cheron98 wrote:Bueller?

Woot needs a "like" button.

TOP issmussbmyluckyday

HitAnyKey42 wrote:The difference this year though may be whether they are a given for both tours.

A little birdy (griffin) in Wooster last weekend told me he has said he was available for both tours.

gregorylane wrote:Woot needs a "like" button.

TOP issmussbmyluckyday

I know everyone (myself included) is quite anxious to get some of the details, but if we look back to the 2010 tour we didn't even know what hotel we were staying at until 4/30. So this year, we actually got that info a good amount earlier.
Many people were still booking their flights and getting things settled well into June, too.

And they didn't have the itinerary for the tour finalized until just a couple weeks before the tour. There were hints, name drops, and a few things here and there, but the final email with the actual details didn't come out from woop until 7/12 (a mere 8 days before the tour). That's when we got the final cost (though there were some minor adjustments at the end of the tour) and list of wineries we were visiting each day.
I do hope we can get most of that information sooner this year, and I'm also one of those that is impatient and wants more details now, but we're still a long ways off from when we got details previously.

People were also cancelling and joining the tour all the way up until less than 2 weeks before the tour. Hopefully that doesn't happen this year, but I do believe we still need some input from rpm/woop on whether we need to find ways to get some more people on the second tour (which currently is short of attendees).

Patience, grasshoppers!

In need of a little advice--I'd like to take SWMBO to French Laundry for dinner on Saturday. She'd really like to go to Morimoto's. What would you suggest? Main reason for Morimoto's is because we're big fans of The Iron Chef. Personally, if I could get in to the French Laundry, that would be my choice, but, well, you know how it is. Also, any recommendations for a nice spa/hotel to stay in that night? We got a room at Sonoma Valley Inn for the rest of the time we'll be there, so I'd like to do something a little more special.

Thanks!

otolith wrote:In need of a little advice--I'd like to take SWMBO to French Laundry for dinner on Saturday. She'd really like to go to Morimoto's. What would you suggest? Main reason for Morimoto's is because we're big fans of The Iron Chef. Personally, if I could get in to the French Laundry, that would be my choice, but, well, you know how it is. Also, any recommendations for a nice spa/hotel to stay in that night? We got a room at Sonoma Valley Inn for the rest of the time we'll be there, so I'd like to do something a little more special.

Thanks!

From what I have heard, if you want to go to French Laundry, you have to call in the instant reservations are opened for the night you want to go. Otherwise, it's all booked up.

Especially on a Saturday night.

That might solve your issue right there.

otolith wrote:In need of a little advice--I'd like to take SWMBO to French Laundry for dinner on Saturday. She'd really like to go to Morimoto's. What would you suggest? Main reason for Morimoto's is because we're big fans of The Iron Chef. Personally, if I could get in to the French Laundry, that would be my choice, but, well, you know how it is. Also, any recommendations for a nice spa/hotel to stay in that night? We got a room at Sonoma Valley Inn for the rest of the time we'll be there, so I'd like to do something a little more special.

Thanks!

I follow this thread to torture myself... *sniff*

You're doing the high-end version of debating between Red Lobster and Long John Silvers. Even if Morimoto's wasn't disappointing* French Laundry is a completely different league of thing!

*Went this spring to the Honolulu location, Morimoto was in the kitchen, and while the apps ruled, the mains were under seasoned messes.

otolith wrote:In need of a little advice--I'd like to take SWMBO to French Laundry for dinner on Saturday. She'd really like to go to Morimoto's. What would you suggest? Main reason for Morimoto's is because we're big fans of The Iron Chef. Personally, if I could get in to the French Laundry, that would be my choice, but, well, you know how it is. Also, any recommendations for a nice spa/hotel to stay in that night? We got a room at Sonoma Valley Inn for the rest of the time we'll be there, so I'd like to do something a little more special.

Thanks!

The Westin Verasa near downtown Napa is a very nice place to stay. Some of their rooms have riverfront balconies.

mother wrote:I follow this thread to torture myself... *sniff*

You're doing the high-end version of debating between Red Lobster and Long John Silvers. Even if Morimoto's wasn't disappointing* French Laundry is a completely different league of thing!

*Went this spring to the Honolulu location, Morimoto was in the kitchen, and while the apps ruled, the mains were under seasoned messes.

SWMBO and I had dinner at the French Laundry in 1995. It was very good, even excellent, but hardly a transcendent dining experience. Perhaps its better now, given that the raves have been coming for more than 15 years, but to my mind it was not worth more than a single Michelin star.

Sorry Morimoto was disappointing.

rpm wrote:SWMBO and I had dinner at the French Laundry in 1995. It was very good, even excellent, but hardly a transcendent dining experience. Perhaps its better now, given that the raves have been coming for more than 15 years, but to my mind it was not worth more than a single Michelin star.

Sorry Morimoto was disappointing.

If you want the best French food, it's best to go to France!

bsevern wrote:If you want the best French food, it's best to go to France!

Perhaps so, but having eaten at several of the Michelin 2-star restaurants in Italy, the best Italian meal I have ever had was in Tokyo at a small restaurant in an apartment.

rpm wrote:Perhaps so, but having eaten at several of the Michelin 2-star restaurants in Italy, the best Italian meal I have ever had was in Tokyo at a small restaurant in an apartment.

I have spent a lot of time in Italy but oddly enough the best Italian food I ever had was also in Tokyo. Gino, Casa del Pescatore, in Roppongi. About $400 for dinner for 2 including nice wine back in the early '90s but holy crap, transcendental Italian food.

rpm wrote:Perhaps so, but having eaten at several of the Michelin 2-star restaurants in Italy, the best Italian meal I have ever had was in Tokyo at a small restaurant in an apartment.

I don't claim to be an expert in French cuisine by any stretch of the imagination, but I've spent enough time in France to know their dinning craft is the pinnacle of culinary art.

One weekend I met some friends from Germany in the small city of Nancy, FR. They'd recommended we do this package deal through a hotel they'd stayed at before which included Friday and Saturday dinners as part of the package. I had no idea what we were in for, I was expecting bistro style food. The first evening included a seven course dinner with a three course desert in the Ducal Palace of Lorraine. It was unbelievable with amazing food, drink, and it's not every day you dine in a palace A meal I will never forget. The second night wasn't shabby either, only a thee course dinner with a single course desert, but the food was phenomenal. The restaurant was in a fantastic c. 1900 Art Nouveau building. Its Art Nouveau interior was over the top, all done by famous École de Nancy artists.

That's funny on your Italian food experience. Ironically the best Italian food I've had was in Mexico It was in Mexico City in a small restaurant owned by two brothers who's Father was Italian, and Mother French. Go figure.

otolith wrote: We got a room at Sonoma Valley Inn for the rest of the time we'll be there, so I'd like to do something a little more special.

I highly recommend the Bistro Jeanty in Yountville. I lunched there with local wooters the last time I was in wine country. Whether it has changed in the years since I cannot say, but our experience is so warmly remembered that I've made my friends PROMISE that we'll dine there before or after the Tour in July.

I spoke with some other Wooters in Wooster a couple of weeks ago about going to this with my wife. Unfortunately, we can't make it work with our FY12 budget. We will be including this in our FY13 budget though!

tryzub wrote:I spoke with some other Wooters in Wooster a couple of weeks ago about going to this with my wife. Unfortunately, we can't make it work with our FY12 budget. We will be including this in our FY13 budget though!

Good for you...but invest it for a year after that. tours only go every 2 years...next 2014, if RPM and other Super Luminaries allow.

This thread is about to fall off the We're doomed! of the forum, so I felt it deserved a little bump.


PS. rpm/woop, any updates yet? This is now exactly 2 months away, and I'm sure many of us are anxious for anything from you guys.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:This thread is about to fall off the We're doomed! of the forum, so I felt it deserved a little bump.


PS. rpm/woop, any updates yet? This is now exactly 2 months away, and I'm sure many of us are anxious for anything from you guys.

I heard a rumor that this year they've arranged a very special White Zinfandel reserve tasting for us at Beringer followed by Sutter Home.

redwinefan wrote:I heard a rumor that this year they've arranged a very special White Zinfandel reserve tasting for us at Beringer followed by Sutter Home.

Heh, speaking of White Zin....Cat & I were at Delmonico's (an Emeril restaurant) at the Venetian in Vegas on Monday for dinner. This elderly couple comes in, and the woman orders a White Zin, at which point the waiter lets here know they don't have that here. That was our first sign that they didn't belong. Later we noticed they were no longer at the table. I asked the waiter and he told us they left after the husband realized they didn't have any sandwiches available on the menu (we're guessing they may have looked at the lunch menu before coming in).
Then just a bit later we hear someone at the table behind us order a Filet Mignon.....cooked WELL DONE!!!! Oiy!! Some people just don't know how to eat.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:Then just a bit later we hear someone at the table behind us order a Filet Mignon.....cooked WELL DONE!!!! Oiy!! Some people just don't know how to eat.

That cow's death was in vain. Sad.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:Heh, speaking of White Zin....Cat & I were at Delmonico's (an Emeril restaurant) at the Venetian in Vegas on Monday for dinner. This elderly couple comes in, and the woman orders a White Zin, at which point the waiter lets here know they don't have that here. That was our first sign that they didn't belong. Later we noticed they were no longer at the table. I asked the waiter and he told us they left after the husband realized they didn't have any sandwiches available on the menu (we're guessing they may have looked at the lunch menu before coming in).
Then just a bit later we hear someone at the table behind us order a Filet Mignon.....cooked WELL DONE!!!! Oiy!! Some people just don't know how to eat.

They might have heard the report on meat gluing (especially Filet Mignons) where some restaurants "glue" filet parts together. And then the normal heat doesn't kill the germs still there.

I so want to play with transglutaminase. Chicken breasts would be so much better with a layer of bacon on top of them...

And I'm still really really bummed I'm not going on the tour(s) this year :/

HitAnyKey42 wrote:Heh, speaking of White Zin....Cat & I were at Delmonico's (an Emeril restaurant) at the Venetian in Vegas on Monday for dinner. This elderly couple comes in, and the woman orders a White Zin, at which point the waiter lets here know they don't have that here. That was our first sign that they didn't belong. Later we noticed they were no longer at the table. I asked the waiter and he told us they left after the husband realized they didn't have any sandwiches available on the menu (we're guessing they may have looked at the lunch menu before coming in).
Then just a bit later we hear someone at the table behind us order a Filet Mignon.....cooked WELL DONE!!!! Oiy!! Some people just don't know how to eat.

How was Delmonicos? I usually go to CraftSteak in Vegas which I love, but I was thinking about branching out next trip.

redwinefan wrote:I heard a rumor that this year they've arranged a very special White Zinfandel reserve tasting for us at Beringer followed by Sutter Home.

Oh, Ye of great ignorance and little faith! Know Ye that the very first vintage of "white zinfandel" from Sutter Home in the '70s was actually a very dry (and lovely) wine. And that others (including Pedroncelli who's been doing Zin rose forever, and Sebastiani who made a blush Pinot Noir they called "eye of the swan") had been making very dry blush wines in California which had a modest following at least from the mid-'60s. Modest wines, indeed, but welcome in the heat of a Sonoma or Napa Summer when you wanted something with more substance than then typical California whites, but not the weight of even the lighter reds (then Gamay Beaujolais - a very weak clone of Pinot Noir - and Pinot Noir, which was itself a weak clone).

But, I digress.... updates will be available soonish. But, truth to tell, there has to be some mystery and anticipation.....

rpm wrote:Oh, Ye of great ignorance and little faith! Know Ye that the very first vintage of "white zinfandel" from Sutter Home in the '70s was actually a very dry (and lovely) wine. And that others (including Pedroncelli who's been doing Zin rose forever, and Sebastiani who made a blush Pinot Noir they called "eye of the swan") had been making very dry blush wines in California which had a modest following at least from the mid-'60s. Modest wines, indeed, but welcome in the heat of a Sonoma or Napa Summer when you wanted something with more substance than then typical California whites, but not the weight of even the lighter reds (then Gamay Beaujolais - a very weak clone of Pinot Noir - and Pinot Noir, which was itself a weak clone).

But, I digress.... updates will be available soonish. But, truth to tell, there has to be some mystery and anticipation.....

See, I knew we'd be getting a history less from you on white zin.


But, I digress.... For me, the only update I was hoping to get some info on was whether all was still good and on key for with the second tour being smaller like it is without any issues. I'm assuming we'll be getting a smaller bus than the other tour since we are about half the size of it? And would the special dinners and special winery tours, etc still be just as good as if we had a larger group? Though maybe some wineries will actually like us more by being a smaller group, now that I think about it.
Anyway, that's what I was hoping to check on.

rpm wrote:
But, I digress.... updates will be available soonish. But, truth to tell, there has to be some mystery and anticipation.....

And there are still some, well at least one, of us wondering about the logistics of doing a double header...

rjquillin wrote:And there are still some, well at least one, of us wondering about the logistics of doing a double header...

We'll have further information on that within a week or so. (sorry) There will be significant overlap in wineries (there is popular demand....), though much less so in our focus at the wineries.

rpm wrote:We'll have further information on that within a week or so. (sorry) There will be significant overlap in wineries (there is popular demand....), though much less so in our focus at the wineries.

Thanks rpm!

For those of you traveling on Southwest for the tour, check out the current rates. Some of them have changed since a few weeks ago. We will be visiting my cousin in Ontario, pre-tour and the flight from ONT to San Jose has dropped from $100 to $79. Also, flights out of San Jose home have gone down a bit. With SW, you can cancel and re-book using your funds that have been saved in the "Bank of Southwest". Good luck!

andyduncan wrote:Sorry for the delay in responding. The later tour dates conflict with the Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland, which my friends and I are planning on attending this year. I'm trying to figure out if I can make the tour happen as well, maybe doing the beginner tour instead of the vets tour, or missing the first half of the beer festival and trying to rush up to Portland saturday AM, but for now I should be moved to a 'maybe' column. I'll try to figure it out as soon as possible.

Sadly I am going to have to bail on the tour after all. Hope everyone has an amazing time. I'll try to make it next go-round.

Sorry for the absence.... I'll be sending in my deposit this week, but would like to add on a +2 for now. It might end up only being a +1, but I wanted to get those spots filled in just in case. Hoping to get that confirmed mid-weekish, and will send in the deposit then. Thanks!!

Ok, It's official, my +1 will be attending the tour. RPM, if you could kindly add that to the list.

I believe I will have to paypal another $250 to woopdedoo, correct?

Itwdswafo wrote:Sorry for the absence.... I'll be sending in my deposit this week, but would like to add on a +2 for now. It might end up only being a +1, but I wanted to get those spots filled in just in case. Hoping to get that confirmed mid-weekish, and will send in the deposit then. Thanks!!

cmaldoon wrote:Ok, It's official, my +1 will be attending the tour. RPM, if you could kindly add that to the list.

So with these, it looks like Tour 1 is full again. And Tour 2 is at half capacity with 15 people (with mother & andyduncan to be removed from the list). And possibly slightly less than half for the first day depending on how things need to be worked out for joatmon and +1 partaking of both tours.

I do wish we could have gotten more people for the second tour. It's more fun with more people, even through a smaller group gets a bit more "personal" attention from the winemakers.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:So with these, it looks like Tour 1 is full again. And Tour 2 is at half capacity with 15 people (with mother & andyduncan to be removed from the list). And possibly slightly less than half for the first day depending on how things need to be worked out for joatmon and +1 partaking of both tours.

I do wish we could have gotten more people for the second tour. It's more fun with more people, even through a smaller group gets a bit more "personal" attention from the winemakers.

I could possibly convince some co-workers to join in. We've got a strongly wine-centric set of people working at my company. Could get another 5-6 people maybe. Although my participation is up in the air pending word on when I will be fulfilling a 7-year old promise to attend a doctoral defense in Vancouver.

Just throwing this out there-
My +1 and I have been to all of the wineries visited on the last tour (and are club members at a couple). We would be happy to move to the veterans' tour to help even things out. I believe we even know a couple of people on the veterans' tour. Obviously we would need to know rather quickly to arrange flights, etc.

woopdedoo wrote:Tour(s) Update

The tour hotel is again going to be the Best Western Sonoma Valley Inn – right near Sonoma square. We have a rooms reserved for Sunday-Thursday. They are double queen rooms and the rate is $169.00 per night. The Friday night rate for those who want to stay over is $219.00. Before I get any grief, let me assure you that this is their best group rate. It is POSSIBLE that someone will get a special rate on a room via some last minute deal. The rooms are under a group Woot Wine Tour.
....Here is the info for the hotel:

Best Western
SONOMA VALLEY INN
550 Second St. West
Sonoma, CA 95476
Ph: 800-334-5784

Cheers!

Have been checking the hotel website every couple weeks. Currently the standard King is $169 (or $158 AAA-rate), while the double queen is 189 (176 AAA). Not sure if anyone was able to get an even better rate on the standard king, but we finally booked our rooms at the 158 rate.

joelsisk wrote:Have been checking the hotel website every couple weeks. Currently the standard King is $169 (or $158 AAA-rate), while the double queen is 189 (176 AAA). Not sure if anyone was able to get an even better rate on the standard king, but we finally booked our rooms at the 158 rate.

Thanks to your post, I finally went to book. I just noticed that Costco has slightly better rates on some rooms if you are a Costco member. Here are their rates:

2 Queen Beds (2 Queen Beds, Non-Smoking, Fireplace, Balcony, Wi-Fi, Refrigerator, Coffee Maker, Continental Breakfast) $ 170.99 (USD)
1 King Bed (1 King Bed, Non-Smoking, Fireplace, Wi-Fi, Refrigerator, Coffee Maker, Hairdryer, Continental Breakfast) $ 161.99 (USD)
1 King Bed (1 King Bed, Non-Smoking, Wi-Fi, Refrigerator, Coffee Maker, Hairdryer, Continental Breakfast) $ 152.99 (USD)
2 Queen Beds (2 Queen Beds, Mobility Accessible, Bathtub, Non-Smoking, Continental Breakfast) $ 170.99 (USD)
Suite-1 King Bed (Suite-1 King Bed, Mobility Accessible, Roll In Shower, Jetted Tub, Non-Smoking, Continental Breakfast) $ 197.99 (USD)

You can book them off the costco.com travel site. Costco just saved me enough money to buy an extra bottle of wine on the tour

redwinefan wrote:Thanks to your post, I finally went to book. I just noticed that Costco has slightly better rates on some rooms if you are a Costco member. Here are their rates:

(snip)

You can book them off the costco.com travel site. Costco just saved me enough money to buy an extra bottle of wine on the tour

Wow, the rates for the beginning of the week are so much better than the rates for the end of the week. If I do that same Costco search for myself (Tues night through Sat morning) the only option is:
2 Queen Beds (2 Queen Beds, Non-Smoking, Fireplace, Balcony, Wi-Fi, Refrigerator, Coffee Maker, Continental Breakfast) $ 219.37 (USD) per night.
And that's because Thursday night comes in at $198 and Fri night comes in at $338. So in this respect, rpm's negotiated rate doesn't look like it can be beat for Tour 2.

And if I do the search on the SVI website itself, there is actually nothing at all available for Friday night.
And even doing the search for just 7/24 to 7/26, it's still higher than our group rate. rpm's negotiated rate for Friday night beats everything, since all other searches so far has Friday being at least $100 more than what our group rate got.
Good job rpm & woop!

Ok, deposit for +1 officially sent. Now both of us are looking forward to the tour.

Oh, and I talked with Woop the other day and I've got some initial details input into the GoogleDoc spreadsheet for keeping things organized and also for people to share their contact info and flight details so if people want to try to coordinate stuff, it's easier to see what's going on. I set it up for the 2010 tour (and they used something similar for the 2008 tour) and it worked out rather well.
As it'll have private info on it (email address & phone numbers) it will only be shared directly to people with no link to it posted. Today I'll add to it as many people as I have email addresses for, so if you don't get an invite to the document by tonight, feel free to toss me a PM tomorrow with your email address so I can send you an invite for it.

EDIT: All of the Veterans have been sent an invite. I don't have email addresses for pretty much the entire list of Newbies. So unless Woop reads this and sends me the list, I'll need all of you to PM me with your email so I can add you to the spreadsheet share.

When you get the invite there is a section down below where you can input your flights. This is a good thing so that if multiple people are arriving/leaving around the same time, sharing the transportation costs might be doable. Also you can use the spreadsheet to mark down if you are still looking to share a room (for you people going by yourself). Just put a note stating such in the Lodging column.
There's a tab for the Veteran Tour and the Newbie Tour. So just click on the one for you and update as appropriate.

Any questions or issues, feel free to let me know.