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+--- Thread: Regis Martin - Napa Offline 2006 (/thread-15243.html)
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- hotwine - 05-01-2006
Looks like Sep/Oct would work better for us.
- californiagirl - 05-01-2006
We're a July only vote.
That $$ seems steep to me. I'm sure if you stay 5 star for the 3 nights... but there are alternatives.
[This message has been edited by californiagirl (edited 05-01-2006).]
- Deirdre - 05-02-2006
Hi there:
I know the package rate is high for July, and I certainly did not review any five star hotels. The Argent in SF I was able to get a reduced rate, Hilton in Fountain Grove (Santa Rosa) requires a two night stay and the best rate that he was able to give me was $249.00 per night. Transportation for 20 people worked out to be about $2,500 broken down to 10 hours on Friday, 8 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday. You have your meals and the average wine tasting fees per winery are about 7-10 per person times 18 wineries.
- Jackie - 05-02-2006
I'm curious then as to how much might be saved by rescheduling to September? Or is it just a matter of cooler/nicer weather, the added interest of "crush", etc?
We still do not have a good grasp on how many will go when.... Everyone, please register your preference with a strawvote.
Thanks.
- Kcwhippet - 05-02-2006
Judy got rooms for 5 of us in Santa Rosa checking in on Friday 21 July and checking out Tuesday 25 July for $803.20.
- Jackie - 05-02-2006
Santa Rosa is not really in the heart of wine country. It's only a hour or so north of San Francisco. It would be OK for visitng Sonoma county wineries from the Russian River up through Healdsburg. But it's quite a long drive from Santa Rosa to Napa wineries, although it can be done. I think it will mean many hours just driving back and forth to the hotel. Distance is not the only issue, traffic around Santa Rosa can be grueling.
I can't tell what your room rate/night works out to. Which hotel is it? How many rooms?
It will be hard to arrange transportation for everyone if we are not close together.
Thanks,
J.
[This message has been edited by Jackie (edited 05-02-2006).]
- Deirdre - 05-02-2006
Day three is tasting in Sonoma, Russian River, Healsburg area and that is why Santa Rosa was picked. It is within 20 minutes of the first winery! I need to have everyone within 30 minutes from the first winery.
Napa does not have any available accomodations to suit the group.
Deirdre
- Jackie - 05-03-2006
We have not heard from everyone about the two timeframes we're considering, i.e. July 21-23 and Sept/Oct tbd.
Pls. chime in.
Jackie
- TheEngineer - 05-03-2006
Sept Oct is better for me. Also I will not be needing lodging. perhaps last week of sept, first week Oct?
- Bucko - 05-04-2006
Sep/Oct here....
July is not stacking up for us.
- Jackie - 05-04-2006
Here's the tally so far:
Please vote for
1) July Only
2) Sept/Oct Only
3) Either Date is OK
WileECoyote 2 --- ???
tw 2 --- ???
Californiagirl 2 - ???
hotwine 2 --- Sept/Oct
winoweenie 2 --- Not July (too hot) Sept????
Bucko 2 --- Sept/Oct
Kcwhippet 3 --- July Only
TheEngII 1 --- Sept/Oct
Jackie 1 --- Either Date OK
We need to hear from WileECoyote,
tw & Californiagirl. Also it would be good to know if WW can make it in Sept/Oct, since he can't do July. Please check in folks!
BTW,I found a hotel available in Napa on July 21 & 22 for a semi-reasonable price. See the Bel Abri, "A French Country Inn" at http://belabri.NET (not .com). Deirdre is going to check it out for us this weekend.
They also have rooms available in Sept/Oct if that's the concensus of the group.
J.
[This message has been edited by Jackie (edited 05-04-2006).]
- Jackie - 05-04-2006
TheEngII has proposed a date for the Sept/Oct option, i.e. Sept 28 (Thursday) through Oct 1 (Sunday).
If this doesn't work for anyone, this would be a good time to mention it.
We are also still waiting to hear from others about the possibility of July.
- Kcwhippet - 05-15-2006
As mentioned, we are tightly constrained to the end of July, so we've made our own arrangements to stay in Santa Rosa. We'll be doing Napa on Friday and Monday, with Sonoma Cty on Saturday and Sunday. Over the course of the past 25 - 30 years of living and touring out there, I've found that Napa has increasingly become the place to stay away from on the weekends.
At any rate for those of you opting for the Sep/Oct timeframe, and those planning that event, I'd like to offer some suggestions I just read on another Board regarding wine tours. A lot of what they said were thoughts I'd had, but neglected to voice. First off, the audience here are wine geeks for the most part, not casual wine tourists. Personally, what I want to see are wineries not available to the general public, where I can barrel taste with the winemaker, or someone equally knowledgable of the winery and the wine. I want something the average person won't be able to get on their own. If a "regular" winery with a tasting room is on the schedule, I want a VIP tour. I don't want to be standing three deep with a bunch of people off the street who are there to shoot down as much wine as possible before they race to the next winery down the road to do the same there. Take me out back and line up a vertical the folks out front have never even heard of. On both of the last two offlines, we had opportunities to share lunches at wineries with the owner/winemaker, with their wines. We also had some wonderful dinners with some of the winemakers, as well as face time with them away from their wineries. This is very possible in any wine region, because we've done it, besides the wonderful interactions we had when we were hosted by Gene Pierce in the Finger Lakes and Kathy Kongelbak in WA. We've sat with Doug Wight of Lewelling in St. Helena at his dining room table for over four hours just talking about family, wine, philosophy and just life in general (of course sipping wine, too). So, I want a memorable visit someone off the street isn't going to get. Oh, and even though we may be (wine) geeks and we have a lot of bottles in the cellar, we're not listed in Forbes, so bargain accomodations are a must if we're going to have anything left to buy the great wines we're going be tasting.
Just a few thoughts gleaned from another board and out of the dusty recesses of an aging brain.
- Jackie - 05-16-2006
Well put.
J.
- WileECoyote - 05-19-2006
Sorry I have not responded. I have been in the middle of school and xferring to San Diego. I would vote for July, but it looks like Sept/Oct is the winner for the rest. I will be in the gulf putting ordinance on target on time. I did however find the thread "San Diego" to be very informative and will have to take the advice found in there. I miss talking to you guys and will try to keep up when I can. I have tried a few wines since then. One being 2003 Joseph Phelps, Cab Sav. I had it with a mint roasted lamb. Very tasty. I know this is not the section for that so I will not continue on. Take it easy guys and gals!
Dave
- californiagirl - 05-20-2006
Sorry- I will not be making the later date planned. Hubby's work schedule prevents us from attending. Ya'll have a great time...
I will definitely enjoy seeing KC and Judy this summer... As well as my hubby and kids=)
- chittychattykathy - 05-30-2006
September & towards the end is best.
(Sorry Bob, I am you-know-where most of July.)
[img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
- tw - 06-01-2006
september and october
- Kcwhippet - 09-08-2006
Any progress on this? It looks like it went stagnant since June. Harvest has started up already and should be in full swing in another week or two. The end of September would be a great time to visit out there. There's nothing as wonderful to a wine geek as the aroma of fermenting grapes. I wish we could go during this time, but Judy's show schedule is in full swing so she's tied up till near the end of November. In fact, she's leaving Tuesday for a show and won't be back for about 11 days. Grueling work!! I used to do shows for about 17 years when I was much younger, but I wouldn't be able to take the grind anymore in my advancing years.