the estates are spread along the whole length of it. You need a car to move between them, which is exactly the problem, because the person driving is the person not tasting. A hired driver is the standard solution here and the only one that makes a full day of appointments work honestly. It solves the second problem too, which is planning. Give a driver the day, cluster your appointments in one part of the valley rather than bouncing between the north and the south, and you convert an hour of driving into another hour at a table. Sonoma County airport is worth knowing about for the same reason: roughly thirty minutes to Calistoga, against an hour and a half to three from San Francisco.

Harvest is the best atmosphere and the worst availability

Crush is the valley at full voltage: fruit arriving at dawn, fermentation on the air, winemakers running on very little sleep. It runs from early August through December, with the autumn as its center, and Napa itself calls it peak season and advises booking tastings and restaurants in advance. If that energy is what you want, take it, but go midweek and book earlier than feels necessary. If you want the same weather with more of the winemakers' attention, May and June give you 77°F / 25°C and 82°F / 28°C days and a valley that has time for you. And if you will trade warmth for access, December and January average highs of 59°F / 15°C and open doors that stay shut all autumn.

Planning brief

The hotel is the easy part of this. What shapes the days is the tasting calendar and whoever is behind the wheel while you use it.

• Best suited to: wine led long weekends; culinary travel; anniversaries and small celebrations; groups of four to six who want one car and one driver.
• Decisions to settle early: harvest or shoulder season; how many appointments a day, honestly; which sub appellations matter to you; the driver; restaurant bookings, which close first.
• Arrival and routing: San Francisco or Oakland for flight choice; Sonoma County for the shortest transfer to the north of the valley; Napa County Airport for private and charter aircraft only.

Three doors, opened slowly

Cabernet obsessive, sparkling curious, or here mostly for the restaurants and the view from the terrace. That answer moves which end of the valley you sleep in and which three estates are worth the day. Send the dates and the tastes, and back comes a tasting calendar with room still left in it.

Anyone weighing one wine region against another before committing should read our Bordeaux guide, which makes the opposite case rather well. Hotel, driver, appointments and tables are coordinated as one itinerary through our leisure travel planning.