kkv123 wrote:Ditto. But it's nice to know that somebody else is up too! In my neighborhood, even the dog walkers are still sleeping.

I'll be heading out to the airport shortly. See everyone soon - safe travels to one and all!

Safe travels, from an up early west coaster.

kkv123 wrote:Ditto. But it's nice to know that somebody else is up too! In my neighborhood, even the dog walkers are still sleeping.

I'll be heading out to the airport shortly. See everyone soon - safe travels to one and all!

Sunny California awaits. Hopefully everyone has their ipods/iphones loaded with Al Jolson singing "California, Here I Come" and Deanna Durbin singing "Californ-I-Ay"....

Note on buying: in the past, many of the places (but not all) gave discounts to the tourists.

Also, Pedroncelli has crazy insane QPR, and at really inexpensive prices. When Pedroncelli was on the third day tourists were bemoaning that they hadn't left space or budget to buy, and when it was first on the tour people didn't buy with the expectation that there would be better deals, and then regretted that by the third day.

Any tourists who are here early should come by the little league fields downtown and watch Wine Country Connect play kickball today! Teeter Field

HAK-Packing Update:

I've gotten last night's laundry out of the dryer earlier this morning.

JOATMON wrote:Note on buying: in the past, many of the places (but not all) gave discounts to the tourists.

Also, Pedroncelli has crazy insane QPR, and at really inexpensive prices. When Pedroncelli was on the third day tourists were bemoaning that they hadn't left space or budget to buy, and when it was first on the tour people didn't buy with the expectation that there would be better deals, and then regretted that by the third day.

Gun Bun and Niebaum-Coppola (Inglenook) were the only two from the Inaugural RPM Historical Tour I don't remember discounts at (not even Wine Club!). Although maybe not at William Harrison as well?


But yes, there are fantastic deals. Luckily we had some empty seats to pile the boxes on!

otolith wrote:The only thing I hate more than packing is getting up early!

Sparky--are you even in bed yet?

Normally, the answer would have been no, but after the fun at my wine locker, I crashed just after midnight.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Gun Bun and Niebaum-Coppola (Inglenook) were the only two from the Inaugural RPM Historical Tour I don't remember discounts at (not even Wine Club!). Although maybe not at William Harrison as well?


But yes, there are fantastic deals. Luckily we had some empty seats to pile the boxes on!

Frog's Leap on the first tour did not discount, and for some reason Iron Horse didn't discount on the second tour, even though they did on the first tour.

JOATMON wrote:Frog's Leap on the first tour did not discount, and for some reason Iron Horse didn't discount on the second tour, even though they did on the first tour.

I bought a PS from Frog's back then, so forgot they didn't discount ... although I do show a value higher than I paid. Same with the two Harrison wines I bought, so maybe there was a discount at both places.

I know I didn't buy at Gun Bun & Inglenook because there wasn't a discount (and I wasn't impressed with their wines).


Edit: And seems like I bought some fruit preserves as well at Frog's Leap. But it was at the very end, so maybe the young lady gave a couple of us a discount then?

Need a suggestion from the locals. Our flight gets in Monday at 5:00 which is 7:00 on Texas time, so we won't make it to Sonoma for , dinner. Any recommendations for something good, quick and easy to find between Oakland airport and Sonoma?

I'm doing some last minute shopping today and packing tonight, and hoping to get out the door before noon tomorrow. Google maps says the drive will be almost 4 hours. I've never made this drive before. Should be fun!

UBlink wrote:Need a suggestion from the locals. Our flight gets in Monday at 5:00 which is 7:00 on Texas time, so we won't make it to Sonoma for , dinner. Any recommendations for something good, quick and easy to find between Oakland airport and Sonoma?

The best area between those two are the Berkeley/alameda areas. Look up Solono avenue.

You'd get off at Buchanan street as you head north on 880/80. There are a number of very good restaurants in the blocks west of The Alameda.

MarkDaSpark wrote:
Oh, and picked up 12 boxes of wine (Woot & Wine Clubs) at my locker and put it away. Whew!

You're drinking box wine now?! I wondered where you got that Almaden photo.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:HAK-Packing Update:

I've gotten last night's laundry out of the dryer earlier this morning.

This is not Facebook.

JOATMON wrote:Note on buying: in the past, many of the places (but not all) gave discounts to the tourists.

Also, Pedroncelli has crazy insane QPR, and at really inexpensive prices. When Pedroncelli was on the third day tourists were bemoaning that they hadn't left space or budget to buy, and when it was first on the tour people didn't buy with the expectation that there would be better deals, and then regretted that by the third day.

Be sure to ask if they have any "Midnight Run" left.

chemvictim wrote:I'm doing some last minute shopping today and packing tonight, and hoping to get out the door before noon tomorrow. Google maps says the drive will be almost 4 hours. I've never made this drive before. Should be fun!

I-80 over Donner Pass is a pleasant and (relatively) scenic drive. Enjoy!

MarkDaSpark wrote:I bought a PS from Frog's back then, so forgot they didn't discount ... although I do show a value higher than I paid. Same with the two Harrison wines I bought, so maybe there was a discount at both places.

I know I didn't buy at Gun Bun & Inglenook because there wasn't a discount (and I wasn't impressed with their wines).


Edit: And seems like I bought some fruit preserves as well at Frog's Leap. But it was at the very end, so maybe the young lady gave a couple of us a discount then?

I show a 15% discount at Harrison, and a 0% discount at Frog's Leap. But I don't have the record for the preserves; they may have discounted them.

Dry Creek discounted some, but not all. I no longer remember the criteria.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Gun Bun and Niebaum-Coppola (Inglenook) were the only two from the Inaugural RPM Historical Tour I don't remember discounts at (not even Wine Club!). Although maybe not at William Harrison as well?


But yes, there are fantastic deals. Luckily we had some empty seats to pile the boxes on!

Frogs Leap did not discount at all. For which I got a lot of grief from 2008 Tourists. Which is (1) why we have not been back, and (2) a real pity, because we had quite a good tour from the viticulturalist/partner who opened a 10 year old Zin for us. (My older daughter and his daughter are close friends - my other daughter and I had an amazing backseat tour of their vineyards with the winemaker about veraison as they discussed all of their plans for each vineyard and block in each vineyard. Remarkable!)

I think Harrison gave club prices on at least one of the tours.

merbill wrote:Be sure to ask if they have any "Midnight Run" left.

We got the last of that stuff last time, didn't we? I've got one bottle left

Interesting choices for the wineries we will visit; I can't wait.

I'll miss Mumm and Kent Rasmussen, but once BubblyKindaGal left Mumm, I knew that wasn't going to happen again. I think I still have my club membership pin from that tour.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Gun Bun and Niebaum-Coppola (Inglenook) were the only two from the Inaugural RPM Historical Tour I don't remember discounts at (not even Wine Club!). Although maybe not at William Harrison as well?

At William Harrison, they told me they would give me a 10% or 15% discount for buying a case, but then didn't apply it when I paid.

[edit: Hmm... I may still have the emails we exchanged. I recall they offered to give me an extra bottle, but I didn't want to mess with shipping a single bottle. Maybe they can make it good this time round. edit2: Nope nothing from back then, must have contacted them over the phone.]

MarkDaSpark wrote:Gun Bun and Niebaum-Coppola (Inglenook) were the only two from the Inaugural RPM Historical Tour I don't remember discounts at (not even Wine Club!). Although maybe not at William Harrison as well?


But yes, there are fantastic deals. Luckily we had some empty seats to pile the boxes on!

Here are the 2010 tour discounts we received:

Gun Bun: 0% (but 10% if you used a VISA card)
Buena Vista: 15%
Saintsbury: 20%
Roessler: 25%
Rasmussen: 25% on case buys
Pine Ridge: 20%
Corison: 20%
Wm Harrison: 15%
Scott Harvey: 30%
Wellington: 25%
Kunde: 20%
Pedroncelli: 10% (but as Joatmon said, they're already a great value)
Iron Horse: 0%

merbill wrote:Here are the 2010 tour discounts we received:

Gun Bun: 0% (but 10% if you used a VISA card)
Buena Vista: 15%
Saintsbury: 20%
Roessler: 25%
Rasmussen: 25% on case buys
Pine Ridge: 20%
Corison: 20%
Wm Harrison: 15%
Scott Harvey: 30%
Wellington: 25%
Kunde: 20%
Pedroncelli: 10% (but as Joatman said, they're already a great value)
Iron Horse: 0%

Pine Ridge sold us the Fortis at the Wine.Woot price with a 57% discount; IIRC the Wine.Woot offering came out the same day.

Pedroncelli gave a 60% discount on the Midnight Run. I think I just drank my bottle of that.

One more thing to be aware of: we'll be paying sales taxes on our purchases; WD can't shelter us from those locally. And California sales tax rates are one of the highest in the nation, with an additional 0.125% just added on this month. Expect 8.875% to 9.125% (depending on locale).

JOATMON wrote:Pine Ridge sold us the Fortis at the Wine.Woot price with a 57% discount; IIRC the Wine.Woot offering came out the same day.

Pedroncelli gave a 60% discount on the Midnight Run. I think I just drank my bottle of that.

That they did. Fortis was $140 list, and they offered it to us for $60. At that price, it was a fair value (they served it at lunch and it was very good), but still more than I wanted to spend on just 1 bottle.

Midnight Run was a $20 Zin closeout I knew they'd offered recently for $8. I asked them about it, and they still had a couple cases which they sold to us for the same $8. Probably the best QPR on the whole tour.

JOATMON wrote:Interesting choices for the wineries we will visit; I can't wait.

I'll miss Mumm and Kent Rasmussen, but once BubblyKindaGal left Mumm, I knew that wasn't going to happen again. I think I still have my club membership pin from that tour.

BubblyKindaGal is now at Martini.

Kent can't host us this time, or he would have been an absolute must stop for both Tours. He's more a Pinot specialist than Cab, but he does make a very nice Cab and is an amazing wootfriend.

Selecting wineries is not as easy as you might think - a number of things have to come together.

We try very hard to have wineries that make excellent wine, and/or have done woot, and/or have significance, either historical or stylistic.

Sometimes you can combine all of these, sometimes not. For example, Inglenook in 2008 was selected primarily for its historical significance and the promise of a worthwhile tour. It has not been repeated.

I do like to get one of the old "big four" into a Cab related Tour, which is why we're doing Martini. More on that at the Welcome Gathering.

chemvictim wrote:I'm doing some last minute shopping today and packing tonight, and hoping to get out the door before noon tomorrow. Google maps says the drive will be almost 4 hours. I've never made this drive before. Should be fun!

Where will you be coming from?

JOATMON wrote:One more thing to be aware of: we'll be paying sales taxes on our purchases; WD can't shelter us from those locally. And California sales tax rates are one of the highest in the nation, with an additional 0.125% just added on this month. Expect 8.875% to 9.125% (depending on locale).

I think Napa & Sonoma are less than the 8.875% sales tax.

According to this, Sonoma should be at 8%. Board of Equalization site seems to be down, so I can't verify.

Napa looks to be around 7.75% sales tax.

CAGrl wrote:Where will you be coming from?

Reno

MarkDaSpark wrote:I think Napa & Sonoma are less than the 8.875% sales tax.

According to this, Sonoma should be at 8%. Board of Equalization site seems to be down, so I can't verify.

Napa looks to be around 7.75% sales tax.

Ah, yes, we did have a decrease in the tax rate a little bit ago. Forgot about that.

chemvictim wrote:Reno

I live in Roseville. You're going to hit some traffic going through Sacramento and on 80 near 680 because of the bay area people heading home after Tahoe weekend. Just take that into consideration. You will hit traffic.

rpm wrote:BubblyKindaGal is now at Martini.

Kent can't host us this time, or he would have been an absolute must stop for both Tours. He's more a Pinot specialist than Cab, but he does make a very nice Cab and is an amazing wootfriend.

Selecting wineries is not as easy as you might think - a number of things have to come together.

We try very hard to have wineries that make excellent wine, and/or have done woot, and/or have significance, either historical or stylistic.

Sometimes you can combine all of these, sometimes not. For example, Inglenook in 2008 was selected primarily for its historical significance and the promise of a worthwhile tour. It has not been repeated.

I do like to get one of the old "big four" into a Cab related Tour, which is why we're doing Martini. More on that at the Welcome Gathering.

Rob,

To be very clear here, I am not criticizing the choices. It's gonna be interesting and fun the whole week.

Bubbly is at Martini? That could make that stop really interesting.

JOATMON wrote:Rob,

To be very clear here, I am not criticizing the choices. It's gonna be interesting and fun the whole week.

Bubbly is at Martini? That could make that stop really interesting.

I didn't take it as criticism, but I did think a word of explanation would be helpful to both new and old Tourists.

In a surprising turn of events, I will be arriving at the hotel THIS evening, instead of tomorrow. If anyone else has checked in early and wants to join me for dinner or some tasting tomorrow, please let me know.

Wife and I arrived well. Ate at Pier 39, the tourist trap in San Fran. Walked around a little, drove over a bridge (and back over), then drove over a really long double decker bridge, and checked into our hotel for the night. Now, SWMBO is taking a nap, and then we're going to Chez Panisse for dinner tonight.

Not a bad day.

JOATMON wrote:Note on buying: in the past, many of the places (but not all) gave discounts to the tourists.

Also, Pedroncelli has crazy insane QPR, and at really inexpensive prices. When Pedroncelli was on the third day tourists were bemoaning that they hadn't left space or budget to buy, and when it was first on the tour people didn't buy with the expectation that there would be better deals, and then regretted that by the third day.

I am now super super bummed I won't be on the tour... Pedroncelli is one of my favorites...... poor poor me....

kkv123 wrote:In a surprising turn of events, I will be arriving at the hotel THIS evening, instead of tomorrow. If anyone else has checked in early and wants to join me for dinner or some tasting tomorrow, please let me know.

Go Downtown and hang out in front of the Swiss Hotel. Hot Box Grill in Boyes Hot Springs is a good, but expensive dinner spot. Will need reservations. For cheaper fare head to Boyes hot Springs on Hiway 12 lots of good mexican food. But not at Amigas. I actually love the food at the Breakaway Cafe in the Strip Mall on highway 12 by Lucky's. It's an old Denny's, but the food is good, nice size portions and great murals by Dennis Ziemenski. I would join you, but we are exhausted from our efforts in kick ball today.

cmaldoon wrote:The best area between those two are the Berkeley/alameda areas. Look up Solono avenue.

You'd get off at Buchanan street as you head north on 880/80. There are a number of very good restaurants in the blocks west of The Alameda.

Good Advice

or
http://www.sfgate.com/neighborhoods/eb/rockridge/

check to make sure the restaurants are open late enough, though.
See you tomorrow!

Did a practice run in the tent last night. Had on shorts with closed-toe shoes and socks and a long sleeved jacket. I was comfortable. However, definitely needed sleeves. Jeans with long sleeves and at least one more layer should work. Do not recommend heels, though. The ground is uneven. OK, I feel like the lawyer at the end of a commercial..disclaimer,disclaimer,disclaimer...