woopdedoo wrote:Though this is the likely the wrong forum, I propose that the WW folks (as in, us) sponsor a RPM hosted historical tour of CA wine country. We could mix in tastings, with visiting the towns that have been part of its history, with an evening sessions on the history of where we would be visiting the next day. Perhaps 3 days. We, of course, would pay all of RPM's expenses for the trip. Perhaps we could also convince Peter and WD to join us. Maybe this fall?

[the post that started this VERY intriguing line of discussion]

themostrighteous wrote:[the post that started this VERY intriguing line of discussion]

So .. we should wait as to the answer from SWMBO before proceeding, but I would be happy to coordinate some of the plans - I am in MI but I do have a sister and brother out in Bay Area.

rpm wrote:Someone with appropriate administrator privileges should copy the relevant posts over to the pub (or start a new thread on it) and then put a link post in here.

c? where are you? oh, c?!?

in the meantime (cross-posting) ...

if you are interested in this line of discussion, first go here, read from there to the bottom of p.9 & most of p.10 of the Pedroncelli forum, and then go here for new posts.

When 3 weeks was mentioned I thought, "that would be fun". Wish I could go.

But NOW, 3 days?! Perfect mini-vacation for the boss and I.

I would take the suggestion of Woot's involvment one step further. Not only could they use this tour to thank previous customers, but they could use it to introduce prospective clientèle to us passionate wooters as well.

Bro and I are going to be in CA from July 31 +14 days or so. Probably can't squeeze it any earlier, but we'd love to meet up if it ends up in August instead!

I'll be out of the area July 13 through 19 (I travel a lot on business), but other than that, sign me up!

This sounds like a really terrific idea. I don't even mind being potentially the least knowledgeable member of the group. I'd love an excuse to visit CA again anyway. Count me in, with my fiancée, if this actually will fly. I truly hope it does.

DonaldWilliams wrote:This sounds like a really terrific idea. I don't even mind being potentially the least knowledgeable member of the group. I'd love an excuse to visit CA again anyway. Count me in, with my fiancée, if this actually will fly. I truly hope it does.

Trust me, you are not the least knowledgeable. Is wine made from grapes?

joekerjr wrote:Trust me, you are not the least knowledgeable. Is wine made from grapes?

Will we get to see the grape trees?

joekerjr wrote:Trust me, you are not the least knowledgeable. Is wine made from grapes?

Dandelion wine isn't, for example.

What's the weather like in July? Warm or Hot?

Definitely interested in a 3 day event. Especially if we can hit some, most, or all of the wineries we've had on Wine.Woot!

Would be very interesting to meet them, especially Axel Schug, aka Skiwino, from Schug Winery (Sonoma).

woopdedoo wrote:So .. we should wait as to the answer from SWMBO before proceeding, but I would be happy to coordinate some of the plans - I am in MI but I do have a sister and brother out in Bay Area.

SWMBO thinks it's a great idea and wants (insists) to come along.

We could either do it the three days before my reunion (Tue 7/15- Thu 7/17)or the three days after (which would be Monday 7/21-Wed 7/23).

We would need to figure out the logistics of how many people, costs, transportation, arrangements with wineries - I have a few thoughts in addition to Ed from Pedroncelli's generous offer to host a dinner....

Could be a lot of fun!

mdscholar wrote:What's the weather like in July? Warm or Hot?

Definitely interested in a 3 day event. Especially if we can hit some, most, or all of the wineries we've had on Wine.Woot!

Would be very interesting to meet them, especially Axel Schug, aka Skiwino, from Schug Winery (Sonoma).

July will be at least warm, maybe hot. Usually the hottest weather is in August, but July can also be pretty hot. Once you get North of the reach of the fog from the Bay (which lower Napa gets) or along the coast (Russian River gets some), it gets hot and dry in the summer. Great growing conditions! You could expect day temperatures anywhere from 80-100 (but not humid!), with cooler evenings.

I'm not sure all the things that have been on wine woot, but in three days, especially if we have evening events/lectures, you're not going to get to all that many wineries. You cannot do justice to more than 4 a day, perhaps even less if you get to do some barrel tasting and/or really meet the owners/winemakers.

If some of the things I have in mind can be arranged, I would envision the Napa day including a couple of wineries, including some barrel tasting and some time with a vineyard manager, as opposed to ordinary touring.

I don't know how my 99 year old cousin's health will be at that point, but I would certainly contact him about visiting with the group and sharing some of his inside industry knowledge. No promises on that though.

I would think that at this point, we need input from/cooperation with WineDavid39 and the wine woot staff, perhaps also Peter Wellington (LabROUS) for their ideas and ways they might want to see this evolve and participate.

rpm wrote:July will be at least warm, maybe hot. Usually the hottest weather is in August, but July can also be pretty hot. Once you get North of the reach of the fog from the Bay (which lower Napa gets) or along the coast (Russian River gets some), it gets hot and dry in the summer. Great growing conditions! You could expect day temperatures anywhere from 80-100 (but not humid!), with cooler evenings.

I'm not sure all the things that have been on wine woot, but in three days, especially if we have evening events/lectures, you're not going to get to all that many wineries. You cannot do justice to more than 4 a day, perhaps even less if you get to do some barrel tasting and/or really meet the owners/winemakers.

If some of the things I have in mind can be arranged, I would envision the Napa day including a couple of wineries, including some barrel tasting and some time with a vineyard manager, as opposed to ordinary touring.

I don't know how my 99 year old cousin's health will be at that point, but I would certainly contact him about visiting with the group and sharing some of his inside industry knowledge. No promises on that though.

I would think that at this point, we need input from/cooperation with WineDavid39 and the wine woot staff, perhaps also Peter Wellington (LabROUS) for their ideas and ways they might want to see this evolve and participate.

This keeps sounding better and better. I'm prepared to set aside whatever else may be on my plate for either set of dates, and start looking for a flight from Buffalo. I'll be watching the forum, and thanks.

rpm wrote:SWMBO thinks it's a great idea and wants (insists) to come along.

We could either do it the three days before my reunion (Tue 7/15- Thu 7/17)or the three days after (which would be Monday 7/21-Wed 7/23).

We would need to figure out the logistics of how many people, costs, transportation, arrangements with wineries - I have a few thoughts in addition to Ed from Pedroncelli's generous offer to host a dinner....

Could be a lot of fun!

this really does sounds like it would be a lot of fun.

it's still early, i know, but i'd throw my hat in on 7/15-7/17. that way the rest of us flying in would have 7/18 & 7/19 to do some additional exploring of our own before heading back on 7/20. i appreciate that the same could be said for 7/19 & 7/20 pre-7/21-7/23, but i would personally rather go on on my own AFTER having the benefit of our educational 3-day tour.

just my $0.02.

themostrighteous wrote:this really does sounds like it would be a lot of fun.

it's still early, i know, but i'd throw my hat in on 7/15-7/17. that way the rest of us flying in would have 7/18 & 7/19 to do some additional exploring of our own before heading back on 7/20. i appreciate that the same could be said for 7/19 & 7/20 pre-7/21-7/23, but i would personally rather go on on my own AFTER having the benefit of our educational 3-day tour.

just my $0.02.

I'd be up for any of those days. I've got plenty of vacation and Napa is only a two hour or so drive up for me!

rpm wrote:We could either do it the three days before my reunion (Tue 7/15- Thu 7/17)or the three days after (which would be Monday 7/21-Wed 7/23).

I want in on this! In general, I think I would prefer the 15th to the 17th but I could do either as long as I get notice. My schedule for July won't be done for maybe a month to 6 weeks, I would just need to request the right days off.

The lovely Mrs. Blink and I are likely to be enthusiastic participants.

While not being in a position to financially support(excuse my split infinitive for those who still pay attention) anyone's [including my own] tour of wine country, I would like to add my appreciation of RPM's knowledge and my moral support for any future information he provides.

rpm wrote:SWMBO thinks it's a great idea and wants (insists) to come along.

We could either do it the three days before my reunion (Tue 7/15- Thu 7/17)or the three days after (which would be Monday 7/21-Wed 7/23).

We would need to figure out the logistics of how many people, costs, transportation, arrangements with wineries - I have a few thoughts in addition to Ed from Pedroncelli's generous offer to host a dinner....

Could be a lot of fun!

GREAT! Check your PMs.

mdscholar wrote:What's the weather like in July? Warm or Hot?

It depends on where you are. If you're in San Francisco, the answer is a pretty resounding "NO!" -- July is gorgeous around here, but the closer to the water you get, the cooler it is. Those 55-60 degree winds make things pretty brisk at the water's edge.

As RPM noted, save for Los Carneros and maybe RRV, the wine country itself is pretty warm, but it is, as they say, a dry heat. 90 is still pretty comfortable. If you're going to stay in the valleys north, pack for summer. If you're going to spend any time immediately around the bay, jeans and a jacket are in order, most likely.

Spoke with SWMBO, and if we can tie this into a trip to CO, where we think my daughter will be for the summer, we will also be in. Less than 9 mos. from last/first/only trip to CA wine country, but I'll be ready.

dodongo wrote:It depends on where you are. If you're in San Francisco, the answer is a pretty resounding "NO!" -- July is gorgeous around here, but the closer to the water you get, the cooler it is. Those 55-60 degree winds make things pretty brisk at the water's edge.

As RPM noted, save for Los Carneros and maybe RRV, the wine country itself is pretty warm, but it is, as they say, a dry heat. 90 is still pretty comfortable. If you're going to stay in the valleys north, pack for summer. If you're going to spend any time immediately around the bay, jeans and a jacket are in order, most likely.

I remember when I first moved to NorCal some friends and I took a trip up to Napa. It was mid-80s down in the South Bay and somewhere in the 90s up in Napa; naturally, we were wearing shorts and sandals. Afterwards, we decided to stop in SF to have dinner and I remember nearly freezing my butt off there. It never ceases to amaze me how much of a temperature differential exists between SF and the rest of the Bay Area.

I am at best a long shot participant, but I hope you all pull this together. It sounds like it would be an amazing combination of good people, good wine and good education. That's my idea of a winning trifecta!

I'll probably drive up from SoCal (Long Beach area), so if anyone is interested in carpooling up, once we get the dates set, let me know. However, I will probably be interested in one (maybe two) day(s) after the historical tour, in touring some of the wineries we weren't able to get to during RPM's magical mystery tour. But that is open for discussion.

mdscholar wrote:I'll probably drive up from SoCal (Long Beach area), so if anyone is interested in carpooling up, once we get the dates set, let me know. However, I will probably be interested in one (maybe two) day(s) after the historical tour, in touring some of the wineries we weren't able to get to during RPM's magical mystery tour. But that is open for discussion.

I'm interested in carpooling up. Maybe we can convince some of our fellow SoCal wine.wooters to join us for a road trip.

mdscholar wrote:RPM's July Magical Mystery Tour of Wine Country.

[crossposting]

dude! THAT IS IT! "RPM's Magical Mystery Tour of Wine Country (July 2007)" that is what we should call it. we should make t-shirts!

themostrighteous wrote:[crossposting]

dude! THAT IS IT! "RPM's Magical Mystery Tour of Wine Country (July 2007)" that is what we should call it. we should make t-shirts!

Dude, for T-shirts, I'd even consider coming out for it. Despite having work. And being there both 2 weeks earlier and 2 weeks later. Argh.

I just got an email from my boss about requesting my summer vacation time (I thought I had another month...hee gads!) I need to decide what to request off from work. I know we aren't even committed to a trip yet, but are there any more voices on which of the two sets of dates would be preferred?

themostrighteous wrote:[crossposting]

dude! THAT IS IT! "RPM's Magical Mystery Tour of Wine Country (July 2007)" that is what we should call it. we should make t-shirts!

Maybe we can get Superspryte to design it (with the correct year)?

Oh, and I was a labrat for the Chaucer Raspberry Mead. Called on Tuesday and no packages, but forgot to call yesterday. DOH! Used a Razz Tease, like RPM's Zin Tease (see iByron's post in Pedroncelli forum (in the middle of page 7).

Hope I did okay. And it was Deja Vu, as it was like the other 2 labrats (package comes out, too small for normal wine ... purple alchohol warning label ... GOLDEN TICKET!!). Total surprise.

mdscholar wrote:Maybe we can get Superspryte to design it (with the correct year)?

yes! and

superspryte wrote:I think that's doable. ^_^

But something I'll suggest is to keep the date relatively inconspicuous; dated/event tees have a tendency to become...lonely after their intended use.

Anyway, what are the details? One-sided, one color? Or do you want the list of wineries on the back? I'm thinking something like a bar crawl shirt. My favorite of that had a list of bars on the back and check boxes that they all had sharpies to check off. Since it was a bar crawl they were a bit...markered up by the end of the night, but I think it would work well for something like a wine tour. ^_^ What do y'all think?

EDIT: And I'd love to go but at that point I'll hopefully either already be in Japan or at least hoarding my money as I'm getting ready to puddle jump on over. *crosses fingers* Doesn't mean I'm not interested in the shirt or talking to you guys though. In fact I'll probably be around in the forums more once I'm over there, heh.

sounds like a great idea. a concert tour theme might be more apropos, though, b/c i've never been on a 3 DAY bar crawl (and the thought of one is just, well, nauseating). let's see...

FRONT:

Wine Country Connect [1] & rpm productions present...

The First [2] Ever Magical Mystery Tour of [Cali?] Wine[.Woot?] Country

starring rpm himself (!) & the La Brat Pack [3]

BACK:

Day One
[INSERT DAY ONE WINERIES]

[AND SO ON FOR DAYS TWO & THREE]

note:
[1] just banking on rpm's suggested tie-in w/ WD & w.w wineries
[2] what? you didn't think this was a one-sy, did ya? it's the beginning of a TRADITION. maybe SB can do the next one. the possibilities are endless.
[3] no excuses here: just couldn't help myself.

Need to add a small note at the bottom. "Shirt designed by superspyrte"

superspryte wrote:Who is superspyrte? ^_~

No need.

Bad typing. At least I got the r in there.

Don't spite the spryte!!

superspryte wrote:Yeah, were you around when bhodilee called me Spyte? XD

Yes, that is where the comment came from.