Napa Valley in '07

wine country

I live about a hour from Napa. If you truly want the small vineyard experience with some interaction from the wine maker, going up towards Lake Tahoe to the El Dorado County or Amador County (about 2 hours east of Napa) is much much better than going to Napa. You can usually talk with the winemakers, almost all tastings are free, they have great priced great wine, more reds, but many carry whites too. Most of Napa's wineries charge for tasting, and are very large and commercialized. Mendocino County has wonderful wineries as well (a couple hours north of Napa), Navarro Vineyards, especially for Reislings and Gewertz. Here are some links to El Dorado and Amador. Its a beautiful area and there are lots of B&Bs etc. Have fun.

http://www.eldoradowines.org/

http://www.amadorwine.com/

Check out Esquisse along the Silverado Trail. There is a tasting room that tastes for multiple wineries, and the owners are sometimes there. There is a really good Viognier from Voss tasted there.

I recommend Pine Ridge Winery in Napa. The tour costs about $25 but they take you through their caves and you get a nice tasting. They mostly have reds, but they have a Chenin Blanc and a nice Dijon Clones Chardonnay. They also have an Encantado Rose which is a nice playful wine that I think you'll like if you like Rieslings.

http://www.pineridgewinery.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category_detail&category_id_int=12618

It's also a stones throw from lots of other winerys like Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Chimney Rock. You can hit about a half a dozen in about a 2 or 3 mile stretch of road.