Category: Wine Tasting Tips

For most travelers to California who are seeking wine tasting adventures, the most obvious destinations are Napa Valley and Sonoma County, which we have dubbed Napa/Noma.  More than 90% of the wineries we have visited in that state have been in those locations.  And why not?  The wine is world-renowned; the scenery is ravishing; and they are close to San Francisco, a frequent business destination.  However, there are other areas of the state that produce wine, some of it of excellent quality.

In this and subsequent issues, we will use the Places to Visit column to introduce some of these grape-growing areas.  In a previous edition, we did highlight the Temecula Valley near San Diego which, in our opinion, has more to offer as a pleasant day in the vineyards than an occasion to sample great wines.  In this and future issues of Power Tasting, we’ll discuss Amador County, Santa Clara Valley, Paso Robles, Santa Maria County and Santa Barbara County.  It will be an irregular series, because we still want to write about other locations in Wine Country.

Here are a few things to consider if you want to visit the “Other California”:

• Be prepared to drive.  Most of us don’t live near to any of these destinations and most visitors don’t often visit far from the major urban areas.  And even if you do live near one of them, you’re pretty far from all the others.   All the normal rules of safe wine tasting apply: Know your limit and don’t even get close to it.  Sip, don’t drink and use the pour bucket.  Put some food in your stomach.  Space out your winery visits.  These points cannot be stressed enough.
• Do some homework before you go.  It’s likely that many, if not most of the wineries in any given area are unknown to you.  So get on your favorite search engine and look for “best wineries” in the area you’ll be visiting.  This is no guarantee as some sites contain nothing but self-promotion.  But if you see an article in one of the local newspapers, there’s a higher likelihood of getting some unbiased information.
• Don’t expect too much.  There’s a reason why Napa Valley and Sonoma County are so well known: many wineries there make a lot of really excellent wine.  You can find some excellent wine in other areas as well, just not in the same profusion.  In any Napa AVA, you’ll find many superlative wineries, a few that are okay but not great and very few, if any, that are awful.  In some of the other areas of the state, there may be a few great ones, a lot of okay ones and quite a few really poor ones.
• Keep an open mind.  Even if you’re not crazy about too many wines you taste, you still can have a pleasant day in a region that may be new to you.  At any given winery, you may have to sip and pour quite a few samples until you find a particular wine  that appeals to you.  Think of it this way: you might discover an unknown gem amongst the dross.  It’s worth it to keep searching.
• Focus on what that region does best.  Every region has a reputation for certain grapes.  For example, Amador County is known for Zinfandel and Santa Barbara is famous for its Pinot Noirs.  So go ahead and sip a Merlot or a Sauvignon Blanc, but keep your taste buds alert save your alcohol content for what they do best.

Perhaps the best way to summarize our advice concerning the Other California is to approach each region with a sense of adventure.  The worst that can happen is you’ll be able to avoid certain wine regions on restaurants lists.  The best might be the thrill of an unexpected discovery.

We finish here Power Tasting’s Field Guide to Servers, our exclusive introduction to the fauna found in tasting rooms.  We have saved the best of the species for last.  You may read the entire series: the Pourers, the Hosts, the Sellers and the Retainers.

What  is an Educator?  An Educator is someone employed by a winery to explain to visitors what is being served, what aromas and tastes to pay attention to while sipping and generally how this wine fits into the winery’s past releases and its overall philosophy of winemaking.  He or she may be working there to fill in the time until the release of his or her next book on oenology.  An Educator not only knows wine but is excited by it and is eager to share his or her expertise with others.  The hallmark of an Educator is his or her ability to gauge the level of knowledge and interest of the visitor and to adjust his or her discourse accordingly.  You can expect an Educator to ask you some questions to figure out what you are interested in, not just what the winery wants you to hear…and buy, of course.

How can you recognize an Educator?  Sadly, the Educator is the rarest form of the Server species, so when you encounter one you should be particularly attentive.  There are young Educators but most have the maturity to have learned a great deal about wine.  Telltale signs of the Educators is that that they listen first, then talk; they converse, not harangue; and while not opposed to selling you some wine, they realize that an educated consumer is their best customer.  Particularly in wineries with a wide range of products – whites and reds, various varietals, different price points – an Educator will lead the visiting tasters where they want to go.

 How to get the greatest advantage from an Educator?  Listen.  Ask questions.  Learn.  Think about what you’ve been told as you smell and taste the contents of your glass.  Like a Host, the Educator wants you to enjoy your wine, but only an Educator wants you to gain an understanding of why you are enjoying your wine…or not, if that’s the case.  Like a Retainer, he or she wants you to understand what makes the winery you are at unique.  But he or she is not as impressed with the owner as with the vineyard manager and the winemaker who together craft a philosophy of wine that in the end winds up in your glass.

Where are Educators found?  While in theory an Educator could be found anywhere, for the most part they inhabit the better wineries, the ones with high ratings in the magazines and high prices at the cash register.  It isn’t only that those are the ones that can afford Educators.  More important is that Educators have integrity and are uninterested in spending their days praising wines that don’t deserve praise.  In some of those other wineries there may be people wearing little badges that say they are Wine Educators.  At most, those have learned the descriptions written by their wineries’ PR departments.  A true Educator not only knows about the wine he or she is serving, but can make comparisons with other vintages and other wines, not only from that producer or that region.  When you encounter an Educator, treat him or her with respect.

It is important that empowered wine tasters be familiar with the fauna to be found in tasting rooms across Wine Country.  Thus we are publishing Power Tasting’s exclusive Field Guide to Servers. Here we have the next entry concerning the Retainers.  Previous chapters have include the Pourers, the Hosts and the Sellers.

What is a Retainer?  A Retainer works for a winery, but appears more like a personal employee of the owner, whom he or she treats with a deference that approaches worship.  Think Downton Abbey.  Before mentioning anything about the wine you’re about to sip, he or she will regale you with the lord’s, um the owner’s, wealth, travels, highly-placed connections, occupation prior/in addition to wine, parent’s background, hobbies and children’s occupations.  Many of the owners are self-made zillionaires, often from the software business, so there may also be an explanation of the app-that-made-all-of-this-possible.  Expect to be pointed to a photo of the smiling owner surrounded by adoring spouse and charming children.

How can you recognize a Retainer?  It’s not hard.  A Retainer will almost triumphantly make you aware of the Owner before you’ve even had a chance to taste the wine.  He or she is but a humble representative of the beloved owner, always referred to as Mr. or Mrs., never by first names.  Outside the US – oh yes, Retainers are found everywhere – landed titles are often stressed.

How to get the greatest advantage from a Retainer?  Try very hard not to laugh.  If at all possible, express interest in the owner and his or her fabulousness.  Because there is a story behind the wine – there is always a story – listening and nodding may well lead to more and better wine, all to show the owner’s largess and interest in giving to the poor.  (That would be you.)  Oddly enough, many retainers know a good deal about their winery’s production, so you can learn about wine from a Retainer.

Where are Retainers found?  For the most part, Retainers are found in the grand palaces erected to house tasting rooms around Wine Country.  You might find them in more humble edifices if the owner has been an owner for a long time.  Interestingly, there may be a great deal to learn from a Retainer about some of the truly great men (and some women, too) who built Wine Country in America or kept up its traditions in Europe.  There is a much of value to learn and admire about a Mondavi or a Winiarski, a Rothschild or a Quintarelli, so these Retainers deserve more respect than those who are just pumping up the nouveau riche.

Here is the next installment of Power Tasting’s guide to the Servers one might deal with in Wine Country.  There are many species of Servers; we have previously introduced Pourers and Hosts.  Here we present the Sellers.

What is a Seller?  A Seller pours and serves wine, but these are almost secondary characteristics.  Like a Host, a Seller is a pretty good talker, but unlike a Host, the Seller’s intention is not that you have a great time but rather that you join the winery’s club or at least buy some wine while you are there.  If you show the slightest interest – and we recommend that you do show interest – you will be regaled with details about the wine club, how easy it is to join, how much great wine you will receive and what wonderful events you will be invited to.  It is best not to mention that you live far away and will probably not be able to attend the events.  By showing some interest, you are more likely to taste wine from of a few bottles reserved under the counter for likely joiners.

How can you recognize a Seller?  Sellers talk.  And Talk.  And talk. Some of the palaver is actually rather useful.  Sellers generally know a lot about the wine they are serving (if not wine in general) and are happy to describe them to you, always in glowing terms of course.  Once you respond, as polite people usually do, by saying that you too like a particular wine, the Seller will move in like a torpedo.  A commonly encountered phrase is, “Well, if you liked that…”, and then he or she reaches along the counter and brings up the next inimitable gem.  (By the way, none of this applies if you ask about a wine club first.  Providing you with information you ask for is service, not a sales pitch.)

How to get the greatest advantage from a Seller?  First of all, you need to have some sales resistance.  If you don’t, either be prepared to walk away or to buy something.  But encouraging the Seller brings rewards.  You’ll get that extra little bit in your glass.  The wonderful vintage from yesteryear might suddenly appear, left over from a media tasting and held in reserve just for you.  You really will learn a lot about that winery’s production and wine philosophy.  And, to be fair, you might actually find that the wine club or a few bottles being pushed at you do attract your taste buds and your pocketbook.

Where are Sellers found?  Sellers can be found in virtually any tasting room, but a rule of thumb is that wineries with cheaper wines don’t benefit as much from club membership or a few bottles sold and the wineries with the highest priced wines don’t benefit from the Seller’s personality.  But when you walk into a winery with a lot of bottles in the $75 to $100 range, the Seller’s distinctive spiel is likely to be heard.

 

This is a continuation of Power Tasting’s guide to the different sorts of Servers wine tasters may encounter in their expeditions into Wine Country.  The previous edition introduced the Pourers, the lowest form of Server.  In this section of the field guide, we present the Hosts.

What is a Host?  A Host pours wine and delivers it to wine tasters.  He or she knows nothing about wine in general or even the wine that is going into the taster’s glass.  The Host’s objective is simply to make sure that everyone is having a good time.  This is often an admirable trait and it can be quite pleasant to deal with a Host in his or her own habitat.  Unfortunately, interacting with a Host can be quite frustrating if a taster is interested in knowing anything about the wine being consumed.  It is unclear whether a Host can tell the difference between a Pinot Noir and a Petite Sirah, or a Chardonnay for that matter.  But while in the company of a Host, it’s Party Time!

How can you recognize a Host?  A Host appears to be in perpetual motion, moving from taster to taster quickly enough to avoid questions.  You will often hear the cry of the Host, “What’ll you have next?”  If you are able to stop a Host long enough for a question, you will be promised an answer shortly, often giving the Host a chance to ask someone else behind the bar for help.  Hosts can be recognized by

• Big smiles, even when inappropriate
• Fast talking
• Eagerness to explain his or her life story, but not to say anything about wine
• Two or more bottles in his or her hands

Hosts will keep refilling your glass, which is both a positive and a negative.

What can you expect from a Host?  Wine.  Lots of it, along with a smooth patter and a snappy joke.  When being served by a Host, it’s often a good idea to just catch the spirit and go along with the party atmosphere.  Wine is a social lubricant and there’s nothing wrong with having a good time.  Who doesn’t like a good party?  As would anyone throwing a shindig, the Host will introduce you to fellow tasters, get a conversation going and keep you involved.  The risk, of course, of dealing with a Host is overindulgence, so know when to say you’ve had enough for a while.

How to get the greatest advantage from a Host?  Let the Host run the party; you taste the wine.  Have fun by all means but do it slowly.  For one thing this keeps the party going longer.  For another, you can actually get to appreciate the wine, often in the type of setting when you might be serving it back home.

Where are Hosts found?  Oddly, Hosts may be found in really fine wineries as well as in sellers of plonk.  You are most likely to meet one on a weekend when tasting rooms are the most crowded and the winery needs the most people to serve their visitors.  Look around for a happy, giggly party in a corner of a tasting room.  You’re likely to see a Host pouring the wine.

If we think of our passages through Wine Country as nature expeditions, then it’s important to recognize the flora and fauna we find there.  The flora, of course, are grapes.  It’s the various forms of wildlife we might see that get our attention here. We refer specifically to Servers.  The four species of Servers are the Pourers, the Hosts, the Sellers and the Educators.  Each has distinctive features and habitats and so Power Tasting is pleased to offer this field guide for those of you who will be encountering Servers in their native sites.  In this issue, we introduce you to the Pourers and will continue with the other species in future issues.

What is a Pourer?  A Pourer is a person whose sole activity is to remove wine from a bottle through the neck and place it in a glass.  A Pourer knows nothing about wine, even the one he or she is serving.  In most cases, the Pourer is an employee of the establishment where he or she is found but may in some cases be a son, daughter or close relative who has been dragooned into pouring duties instead of hanging out at a mall.  Portions served by a Pourer are generally small, probably because he or she has been instructed to do so by the proprietor of the said establishment.  The proprietors are cheap in serving wine because they are cheap in everything or they never would have hired a Pourer.

How can you recognize a Pourer?  Pourers are generally encountered alone, often in periods of the day in which wineries attract few visitors.  In fact, Pourers are often sited in tasting rooms that have relatively few visitors at all.  Pourers can be recognized by the following characteristics:

• Poor posture
• Dull, lifeless expressions
• A general unwillingness to communicate
• The presence of a cell phone in the hand not serving
• You immediately feel like you are disturbing him or her

Pourers don’t want to be wherever they are and don’t want to talk with anyone, especially you.

What can you expect from a Pourer?  Not much.  But you will get wine in your glass, so make the most of it.  Take your time.  Swirl your wine gently in your glass.  Savor each sip.  These actions are likely to make a Pourer rather nervous and may lead to a bit more attention to you than you might otherwise expect.  (Sadly, the type of wineries that employ Pourers often have lousy wine, so taking your time may be a test of your endurance versus his or hers.)

How to get the greatest advantage from a Pourer?  Since questions won’t result in meaningful (or even intelligible) answers, don’t waste your time.  If you do want some more information and there is no one else around, ask if there is any literature available, such as descriptions of the wines on offer or tasting notes.  If you really do care, ask for the web site address.

Where are Pourers found?  While you might encounter a Pourer anywhere, it has been our experience that they tend to appear more frequently in the in-town tasting rooms of wineries you’ve never heard of but which have nice signs out front.   They pop up on weekends although the general busy-ness of those days call for a Pourer to be accompanied by someone who knows what he or she is doing.  You’re more likely to see a Pourer in the wild on a rainy weekday morning.

Let’s face it: in terms of the grapes we drink these days, we’ve all become pretty boring and pretty French.  The majority of what we drink and the majority of what we sip when we go wine tasting are derived from four regions of France.  There are the Bordeaux grapes, in particular Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  Burgundy provides us Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; the Rhone Valley chips in Syrah and Grenache and the Loire Valley adds Sauvignon Blanc.  Go wine tasting virtually anywhere in America or Australia and that’s what the wineries will pour for you.

Oh, yes, it’s quite different in Italy where you’ll get their grapes, in particular Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and Nero d’Avola in the reds.  There are hundreds of local varietals that rarely find their way into export crates.  Spain, too, has its own specialties, Tempranillo being the best known.  But sometimes in your travels, both in Europe and North America you’ll come across a varietal you’ve never tasted.  Hell, you’ve never even heard of it. How do you know if you like it?  How do you know if the wine made from those grapes is well made or just plonk?

Of course you can taste strange grapes in some out-of-the-way places on an overseas visit, but increasingly this is also a possibility in more familiar areas.  For example, David Coffaro Vineyard and Winery sells all sorts of odd varietals, like 100% Aglianico.  Grgich Hills offers some wines that Mike Grgich has been producing in Croatia, like Pošip and Plavac Mali.  You’re more likely to enjoy the wines than pronounce them.  Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles has a Tannat.  Tannat anyone?

You should remember that even among the best  known grapes, there was a time you hadn’t tasted them either.  You were probably pretty young and your taste buds not very experienced, but still, how did you react?  Steve well remembers the first time he tasted Shiraz, and alternative name for Syrah and very popular these days.  But at that time, Shiraz was limited to Australian wines, primarily from the Barossa region.  His first reaction was, “This wine has gone bad.”  Then he realized that it wasn’t sour or distasteful and, in fact, it was quite good.  So that’s the primary advice: Keep an open mind.  And mouth, for that matter.

We recently traveled in Southwest France and discovered wines from the area between Albi and Gaillac, known by the name of the former town.  The primary grapes in Gaillacs are Duras and Braucol.  Never heard of them?  Neither had we.  (Braucol, according to Wikipedia, is a local name for Fer.  That doesn’t help much, because we haven’t heard of Fer either.)  So the first thing we did (and we recommend that you do) was to think about what the wine tasted like and smelled like.  Gaillac, based on a sampling of six or so bottles, is relatively light bodied, fruity, with a similarity to a Cabernet Sauvignon from somewhere other than Medoc or Napa.  Think a lesser area of Bordeaux, like Cote de Bourg.  The idea is not to be a wine geek, but to orient your taste buds and relate what you’re tasting with what you’ve tasted before.

Albi

Now that you’ve thought about what a wine made from previously unknown grapes is like, give some thought to why the wine is different from what you’ve ever tasted before.  This doesn’t have to be a deep exercise in oenology; wine snobbery is not required.  Just trust your mouth.  If you like this new wine or even if you don’t, try to articulate why, without reference to anything else you already know.  Words like deep, round, acid, flat, fruity, flowery, and mellow should come to mind.  In other words, you should be using a normal vocabulary.  By putting your taste into words, you’ll have a much better understanding of what make a unique wine (to your experience) unique.

In the long run, you are most likely to continue to buy the wines made from grapes you’re already familiar with.  There is, after all, a reason that they are the most popular in the world.  But the core of wine tasting is discovery, so keep trying wines with funny names, made from grapes you never tasted before.

There is a stereotype of wine lovers that portrays us as people who can take a sniff and a sip from a glass and identify the varietal, the label and the year.  Maybe – just maybe – that’s Robert Parker but it’s not the rest of us and surely not us at Power Tasting.  For most of the world, it’s sufficient to tell the difference between red wine and white.  (Hint: the white wine is colder.)

The sort of folks who visit Wine Country with the express purpose of tasting wine should be a little more knowledgeable than that, but how much?  And how can you tell whether you have the ability to discriminate better wines when you drink them?  A few points apply: if you like it then it’s good and if you don’t, it isn’t.  Price plays no part in the matter.  There are excellent inexpensive wines and costly bottles that are more about snob appeal than quality.  And even knowledgeable tasters disagree; heaven knows Lucie and Steve do all the time.

The solution, as with so many things in life is practice, along with its cousin, homework.

• Try to differentiate two similar wines.  Just for fun when we have friends over for dinner, we often open two bottles and compare them.  We recently did this with two Carneros Pinot Noirs, both of which are favorites of ours from wineries whose wine clubs of which we are members.  They were both the top wines from their respective wineries at similar price points.  We had enjoyed each many times but had never tried them next to each other.  In comparing wines this way, we were forced to be very conscious of what we were smelling, tasting, feeling in our mouths, remembering after we swallowed.  There is no right or wrong; in fact, the two couples split in their opinions.  The important thing was to discern the slight differences in two great wines.
• Try the wrong wine.  Often when dining with friends at a restaurant, we’ll order two wines to accompany different courses.  While there are no hard and fast rules, the wines ought to be complementary to the food.  A heavier wine like a California Cabernet or an Australian Shiraz will fit better with a steak and a lighter wine such as a Beaujolais with a chicken breast.  At least that’s what the book says, but what does your mouth say? If you have two different wines open, taste the one that’s not supposed to “go with”.  If it clashes, why?  What’s wrong with it?  And then, why is the “right” wine right?  What is working well in your mouth?  Finally, is there something about the “wrong” wine that you actually like?  Sometime, contrast is more interesting than compatibility.
• Know what you don’t like.  Steve doesn’t like thin, acidic wines so a lot of Burgundies leave him cold.  Lucie, on the other hand, is not a fan of heavy, fruit forward wines so she’s not high on California Syrahs.  Of course, there are exceptions in both cases, so you need to have an open mind.  If someone says to Steve, “Try this Pommard, you’ll like it”, he’ll give it a go and sometimes he does indeed like it.  The trick in a case like that is to ask, “What is there about this Pommard that I like that I don’t like about other Burgundies?”  Maybe it’s the mouth feel, or the fruit or the aroma.  Whatever it is, search for wines of that type that are reputed to have those characteristics.
• Listen to your wine.  Some years ago, Steve had a long-term out-of-town project.  One night he decided to make dinner for his project team of eight consultants and bought three Bordeaux blends from California and an actual Bordeaux.  He then challenged them to say which one they liked best and why.  Most of the staff were young and inexperienced in tasting wine but, amazingly, as they expressed their opinions, the terminology of wine criticism started coming out.  This wine was round.  That one had a long finish.  The real Bordeaux was subtle with more complexity.  It’s not enough to like one wine more than another.  You have to be able to articulate why you prefer one over another and the words you use will help you understand your own taste.

These simple tests are good preparation for a trip to Wine Country.  It’s very possible that you’ll taste wines you’ve never had before, maybe never heard of before.  By doing your homework, you’ll have a better idea of what’s good and not so good to the ultimate expert – yourself.

The reason to go wine tasting is, of course, to taste wine.  That rather unextraordinary statement obviously needs some refinement.

The main reason we go wine tasting is to educate our palates and increase our understanding by sampling the finest wines we can, in whatever region we are visiting.  We realize that there are some people, usually those living nearby, who are simply enjoying a day in the country along with some nice beverages to enhance the pleasure.  For them, lingering over a rare and expensive Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay just isn’t a part of the game plan.  If you are one of those people, the rest of what follows really isn’t for you.

So now that it’s just us serious tasters, we’d like to ask a question: If you’ve come all this way to France or California or Italy or Australia or…why would you want to spend your time and tolerance for alcohol on anything other than the best wines?  (There are actually a few good reasons and we’ll get to those later.)  But for now, please take our advice and when you enter a tasting room, scan the wines offered and select the best available.

How do you know which are the best?  One way, of course, is that there’s a special list with the best wines on it, often called the Reserve or the Library selection.  If there isn’t such a list, there will be some wines that are more expensive than the others.  It is highly likely that those are the wines the proprietor considers the best.

Not only will you taste better wines this way but you will have a better experience.  Sometimes, the glasses will often be larger and thinner.  You will probably get a better explanation of what is being offered to you, especially if you are tasting on a weekday.  You may very well be in a special, more elegant tasting room as is the case, for instance, at Beaulieu Vineyards and at Cakebread in Rutherford.

Naturally, these better wines cost more to sample.  For example, at the two aforementioned wineries the cost of a regular tasting at Beaulieu Vineyards is $20 and $35 for the Reserve tasting.  At Cakebread  it’s as little as $15 for a selection of current releases and $40 for the Reserves.  We always choose the Reserve lists.

Now, we understand that the higher price may be a deterrent for some people.  That’s one of the good reasons mentioned above for choosing the lesser quality tasting list.  Another might be that there are wines that are on the regular list that you’d especially like to try.  A particular winery might not have a reserve Merlot, for instance, and you’d like to know what their Merlots are like.  There’s also the fact that you might want to taste wines that you are more likely to buy when you get back home.

Here are a few tips that might make tasting the good stuff more affordable.  We two almost always share a tasting.  Remember that the idea is to taste, not drink, so a shared glass gives both of us enough of an idea of what we want to know.  Moreover, we have sometimes found that the server will pour a bit more into a shared glass than to a single taster’s.   If, in addition, you want to try something on the lower priced list, the server will almost always accommodate you if you purchase the more expensive tasting (although often not the other way around).  In fact, it is often a very good idea to taste both the regular and the Reserve wines side by side.  (Just ask for an additional glass.)  You may well find that the regular wine is more to your liking than some of the pricier ones.

There are two types of locales in Wine Country.  Some are places with a small number of wineries, often not of the very highest grade.  Areas like Temecula Valley, Long Island’s North Fork and Jerome, Arizona fall into this category.  Then there are the sectors where the world’s great wines are made, such as Bordeaux, Napa Valley, Stellenbosch, Barossa, Tuscany and the Cote d’Or in Burgundy.  These are enormous territories with hundreds of wineries and tasting rooms.  (For example, there are more than 400 wineries in Napa Valley alone.)

Here’s a little non-secret: you can’t visit them all.  Probably not in a lifetime and absolutely not in a day.  So if you’re visiting one of these legendary wine-making areas and you only have a day (especially if you only have a day) there are some tips that will make your visit more enjoyable.

• Do some advance planning. Figure out where you will be starting from that day, how long it will take to get to Wine Country and when you need to be back.  Many thanks to Google Maps; everyone can be an expert in these matters nowadays.  You also must factor in the number of wineries you intend to visit, which is governed more by your tolerance for alcohol than in the number of hours you’ll be in the area.
• Choose just one section to visit. Or maybe two, at the most depending on the geography.  The point is that you want to spend your time visiting wineries, not driving long distances from place to place.  [Exception to this advice: Maybe you do want to drive around in order to take in the scenery.  Maybe you want to see the vineyards surrounding castles in the Medoc or the gracious hills in Sonoma County or the Route Touristique in Champagne.  That’s a great idea, too, but then plan to minimize your winery visits.]
• Figure out where you’re going to have lunch. If you are going wine tasting, you are going to have lunch.  This may be a picnic by the side of the road in a Burgundian village or a fine repast at a South African wine farm.  But these meals don’t just happen.  You need to plan ahead if you’re bringing lunch with you or know where restaurants are if you intend to dine that way.  Some of the best bets are knowing where the local delis are.  These days, many have gone gourmet, which isn’t bad at all.
• Go to the best wineries in the section you choose. This is easy if you’re familiar with the area, but what do you do if the wineries are all just names to you?  There are several answers.  Again the Web is your friend; look up “best wineries in ______” and you’ll have an excellent chance of tasting something worthwhile, at least to someone’s taste.  Or just ask people.  We have often pulled into the first winery we see, tasted their wines and then asked the people there where else we should go.  These folks in wineries are usually very generous with advice and have often led us to some of the greatest wine tasting experiences of our lives.  (See Valpolicella Follies, for example.)
• Do your wine tasting in a town, not at the vineyards. As a general rule, tasting rooms in towns are inferior to what you’ll be able to try at the places where the wine is actually made.  But that is not universally true.  For example, you can have a very pleasant experience walking down Grand Avenue in Los Olivos, stopping at a few (just a few) of the 25 tasting rooms in town.  You can do the same thing at the degustaziones in Montalcino.  If you happen to be staying in those places, you don’t have to worry about getting behind the wheel of a car, so your day is optimized.
• Don’t worry about what you didn’t get a chance to see. It is far better, to our minds, to get the most out of a small sample then just to skim a larger selection.  We realize that not everyone feels this way, but consider the fact that having visited one corner of Wine Country, life has a way of giving you another chance one day.