9 Best NAPA VALLEY Wineries to Visit (2024)

Napa Valley is one of my very favorite places to visit. I go there annually and I've been there 15 times or so. So in this video, I'm going to provide my thoughts regarding some of the best wineries to visit when you're in Napa Valley. This is not just a list of my personal favorites. Rather, I've tried to include a diverse and unique group of wineries that include something for everyone and many of which offer unique and interesting tasting experiences. Even for a wine enthusiast like myself, there can be nothing more tedious and monotonous than just going from tasting room to tasting room. So we're going to make sure that that doesn't happen to you. And while Cabernet is king in Napa Valley, they also have some interesting white wines and sparkling wines. So I'm going to include some options for those of you who prefer white and sparkling wine as well. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is definitely one of the best wineries to visit when you're in Napa Valley. Many of you may have heard of the Judgment of Paris and how Chateau Montelena Chardonnay beat some top expressions of Chardonnay from producers in France. What you may not have known is that there was a red wine component to that tasting as well, and it was the 1973 Stag's Leap SLV Cabernet Sauvignon that beat some top French names as well, including the 1970 Opryon. Stag's Leap is located about six miles north of the city of Napa. It's considered to be a valley within a valley, as it's located between the Napa River and the Stag's Leap Palisades. Stag's Leap is a fantastic area to visit because not only are there some excellent wines, but the scenery is stunning as well. In fact, I did a couple tastings there back in February, and even once I left a cave tasting, I had to just stop and look around and soak in the scenery just because it's so impressive and enjoyable. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is mostly known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, although it does have an enjoyable Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay as well. The Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon wines are accurately described as an iron fist in a velvet glove. This is so because while their Cabernet Sauvignon can be intense, concentrated, powerful, and full-bodied, it also has refreshing acidity and silky velvety tannins that make it enjoyable to drink even when it's young. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars offers a variety of tasting opportunities, including cave tastings, as well as tastings on their courtyard and patio, which offer impressive views of the surrounding area and the mountains. I'll link the winery websites for each of the wineries I'm discussing in the description below. There you'll find more information about prices and scheduling, but just note that many of these wineries will offer either discounted tastings or free tastings if you become a member of their wine club or purchase wine. While the Napa Valley Floor is terrific and I highly recommend that everyone do a tasting at a winery on the Napa Valley Floor, I also strongly recommend that you drive up one of the mountains and visit a winery in one of the mountain appellations as well. And these mountain appellations include Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, Diamond Mountain, and Mount Veeder. Mayakamas is one of my favorite mountain wineries. Mayakamas is located high atop Mount Veeder. While it has 475 acres of property on its estate, it's only able to plant about 52 acres to vine due to the rugged terrain and harsh conditions on Mount Veeder. I include Mayakamas both because it allows you to visit a mountain winery and also because it's one of the very few wineries in Napa Valley that uses pretty much exclusively neutral oak to mature its wines. I have many viewers that are critical of the amount of new French oak that some Napa Valley producers use. And so if you're in that category, you'll definitely want to try Mayakamas wines as they use predominantly neutral oak or if they use some new oak, it's in very large oak fruitress which impart very little oak influence into the wines. In addition to the outstanding red wines at Mayakamas, they also have an extremely impressive and age-worthy chardonnay which sells for only around $50 per bottle. For those of you who dislike buttery, oaky chardonnays, this is definitely one that you'll want to try as it's matured only in neutral oak and they suppress malolactic fermentation which is what can cause the buttery aromas and flavors in certain chardonnay. While Mayakamas has a tasting room in downtown Napa, I strongly recommend that you make the drive up to Mount Vitor and visit the winery. While it's more expensive, this is a historic estate and your visit will typically include a tour of the estate on a golf cart and you can experience and see some of the rugged harsh conditions on Mount Vitor for yourself. You'll also be able to taste their excellent wines in a number of different buildings and areas on the property, including the barrel room. Before I move on to the next Napa Valley winery, if you have a personal favorite Napa Valley winery that you think people should consider visiting, be sure to let me know in the comments below and if you're getting value from this video, be sure to press that like button. Del Dotto is definitely another one of the best wineries to visit when you're in Napa Valley. I've done the cave and barrel tasting a couple times and it was always extremely insightful and enjoyable. Oak maturation can have a huge impact on the resulting wines and the great thing about the barrel tasting at Del Dotto is that it allows you to directly compare the exact same wine matured in different types of oak. For example, you might try the exact same wine that was matured in French oak and then try the same wine that was matured in American oak. There could also be varying differences between the size of the vessel, the amount of toasting on the inside of the barrel, and also there could be some that includes a percentage of neutral or previously used oak. If you're not already familiar with your personal preferences regarding oak, this will definitely give you a lot of valuable information regarding your personal preferences. In my videos when I'm discussing specific wines that I'm recommending, I always make sure to include information regarding the type of oak that was used for the maturation, whether that oak was new or used or something in between, and so forth. And so once you learn your personal preferences, that information will have much more value to you. One pro tip when you visit Del Dotto, however, they do give you lots of wine when you're there, so I definitely recommend using the spit bucket and also make sure that you schedule this one towards the end of the day. While Cabernet Sauvignon is undoubtedly king in Napa Valley, you may have someone in your group who prefers sparkling wine. In addition, it can sometimes be difficult to drink Cabernet Sauvignon first thing in the morning, particularly if you had a late dinner. So you'll be pleased to know that Napa Valley also has a number of outstanding sparkling wine options as well. One of my favorite sparkling wine producers in Napa Valley is Domaine Carneros, which is located only 10 minutes from downtown Napa. Domaine Carneros was founded back in 1987 by the same family that owns Champagne Tatinger. They produce a number of outstanding sparkling wines using the exact same method that is used to produce champagne in the Champagne region of France. The only difference is that they use fruit from six different estate vineyards located in Carneros and Sonoma. For those of you who prefer still wines, they also have Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as well. They have a variety of different tasting opportunities, each of which typically include a flight of four wines, and they also have some food pairings as well, such as cheese and even caviar, which is a magical match with bubbles. Opus One was started back in the 1970s as a collaboration between Napa Valley's Robert Mondavi and Bordeaux's Mouton-Rothschild. The Opus One winery is located in Oakville, which is right on the Napa Valley floor. They have a beautiful tasting facility that features stunning views of the surrounding vineyards and the mountains. A few years ago, they completely overhauled their tasting room, and now they offer a couple of different tasting opportunities. These tasting opportunities all offer the opportunity to try both the current release and at least one library vintage of Opus One, as well as the second wine, which is a multi-vintage blend that's called Overture. Many of the Napa Valley wineries that have some of the most prestigious, expensive wines are not open for visitors. So if you're interested in tasting one of the high-end Napa Valley wines, Opus One is definitely one of the best wineries for you to visit when you're in Napa Valley. If you're interested in wine recommendations, wine collecting strategies, and learning more about wine, please do subscribe to my channel. I've been collecting wine for more than 15 years, and also have a Level 4 diploma from the WSET. So I have both formal certification, as well as substantial practical knowledge from the School of Hard Knocks. Raymond Vineyards is under new ownership, and the new owners are heavily focused on creating lots of interesting tasting experiences and opportunities for visitors to Napa Valley. These experiences include everything from organizing a tasting outdoors in the Grove, to an indoor tasting in the swanky Red Room. But my personal favorite is the Winemaker for a Day experience. This allows visitors to create their own Bordeaux-style blend from Napa Valley fruit, and learn about the blending process. You can even create your own custom label and take the bottle home, and you also have the opportunity to purchase that wine in volume by the case if you so choose. So Raymond Vineyards is definitely one of the best wineries to visit in Napa Valley if you're interested in learning more about being a winemaker or trying your hand at blending. During one of my very first visits to Napa Valley, I visited Sterling Vineyards, which is located in Calistoga. And I was glad that I did, because it was a beautiful clear day, and Sterling Vineyards offers stunning views of the scenery of Napa Valley and the surrounding regions. This is so because they have an aerial tour that's provided by a tram that functions much like a ski lift, and which takes you to the area where you'll be doing some tasting. The tasting area likewise offers stunning views of Napa Valley. One of the things that I particularly enjoyed is that they had a self-guided option that allows you to just taste the wine on your own and soak in the scenery without having to answer questions about where you're from or which other wineries that you'll be visiting. While Napa Valley has many world-class dining options, for a variety of reasons, many wineries do not offer proper meals paired with their wines. So I was extremely pleased to learn that Therum Vineyards, which is located on Diamond Mountain, now offers private culinary experiences. These private culinary experiences are led by Chef Josh Mitchell, and the food is paired with Therum Vineyard wines that will vary depending on your food selections. The Therum Vineyard wines are all made from a state-grown fruit, and the winemaker is top Napa Valley consultant and winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, or TRB. In many instances, the ingredients that you'll taste in your dishes were either sourced locally or even grown on the property in the garden that's on the estate. During my visit, for example, Chef Josh prepared a farm-fresh salad, a dish that included asparagus, peas, and oranges all from the estate garden, pasta with an avalanche of black truffle, and braised short ribs. As much as I enjoyed the world-class dining options in Yountville, this private experience was a nice break from the hustle and bustle. And in addition to the meal, I was also able to take a tour of the property and soak in the stunning views of Napa Valley from Diamond Mountain. Should you find yourself getting wistful for Tuscany when you're in Napa Valley, one of the best wineries for you to visit is Castello di Amorosa, which features a 14th-century-style Tuscan castle. This amazing piece of architecture took an incredible 15 years to build, and it includes more than 8,000 tons of hand-chiseled stone and more than 1 million antique bricks, all of which were imported from Europe. There's 107 rooms, all of which are different, and it even features a moat, a drawbridge, and a torture chamber. So this is certainly a very interesting property to visit. Those of you with children will also be interested to know that Castello di Amorosa permits children to visit as well for a $25 cover charge, which also includes a cup of grape juice. This is quite unusual, as the vast majority of Napa Valley wineries do not admit anyone under 21 years of age. Castello di Amorosa also has a number of animals, many of which live close to the tasting room, including pigs, sheep, goats, emu, peacocks, and more. If you're planning a trip to Napa Valley and you'd like to know my top 10 travel tips, please be sure to check out this video linked above. And in all, I've done about two dozen videos relating to Napa Valley, all of which are linked in the description below.