CURRENT AS OF 07/19/2010 06:21 PDT

Dates: July 19 (evening gathering), July 20, 21, 22, 2010

We' trying for a slightly bigger bus, but I'll leave the group at 24 (plus supernumeraries such as ourselves, WineDavid, Winefarm, SB, SH?) until we know for sure. We should know very soon on this.

Accommodations: See below.

The Tour will have the same format, and some (but not all) of the same wineries. Restaurants/meals will - of necessity - be different, but we hope equally good and interesting.

Costs other than the Hotel will be posted, along with deposit/payment information as soon as possible - we won't know exact figures until we finish our bus/wineries/dinners arrangements. We hope it will be roughly in line with last time, but it could be a little more. Depends on how much the wineries want a big group and how much they love woot!!

This is the current (7/11/2010) list and in the order of priority


A Note to those below 26: Do NOT be discouraged. If last year's experience bears out, you will probably end up with a chance to go as some other potential participants determine they cannot go for a whole host of reasons.


woopdedoo
rpm
SWMBO (closing dinner only)

1. coynedj
2. mother

4. HitAnyKey42
5. ddeudeg
6. bahwm

9. Ublink
10. mrs.Ublink
11. Cesare
12. Krista
13. wkdpanda
14. JOATMON
15. txmusicman49
16. txmusicman49+1
17. gregorylane
18. gregorylane+1
19. andyduncan
20. klezman
21. apw2123
22. richardhod
23. merbill






regrets: tmr, NonnaWY, yumitori, yumitor +1, cheron98, Imagine4vr, jenludwig, jenludwig+1, canonizer, CAGirl , CAGirl +1, Krugsters, Shamer, michaelstencel, otolith, otolith+1, javadrinker, MarkDaSpark, cellochick, chellochick+1, moondragon, smartheart, smartheart+1, kkv123, kkv123+1, dsapp, zmanonice, zmanonice+1, conroo, conroo+1 zTimontybZ, zTimothybZ+1, PS, PS+1, pfcouvar, jmy

UPDATE 4/30 with Woop's Tour Hotel Information:

Here is the info for reservations:

We have a block of 14 rooms reserved at the Sonoma Valley Inn for July 19-22
Phone: 707-938-9200

They are $170.00 per night.

The block reservation is under: Woot Wine Tour

Here is the description:

Fireplace Garden Two Queen Rooms with private patio or balconies overlooking our Garden Courtyard. Each morning a complimentary continental breakfast is delivered to the room in the morning.

rpm endorsement:

Oustanding Work, Woop!

This is a wonderful central location in the heart of Sonoma, about a block from the Plaza in Sonoma - which means that evening/morning walking around and/or pre/post tour dining, shopping, and historical sightseeing are greatly facilitated.

It will also facilitate shorter travel times all days except Tuesday which will be in Northern Sonoma County.

If we are able to repeat the Iron Horse Early Evening Tasting w/Heavy Hors D'ouerves, which was immensely popular last time, finding some dinner will be much easier and will not require driving.

With this location, you will not need a car except to get here and leave. Check with the hotel for airport transportation information - I'm sure there's something.

I think these rooms, with two queen beds, will be large enough for those who want to double up to economize.

I'm tired of hearing PolarBear's stories of great times he (and everyone else) had on the last trip. So, count me in for this one.

And since I hardly mention it, think of all that I haven't said.

Definitely a trip worth going on for any aspiring wineaux. Educational. Great wines and VIP treatment at the wineries. Dinners with winemakers. If the second trip is half as good, it will be memorable. And I expect that rpm will not let it slip one iota.

I'll keep an eye out for sure, especially since this year's thing failed so miserably. Count me as a definite MAYBE, pending finances and time and all that jazz

Put me on the list as a "probably, as long as the world doesn't fall apart in the interim".

I'm interested. Of course, being a student, a lot depends on finances, class schedules, etc. So I'll keep an eye on the list here and see how things develop

I'm definitely interested!

Big time! Definitely interested and I'm going to start working on the SO!

I am most definitely interested. Please add me to the list!

Count me in as a definite. No doubt about it. I'll figure out finances such as to get me out there.

As for accommodations, I'm all for the spartan (ie. cheaper) look. I rarely care too much about what type of room I'm staying in.

bkarney wrote:Big time! Definitely interested and I'm going to start working on the SO!

My wife was not interested in three days of wine tasting. So the saved airfare and tour costs became my wine budget. So, it worked.

Rob, If you (and potentially Woop!) are willing to coordinate this effort again, I would love to participate.

Put me down as a "seriously interested". I have friend (yes, other than wine.wooters) in Santa Clara, I could make this a great vacation week.

Count me in. Although I would give my seat up for a Wooter who missed out last time. I can always drive up and tag along. Sip and Spit worked well for the tour.

And the number for the bus sounds right, especially when you add in the wine we purchased. Having those empty seats was very handy.

The Best Western seemed to work well for the 3 days since we were going to both Sonoma & Napa wine areas. But if it's decided to concentrate on Napa only, it is a drive, so a Napa area location would be better.

The BW was handy off the 101, plus there was a local shopping center close by (CostCo, BestBuy, Target), plus fast food. Came in handy when my camera died.

And they were nice enough to let us store wine there until WD picked it up on Thursday morning (kudos to Java and TimB for helping load then).

MarkDaSpark wrote:The Best Western seemed to work well for the 3 days since we were going to both Sonoma & Napa wine areas. But if it's decided to concentrate on Napa only, it is a drive, so a Napa area location would be better.

The BW was handy off the 101, plus there was a local shopping center close by (CostCo, BestBuy, Target), plus fast food. Came in handy when my camera died.

Are you talking about the BW you guys stayed at last year or the one we stayed at in Feb? Cuz I don't want to stay at that one again.

MarkDaSpark wrote:
The Best Western seemed to work well for the 3 days since we were going to both Sonoma & Napa wine areas. But if it's decided to concentrate on Napa only, it is a drive, so a Napa area location would be better.

As an aside, I think I'd personally prefer more Sonoma than Napa. But I guess that stems from all the stuff ya'll say, such as that Napa is the more "commercial" like with Sonoma being the more small family owned type. Though it obviously would depend on the wineries chosen, I'm sure. And we already know rpm would choose great ones.

cheron98 wrote:Are you talking about the BW you guys stayed at last year or the one we stayed at in Feb? Cuz I don't want to stay at that one again.

Best Western we stayed at for the tour.

Best Western Garden Inn
1500 Santa Rosa Avenue
Santa Rosa, California, 95404-5428, US
Phone: 707/546-4031 Fax: 707/526-4903

We are so into this please put us down.

We most likely though will have to rent a minivan since we have a car seats and follow behind the bus.

We would also like to bring my mother-in-law if that's OK for babysitting purposes.

I'm game, as would be the wife. She just doesn't know it yet.

Would love to go, girlfriend probably won't be interested, but the life of a litigator is not amenable to planning .

I'd love to be able to come, and hopefully can secure an alternate if I have to cancel.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:As an aside, I think I'd personally prefer more Sonoma than Napa. But I guess that stems from all the stuff ya'll say, such as that Napa is the more "commercial" like with Sonoma being the more small family owned type. Though it obviously would depend on the wineries chosen, I'm sure. And we already know rpm would choose great ones.

Shamer and I will go to where we're told to go.

But like he said.

Also...have the dates of July 20-23rd been set in stone? I ask because we'll be using FF miles to book and I need to know soon. Have to book a year out for the direct flights. I assume it's ok to fly into San Francisco...

Peggy and I are definitely interested, and can arrange the time. But the finances will be the deciding factor.

I didn't pay much mind to such details the first time around since I wasn't attending; excluding airfare (and wine purchases), roughly how much did the trip cost individually?

You know I'm in.

yumitori wrote:Peggy and I are definitely interested, and can arrange the time. But the finances will be the deciding factor.

I didn't pay much mind to such details the first time around since I wasn't attending; excluding airfare (and wine purchases), roughly how much did the trip cost individually?

I think it ended up about $600 each for lunch, dinner, and the bus (there as a rebate that brought it down to that, IIRC) - lodging, Breakfast and wine purchases were on you. Tourists can chime in on lodging cost.

I would expect to pay a bit more this time, as last time I was going to be there anyway so my airfare was not covered. This time I do not have separate plans to be in the area, so I would expect airfare to be covered as well. What we did last time was the tour covered my (&SWMBO's) lodging and meals, tasting fees (rare), and bus costs -- I don't make anything for leading the tour, but it doesn't cost me anything, either. Actually, it did end up costing me a few hundred $ to make color copies of the wine aroma wheels (on heavy stock), tasting forms, and various information I provided like the Knights of the Vine information.

If we stay at the Best Western -- which I have to be honest I didn't love; as a local I just find staying on the old 101 industrial/commercial strip in Santa Rosa unappealing -- I would use a figure of about $800 each for planning purposes. Woopdedoo can probably give you a better estimate.

If you're interested, check out the pretour thread last year as well as the Magical History Tour thread.

Krugsters wrote:Shamer and I will go to where we're told to go.

But like he said.

Also...have the dates of July 20-23rd been set in stone? I ask because we'll be using FF miles to book and I need to know soon. Have to book a year out for the direct flights. I assume it's ok to fly into San Francisco...

San Fran or Oakland. You might get better rates at Oakland, and they're not that far apart. Oakland is a little easier to travel to/from the Napa/Sonoma region.

cheron98 wrote:San Fran or Oakland. You might get better rates at Oakland, and they're not that far apart. Oakland is a little easier to travel to/from the Napa/Sonoma region.

There was also one more airport that came up in the searches but I can't remember which one...wait, I'll look...
Sacramento.
Which is the best? I know nothing about this region other than which wine to drink. On hotels and airports I'm lost.

Krugsters wrote:There was also one more airport that came up in the searches but I can't remember which one...wait, I'll look...
Sacramento.
Which is the best? I know nothing about this region other than which wine to drink. On hotels and airports I'm lost.

I think, for me, Sacramento kept coming up with higher fares all around. Oakland is closer to the area - Oakland is south, Sacramento is northeast.

Bonuses to flying to Sacto or Oakland instead of San Fran: Traffic. You don't have to deal with the San Fran traffic.

cheron98 wrote:I think, for me, Sacramento kept coming up with higher fares all around. Oakland is closer to the area - Oakland is south, Sacramento is northeast.

Bonuses to flying to Sacto or Oakland instead of San Fran: Traffic. You don't have to deal with the San Fran traffic.

Sacramento is (a) exceptionally hot, (b) further from the wine country, and (c) probably has far fewer flights. Not sure what the public transportation options to Napa/Sonoma county are from Sacto.

In my experience, it has usually ended up to be cheaper to fly into SFO than to Oakland - even though everyone says Oakland is cheaper. Jet Blue is the biggie to Oakland and it's not the bargain it once was. I usually find more real bargain fares to SFO, which should not surprise given it's the highest trafficked of the Bay Area airports.

Dates are not set in stone, it was just a preliminary thought to get people thinking and to gauge interest.

I understand the desire to lock in fares/reservations. Perhaps over the next few weeks the gnomes who did the last one can start seeing if we can line up the wineries.

I'm open to suggestions.

Places I'd want to include for sure (without slighting anyone not on the list) are:

1. Corison (napa)
2. Buena Vista (sonoma)
3. Wellington (sonoma)
4. Iron Horse (russian river)

I think that the lunch at Seghesio was so good that we should consider making that one of the dinners; I would go to Duece again, but I would want something other than Tra Vigne in the Napa Valley - the setting was wonderful, but the food did not live up to the reputation (or the price).

With only one exception (and everyone on the tour knows what I thought that was - some people liked it, though), the other wineries we visited were also well worth our time and trouble, but I would like enough variation that would explore some other things and places.

I welcome suggestions and thoughts, both woot and non-woot.

rpm wrote:
1. Corison (napa)
2. Buena Vista (sonoma)
3. Wellington (sonoma)
4. Iron Horse (russian river)

I think that the lunch at Seghesio was so good that we should consider making that one of the dinners

1. YAY!
2. YAY!
3. YAY!
4. YAY!

Seghesio - when we went up there in February, I really was underimpressed with their wines. I thought they were too pricey for what was in my glass. But I do recall everyone raving about the lunch there, so yeah, that might be worthwhile.

Mayo is around the corner from Wellington and that was quite good. Maybe fit that in somehow? There was also a lovely little cafe near Wellington that was BYOB with no corkage ... but I'm sure we'd have to make extra special reservations with them as we would likely have to take over the whole place. It's kind of the locals' hidden gems that one of the guys at Wellington (not Peter or Toby) told us about. I'd love to go back there.

cheron98 wrote:1. YAY!
2. YAY!
3. YAY!
4. YAY!

Seghesio - when we went up there in February, I really was underimpressed with their wines. I thought they were too pricey for what was in my glass. But I do recall everyone raving about the lunch there, so yeah, that might be worthwhile.

Mayo is around the corner from Wellington and that was quite good. Maybe fit that in somehow? There was also a lovely little cafe near Wellington that was BYOB with no corkage ... but I'm sure we'd have to make extra special reservations with them as we would likely have to take over the whole place. It's kind of the locals' hidden gems that one of the guys at Wellington (not Peter or Toby) told us about. I'd love to go back there.

I've been very pleased with Mayo wines. Cesare and I found them for $20-$35 a bottle and the CF and PS were among the better examples of new world wines (BIG, ETC.) I've found.

cheron98 wrote:1. YAY!
2. YAY!
3. YAY!
4. YAY!

Seghesio - when we went up there in February, I really was underimpressed with their wines. I thought they were too pricey for what was in my glass. But I do recall everyone raving about the lunch there, so yeah, that might be worthwhile.

Mayo is around the corner from Wellington and that was quite good. Maybe fit that in somehow? There was also a lovely little cafe near Wellington that was BYOB with no corkage ... but I'm sure we'd have to make extra special reservations with them as we would likely have to take over the whole place. It's kind of the locals' hidden gems that one of the guys at Wellington (not Peter or Toby) told us about. I'd love to go back there.

Seghesio is an interesting story. I think that despite all the upgrading and modernizing and the younger generation taking over and moving out of the bulk wine business -- where they were one of the very top quality bulk Zinfandel producers for over 50 years, their wine was the backbone of many of the best jugs and mid-level wines -- into the premium business, the character of their Zinfandel based wines has remained what I call "rustic" - a little rough around the edges, hot, tannic. That said, their Italian varietals we had at lunch were outstanding, if expensive. Their field blend chianti type wine comes from a vineyard that was part of what went into the old (pre-Prohibition) Italian Swiss Colony Tipo Chianti that sold for higher prices in New York in 1910 than top imported Chiantis from Italy. According to my great uncle Tony and my grandfather who worked for Swiss Colony briefly (and their brother was the chief winemaker through 1908), it was really that good. That was a wine worth tasting. And, the food was among the best of the trip! I think of it more as a meal experience with some tasting than as a winery visit, and would schedule it that way.

So, the tentative estimate is $800 per person + airfare (getting to the group/bus), lodging, Breakfast and wine purchases?

rpm wrote:Seghesio is an interesting story. I think that despite all the upgrading and modernizing and the younger generation taking over and moving out of the bulk wine business -- where they were one of the very top quality bulk Zinfandel producers for over 50 years, their wine was the backbone of many of the best jugs and mid-level wines -- into the premium business, the character of their Zinfandel based wines has remained what I call "rustic" - a little rough around the edges, hot, tannic. That said, their Italian varietals we had at lunch were outstanding, if expensive. Their field blend chianti type wine comes from a vineyard that was part of what went into the old (pre-Prohibition) Italian Swiss Colony Tipo Chianti that sold for higher prices in New York in 1910 than top imported Chiantis from Italy. According to my great uncle Tony and my grandfather who worked for Swiss Colony briefly (and their brother was the chief winemaker through 1908), it was really that good. That was a wine worth tasting. And, the food was among the best of the trip! I think of it more as a meal experience with some tasting than as a winery visit, and would schedule it that way.

Interesting indeed! Yeah, I think if it's scheduled this way, I'd be totally ok with it. And it would at least be one place that I know my wallet would be safe

Moondragon wrote:So, the tentative estimate is $800 per person + airfare (getting to the group/bus), lodging, Breakfast and wine purchases?

And on the flip side, to be clear, the $800 per person would cover six meals (three lunches, three dinners), the bus/driver for three days, any tasting fees, and a %cut to cover the costs of our two knowledgeable hosts. Am I missing anything?

Seems quite reasonable to me and a very special opportunity.

My wife can't come (due to work), so I'll be a single. I'll go with whatever hotel situation people decide on: upscale or budget. And if someone needs to save money or just wants to share a double (HAK?), I am willing to do that, too. No problem.

Wish we were leaving this afternoon!

dsapp wrote:Wish we were leaving this afternoon!

Agreed. All this talk is just making my envy of those who participated last time even greater.

In, please add to list.

As an FYI, I just did a quick tally and we're already very close (if not already at) that magic # 24 that rpm mentioned. In the tally I only have +1's listed for otolith & yumitori as they are the only ones who specifically stated such. If others have +1's in their "interested attendee" count, speak your peace.

Also, whether Krugsters & shamer need to be counted towards the 24 limit since they would need to rent a mini-van for the babies (and MIL) needs to be figured out. I'm assuming they won't need to count toward the total, other than making sure they are accounted for at the meals and tours, etc.

There were only a couple of "definites", a bunch "definitely interested", and a few true "maybees" pending fundage.

This is the current list including everyone who has spoken up (and in the order of speakage):
dsapp
cheron98
coynedj
darlenee1
mother
bkarney
Imagine4vr
HitAnyKey42
canonizer
NonnaWY
MarkDaSpark
Krugsters
Shamer
otolith
otolith +1
PetiteSirah
yumitori
yumitori +1
javadrinker
michaelstencel

HitAnyKey42 wrote:As an FYI, I just did a quick tally....
This is the current list of lucky people

We'd really love to. Unfortunately the odds of fundage being available, given the upcoming bundle of joy, makes it unlikely in the extreme. Unless someone knows how I can go myself and survive the onslaught upon my return?

joelsisk wrote:We'd really love to. Unfortunately the odds of fundage being available, given the upcoming bundle of joy, makes it unlikely in the extreme. Unless someone knows how I can go myself and survive the onslaught upon my return?

I don't think I knew this! Congrats !

HitAnyKey42 wrote:
There were only a couple of "definites", a bunch "definitely interested", and a few true "maybees" pending fundage.

This is the current list including everyone who has spoken up (and in the order of speakage):
dsapp
cheron98
coynedj
darlenee1
mother
bkarney
Imagine4vr
HitAnyKey42
canonizer
NonnaWY
MarkDaSpark
Krugsters
Shamer
otolith
otolith +1
PetiteSirah
yumitori
yumitori +1
javadrinker
michaelstencel

I'm not sure if 'fairness' comes into play but certainly Woop and anyone else who made the initial trip (and thus a potential subsequent one) a possibility should have maybe slightly-better-than-equal-opportunity to speak up.

Also, as gf is, despite my best efforts, still a budlight kinda gal I'm happy splitting a room, with cots potentially, to defray expenses.