WineBoard 2006 Excursion to Napa & Sonoma

[Jackie]

************ ABOUT THIS THREAD ************
Once a year, all members of the WineBoard are invited to participate in an offline excursion, usually 3 days, to a selected wine region. In 2006, we are planning a visit to Napa & Sonoma in No. California. The dates (subject to change) are July 21,22, & 23. This thread will discuss the specifics of the itinerary, accommodations, costs, etc.

All are invited to join us. The only requirements are: be at least 21, enjoy wine, and want to have a good time with fellow wineboard members.

************************************

Deirdre, my friend from Regis Martin, will be posting a strawcase itinerary this weekend & will also be available to help people individually with airline tickets, etc.

We want to keep prices moderate and include as many requests as possible. Here's a broad overview of what's she's working on, as far as I know.

Deirdre suggests planning to fly in Thursday, July 20th if possible. Thursday night she suggests staying in "the city", i.e. San Francisco. She can arrange a good discount at a very nice hotel. Dinner on your own or we can plan to meet at any of about a zillion great SF restaurants.

Friday -- 8 AM departure for Napa wineries. Details to come. Friday night stay in Calistoga with group dinner at the California Culinary Academy [correction - Culinary Institute of America - CIA ].

Saturday -- Napa & Silverado Trail wineries. Details to come. Saturday group lunch at Copia, Art & Wine Institute (Julia's kitchen). Saturday night stay at the Flamingo Resort Hotel in Santa Rosa (Sonoma County).

Sunday -- Full day of Sonoma, Healdsburg, Russian River wineries. Lunch & Dinner TBD.

Sunday night departure for airport or TBD???.

What do you all think so far???

Jackie



[This message has been edited by Jackie (edited 04-13-2006).]

[Kcwhippet]

Now you're talking, Jackie. Two questions. If we're staying in Calistoga Friday night, isn't the CCA a bit of a commute? I thought it was in San Francisco. Second, can we make suggestions about particular winery visits? If so, I would very heartily recommend Lewelling in St. Helena and Mietz or Acorn in Healdsburg. They're all nice and small, and not on the normal tourist route. Bill and Betsy Nachbaur, who own Acorn, live in San Francisco might be persuaded to join us for dinner on Thursday evening.

[Jackie]

Opps! You're so right. It was my error.

I think she meant the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone, which is located in St. Helena only 8 miles away from Calistoga.

Part of the CIA is the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant. I'm not sure but this is probably the place Deirdre has in mind. See http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/wsgr/

I like your other suggestions. Sounds like fun. The hard part will be fitting everything in and, of course, getting everyone out of the tasting rooms and back in the van (or whatever). Should be a blast.


[This message has been edited by Jackie (edited 04-13-2006).]

[Jackie]

Check out the wine list at the CIA Greystone.

http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/wsgr/wine.asp

Wine flights too.

[wondersofwine]

I'm so jealous since I won't be able to make it this year.

[Jackie]

For dinner on arrival night (Thursday) I suggest we all go out for dinner together at a Russian Hill neightbor restaurant in San Francisco called 1550 Hyde Cafe and Wine Bar. They have excellent food, a 40,000 bottle wine cellar, wine flights and very winesmart staff.

http://home.earthlink.net/~zootster/index.html

[Kcwhippet]

Where are we staying?

[Jackie]

I don't know yet where we'll be staying. Deirdre is working on accommodations, etc. She'll be posting the "strawcase" itinerary here soon... Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you'all think so far.

[This message has been edited by Jackie (edited 04-15-2006).]

[Jackie]

Judging from the other thread - 2006 offline - I'm thinking 17 people are planning to take part. Here's the list:

WileECoyote 2
tw 2
Californiagirl 2
hotwine 2
winoweenie 2
Bucko 2
Kcwhippet 3
TheEngII 1
Jackie 1

Anyone else contemplating joining us? We'd like to get an idea of approximately how many rooms we'll need, transportation options, etc.

[Innkeeper]

As much as we would love to with you all, buying and renovating this house has not only exhausted us, but left us kind of high and dry dinerowise. Maybe next year!