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Hands down, Mondavi continues to offer the best wine tour(s) in Napa Valley. We've been telling friends who come to visit to always include one of the Mondavi tours during their stay in Napa Valley, and we usually encourage them to take the tour early on in their visit — to put the whole wine-making experience into perspective before they go off to visit other wineries.
We love the casual, educational, down-home care that you receive on every Mondavi tour. After years of tours, after a winery renovation, after a tour program-facelift, Mondavi still offers the best basic winery tour in the valley and now there are six elaborate tours to consider, too.
The Basic Mondavi Wine Tour: A 75-90 minute tour that follows the path of the grape from the vineyard through the cellar to the bottle. You get to see the whole winemaking experience first-hand and afterward get to taste Mondavi wines paired with a variety of foods. The fee is $10 per person and you must be 21-years-old to taste wines. Advance reservations are recommended. The tours usually start on the hour. If you only have time for one winery visit and/or one winery tour while in Napa Valley — this is the place, this is the tour!
The Winegrowing Tour and Tasting is a 3-hour, educational tour offered Wednesdays at 10 am. The tour drills down to more precise elements of winemaking — R&D in viticulture, fermentation techniques, barrel aging — and ends with a tasting of selected wines paired with fruits and cheese. The tour is limited to 10 and costs $30 per person.
The Essence Tour and Tasting is a different 3-hour tour with the emphasis on sensory evaluation. The tour covers the influences of soil, climate and the role of the winemaker. The tour, offered Tuesdays at 10 am and also at 2 pm May through October, is limited to eight. The fee is $35 per person.
Mondavi also offers a Picnic Tour, a Wine & Food Balancing Act Tour and two tours that are even more elaborate, running up to $95 per participant.
Whatever your wine-knowledge thirst, Mondavi has a tour to quaff it. Wine-country hospitality doesn't get any better.
Robert Mondavi Winery, for details about wine tours, go to www.robertmondaviwinery.com. The winery is located on Highway 29 just north of the Oakville Crossroad. 1-888-RMONDAVI.
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