* Sequoia Grove

Always a pleasure, they make sure you are well attended, talk to you, take you to soil samples, give you many more tastes than are in the program. Give you crackers and water, invite you to take a glass and walk around get pictures of the place. Automatically waive the fee if you buy something. I bought two reserves and two logo glasses.

* B.V.

Had to wait quite a while for anyone to show up. They looked almost annoyed the had to serve someone, sent sour glances from time to time. opened up a bit during the time I was there, forcing them to talk about wine. Refused to serve water, but you can buy their BV water bottles. They did serve crackers. There were two guys after a while and the 2nd guy was more chatty, and he snuck some extra tastes into my glass, kinda looking for when the other guy wasnt looking. But later the other guy also gave me an extra shot of clone 4 and latour 2001 for head to head comparison. So I guess it was alright. They waived the fee as I bought the clone 4. They told people earlier that you need to buy to bottles. So all in all, a bit tense mood, but they were alright in the end, except for the water business.


* Beringer

They have different rooms, so different people, so the experience will vary.. One room had the mid-priced products, napa valley cab, merlot, modern heritage pinot. That guy was alright. Let me taste whichever I wanted for no fee as I bought a bottle. No water or snacks, as you had to buy that.

In the reserve room I just wanted to taste private reserve, not a full tasting, and I bought a bottle and had to argue with them if I had to pay for the tasting. Walked out of there with 10% off on it, which is 150$ after taxes. But they should have done that themselves with no complaints. They should also know that it is cheaper outside the winery, so I basically did pay for the tastings through it.