Curious if anyone will be up early enough to do a "pre-tour" Sunday? Perhaps once we get the list of wineries for the Magical History Tour I, we could check out a few not on the list Sunday.

Any interest?

bsevern wrote:Curious if anyone will be up early enough to do a "pre-tour" Sunday? Perhaps once we get the list of wineries for the Magical History Tour I, we could check out a few not on the list Sunday.

Any interest?

We (me & +1) should arrive early, but...last time the tour did 15 wineries in 3 days. Plus, wine with lunch and dinner. How does one stay sober?

jmdavidson wrote:We (me & +1) should arrive early, but...last time the tour did 15 wineries in 3 days. Plus, wine with lunch and dinner. How does one stay sober? It might be the only sober day there.

Ah, my friends! Swish & spit is your best friend! Seriously. As a veteran of both of the previous tours, I have experience. You want to be able to appreciate all that these wonderful wines have to offer without experiencing too much palate fatigue.

bahwm wrote:Ah, my friends! Swish & spit is your best friend! Seriously. As a veteran of both of the previous tours, I have experience. You want to be able to appreciate all that these wonderful wines have to offer without experiencing too much palate fatigue.

And no one wants palate fatigue! I need to go back a reread RMP's Do's, Don'ts and How To's that he posted for one of the past tours.

jmdavidson wrote:And no one wants palate fatigue! I need to go back a reread RMP's Do's, Don'ts and How To's that he posted for one of the past tours.

An absolute MUST read!

bahwm wrote:An absolute MUST read!

Got some of the books on his reading list and devouring them now. If only I could remember what I read...

[edit] yes, and taste!

rjquillin wrote:Got some of the books on his reading list and devouring them now. If only I could remember what I read...

It's more important to remember what you taste !

Can you post a link to the dos and don'ts?

I would love to go to Shafer Vineyards while we're out there. I'm assuming they are not on the list of places we'll go on the newbie tour. Anyone interested on going on a Sat or Sunday?

Yeah, swish and spit is the only way to go.
For these three reasons,
1. Tasting is essentially sampling and if you are consuming it all then your palate will be blown before you even really get started. You'll end up buying bottles of wine without a true representation of what it tasted like.

2. If you are driving from winery to winery there is no need for a DD since everyone is sober.

3. You give the scene a bad name when you are stumbling out of each winery. Who wants to serve a bunch of folks that appear to have already been to served too much.

Bonus point. The spit buckets are there for a reason, use them, the winery will take you a bit more serious than the party bus folks when you are seriously tasting their wine. They will see you as a potential long term customer and will not only spend extra time with you but will often pour wines that are not on the list. Buena vista was a perfect example of this, due to my interaction with the pourer and my overall serious interest in the wines my wife and I got to try everything they had including the full Atlas Peak lineup. About 15 wines in total.

otolith wrote:Can you post a link to the dos and don'ts?

I would love to go to Shafer Vineyards while we're out there. I'm assuming they are not on the list of places we'll go on the newbie tour. Anyone interested on going on a Sat or Sunday?

Homework for New Tourists