{"id":1310,"date":"2019-06-30T18:07:54","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T18:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1310"},"modified":"2019-07-08T20:38:03","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T20:38:03","slug":"value-tasting-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1310","title":{"rendered":"Value Tasting in California"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wine tasting, at least in California\u2019s prime winemaking regions, has become an expensive pastime.\u00a0 What winemakers once \u2013 a long time ago \u2013 considered a form of marketing has become a profitable sideline for the wineries themselves.\u00a0 We\u2019ve heard that Napa Valley is America\u2019s number one adult tourist destination (we can\u2019t vouch for that) but we can say that the roads and tasting rooms in Napa Valley and Sonoma County are more crowded than ever.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/winemoney.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1311 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/winemoney-300x125.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"655\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/winemoney-300x125.png 300w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/winemoney-768x320.png 768w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/winemoney.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 655px) 100vw, 655px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Photo courtesy of Cal Alumni Association<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Along with these trends, the cost of tasting wines at the wineries has risen dramatically.\u00a0 For some of the more renowned wines, a charge of $40 or more is no longer unusual.\u00a0 It is commonplace to find a $25 fee for tasting from a winery\u2019s reserve list.\u00a0 There are people who neither want nor can afford to pay those prices.\u00a0 Perhaps they are just looking for a pleasant day in the country, with a <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=69\">picnic<\/a> and a little wine tasting to add zest to the day.\u00a0 For them, paying top dollar for a few sips just doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n<p>We have long advocated tasting the best wines when visiting Wine Country, because they provide the maximum pleasure.\u00a0 But for those who would also like to have the maximum value without paying the maximum price, here are some ideas for attaining that double goal.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Look for wineries that offer free tastings.<\/strong> Yes, there are still some.\u00a0 The most famous and by far the best is Heitz Cellars.\u00a0 Joe Heitz, one of Napa Valley\u2019s pioneers, never wavered from his goal of making great wine accessible and his winery still offers tastings without charge.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss this one.\u00a0 A few others, such as Buehler, Sutter Home and Vincent Arroyo are also still free of fees.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Do a little homework in advance.<\/strong> Figure out what sector you would like to visit, keeping thoughts of where you can picnic in mind.\u00a0 For a variety of legal reasons, picnicking is much easier to do in Sonoma County than in Napa County.\u00a0 Check web sites to learn if you can bring food.\u00a0 And then check the cost of tastings.\u00a0 There are still some bargains around.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Buy a bottle.<\/strong> In many cases, if you buy a bottle of wine, the winery will waive the tasting fee.\u00a0 So a bottle of wine to accompany that picnic may make for a free tasting.\u00a0 And of course, you can take a bottle home with you for another time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Share your tastings.<\/strong> If your objective is tasting, not drinking, two people can share a single tasting, thereby bringing down the cost.\u00a0 We do it all the time, not so much for money reasons as to manage our intake of alcohol.\u00a0 That way you might be able to splurge a bit on a pricier winery.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Try the less costly list.<\/strong> There\u2019s no rule that says you only have to try only the reserve list.\u00a0 And in fact we have found that in some cases, there\u2019s no particular advantage to a winery\u2019s most expensive wines. You\u2019ll find some pretty nice wines at places like Beaulieu Vineyards and Chateau St. Jean in their regular tasting rooms, as opposed to their reserve rooms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wine tasting, at least in California\u2019s prime winemaking regions, has become an expensive pastime.\u00a0 What winemakers once \u2013 a long time ago \u2013 considered a form of marketing has become a profitable sideline for the wineries themselves.\u00a0 We\u2019ve heard that Napa Valley is America\u2019s number one adult tourist destination (we can\u2019t vouch for that) but &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1310\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Value Tasting in California<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1310"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions\/1319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}