{"id":1712,"date":"2020-12-29T18:05:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T18:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2020-12-29T18:05:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T18:05:47","slug":"dealing-with-wine-country-crowds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1712","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with Wine Country Crowds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the famous sayings that Yogi Berra was supposed to have uttered was \u201cNobody goes there anymore \u2013 it\u2019s too crowded\u201d.\u00a0 You may want to remember that if you should find yourself, say, on <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=654\">Route 29<\/a> in Napa Valley on a sunny July 4 weekend.\u00a0 Everybody knows (whoever <em>everybody<\/em> is) that it will be mobbed with wine lovers, tourists, partiers, kids, bachelorettes and assorted hangers-on.\u00a0 The roads are clogged; you can\u2019t get near a server in wineries and as for getting an answer to a question, well, as we say in Brooklyn, <em>fuhgeddaboudit<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>So why go?\u00a0 That may be your only day in the area or you promised some people you\u2019d take them when they were in town. \u00a0Here are a few tips for making the best of it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Avoid the big names<\/strong>. Sure, it\u2019s fun to visit the wineries you\u2019re familiar with but those are the ones that will likely attract the biggest crowds.\u00a0 Even in regular times, we\u2019ve felt overwhelmed at places like <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1347\">Domaine Chandon<\/a> and Silver Oak.\u00a0 So consider some of the lesser known, more out of the way wineries.\u00a0 For instance, if you really want to try some sparkling, you might want to go to Iron Horse in Sebastopol.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ironhorse.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-1713 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ironhorse-300x123.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"668\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ironhorse-300x123.png 300w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ironhorse.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>The Iron Horse tasting \u201croom\u201d.\u00a0 Wine tasting as in the old days.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of shop.ironhorsevineyards.com<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Take your glasses outside<\/strong>. An advantage of Iron Horse is that their tasting \u201croom\u201d is and was outdoors, even before Covid forced that on every winery.\u00a0 Many wineries have terraces or picnic areas where you can sip under the blue skies.\u00a0 We enjoy the combination of wine and good weather under any circumstances.\u00a0 We remember well a visit to Etude one Martin Luther King Birthday weekend when we sat outside in a pair of Adirondack chairs, while a nice server came by periodically and made sure we hadn\u2019t run out of Pinot Noir.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use the auxiliary tasting rooms<\/strong>. Some top wineries, such as Chateau Montelena or Beaulieu Vineyard, maintain secondary tasting rooms specifically to deal with crowded days.\u00a0 If you make it clear that you\u2019d prefer some relative peace and quiet instead of being in the middle of the action, they will be glad to accommodate you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make appointments<\/strong>. This is a good idea on weekends, much less holidays.\u00a0 During the pandemic, most wineries are <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=99\">by appointment only<\/a>, anyway.\u00a0 But when it\u2019s over, the masses will return, perhaps in greater numbers after being away for so long.\u00a0 With an appointment, you usually will get a seated tasting, which by itself limits the size of the crowds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t try to visit too many wineries<\/strong>. The less time you spend on the road, the better off you are.\u00a0 So limit you tastings to a few places, preferably fairly close to one another.\u00a0 Think about the places you\u2019d like to stay for a while, for both wine tasting and other reasons.\u00a0 Some wineries have beautiful gardens.\u00a0 Others have outstanding art collections.\u00a0 And some are just lovely places to be.\u00a0 Take advantage of them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/calistoga.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-1714 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/calistoga-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/calistoga-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/calistoga-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/calistoga.png 462w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u201cDowntown\u201d Calistoga.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of TripSavvy.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Consider in-town tastings.<\/strong> As a general rule, we prefer to be in towns, such as Calistoga or <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=526\">Healdsburg<\/a>, on weekends rather than out in the vineyards.\u00a0 There are an increasing number of top wineries opening tasting rooms on the streets.\u00a0 Even if they\u2019re crowded, and they are sometimes, you can stroll around a bit until you can find a spot at a bar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are all Napa\/Noma tips, but the same ideas apply in European wineries, if you happen to be there for their holidays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the famous sayings that Yogi Berra was supposed to have uttered was \u201cNobody goes there anymore \u2013 it\u2019s too crowded\u201d.\u00a0 You may want to remember that if you should find yourself, say, on Route 29 in Napa Valley on a sunny July 4 weekend.\u00a0 Everybody knows (whoever everybody is) that it will be &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1712\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dealing with Wine Country Crowds<\/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":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1715,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions\/1715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}