I have a follow-up question on my quest to taste the most reputable wines in Sonoma. I left a message at Audelssa for a tasting and when I received a call back, it was Repris Wines. She said they bought Audelssa a few years back. Does anybody know what the current relationship is between the two brands and what is the current reputation of Repris wines? They seem to do barrel tastings and a couple bottle tastings. My petunia and I did barrel tasting in Napa and I wasn't a fan.

no issues for me

http://www.undergroundwineletter.com/

Cool, this place is right up my alley, but unfortunately it's in Napa.

Normally, I would agree with you. But, I'm taking my petunia on this trip and she deserves nothing but the best. We can go to a winery that has one or two wines that are below 90, but I'll ask that these wines be removed from the tasting.

Maybe in the future, publications will hire 4 part-time critics (a panel) and do away with one full-time critic. The reality is all products get reviewed in life, whether vacuums or steaks. We don't always agree with reviews, but it can steer us in the right direction.

Also, let me know if any of the wineries I suggested in my OP received an 89 or worse. I've never gotten a B in my life, I would expect the same from the wineries I visit.

Noted, that's something I learned from this post. I'll adjust my expectations accordingly and try something limited at the restaurants.

Thanks to everybody, you were all very helpful. I feel like I have a good list and I will make a few more adjustments and narrow the list to account for driving time and include ones that are close to each other. I will let you know my thought after the trip.

Yes, it's sarcasm. But I did look at the Meadowood wine list to see what producers they liked in Sonoma.

CW218,

I never associated Ridge (CHer) with the winery. I wouldn't think winery representatives would be on this website, but now that you bring it up, they could lure people to their wineries that way, kind of makes sense. I chose Ridge because it was well regarded by a decent amount of people.

I think that's a good way to put it, I'm looking for wineries with great reputations. I want to experience the best Sonoma County has to offer.

In my defense, if I can my hand on a local restaurant's wine list, I find that to be reliable as well. But let's be clear, that restaurant has to have a Michelin star.

You totally took what I said out of context and now you got me in trouble with Ridge. I'll never forgive you for this. : (

This is the OP. Ridge, I appreciate your strong opinions, what I asked for in my OP was simply the best wines..whether Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or Zin. Only when pressed for details did I say rating matters. I will go to Rafanelli for Zin and age it for 20 years and reply back with my thoughts about the wine and the wife.

I understand your frustration with people that only look at ratings. I can assure that I am not one of those people. Yes, I looked at Robert Parker's ratings for my list. But I also went to Bevmo and looked at Wilfred Wong's ratings.

Let me try to address your "open mind" comment. Wine and wineries can be a bit overwelming. I don't know much about Sonoma wineries and what I asked of CHers was recommendations of the best wines, period. All I care about is what's in the glass. I didn't restrict the price, a bottle could be $20, it could be $200. I didn't restrict the distance, I'm willing to travel 2 hours if the wine is worth it. I didn't ask that winery entrance resemble a French Chateau, we can drink on the back of a pick-up truck for all I care. And to be quite honest, I don't know what I like. I'm not huge on Chardonnay, but I'm hoping this trip will change that. So, I actually think I'm keeping an open mind.

On a brighter note, we are going to Ridge for sure.

Can you buy the good stuff at these wineries?

Regarding Rafaneli and Rochioli, what's the concern at these wineries? As long as the wines are good, that's all we care about. If the view or setting is unappealing, that's not much of a concern to us.

I would agree that this is a separate thread, I would prefer no replies relate to wineries with good stories or nice dogs. But please let us know what you mean by nice dogs. A big dog, a small dog, one that barks, one that has bitten lots of people, one that is pretty? Or maybe you just mean nice.

I've never been to Sonoma, I'm clueless when it come to their wines. I put my list together in a matter of a week. I refuse to provide more information on the topic, I need you to answer the question. Let's try the food analogy again. If I saw a list of 20 restaurants and somebody told me these are the best in the state. I would probably reply, take these 5 restaurants off because there are overrated and add X,Y and Z they clearly are in the top echelon of restaurants.

I'm still young, I don't completely know what I like. That's part of what I want to find out on this trip. Thanks for the recs, I'll look at the ones I haven't seen yet. Natural Process Alliance sounds like an interesting visit.

I don't mean to be critical, but this is one frustration I have with Chowhound and I noticed it a decent amount when researching Sonoma wineries. People don't answer the question being asked. I don't care about personal taste. Food is based on personal taste and there are probably 10s of thousands of restaurants in California, but if I was asked what are the top 10 restaurants in the state I could clearly give you an opinion. Based on your reply, it appears you know about wine, so what are the best wineries in Sonoma?

Best means to me, higher on the ratings scale. I don't care if there are 50 people tasting or we are the only ones at the winery. I'm open to spending more ($50 to $200 a bottle), but there are $30 bottles I've liked a lot also. I don't care about atmosphere.

Based on what I've read and what you just mentioned, I don't think we would like Benziger. I think it seems a bit touristy.

Interesting point on Richioli, we have to be able to taste the good stuff on our visit. So I may downgrade Richioli for that reason.

let me know if you need more parameters to suggest the best wineries to visit in Sonoma County?

My girlfriend and I are going wine tasting in Sonoma County 4th of July weekend. We've read a bunch of threads already, but a lot of them have one restriction or another. What we are looking for is the best wineries with the best wines. We don't care about distance, cost, varietal, ambiance, size, etc. Two of our favorites in Napa are Quintessa and Chappellet, great wines.

Based on other posts and our own research, we have a list that includes the following. I'd appreciate your thoughts, which great wineries we missed and which ones on the list are touristy with marginal quality wines. We just want wineries with the best reputation for any kind of wines. Thanks in advance for your help.

A. Rafanelli Winery
Benziger Family Winery
Chasseur
Chateau St. Jean
Copain Wines
De Loach Vineyards
Dehlinger Winery
Freeman Vineyard & Winery
Hanzell Vineyards
Joseph Swan Vineyards
Kokomo Winery
Lancaster Estate Winery
Lynmar Estate
Medlock Ames Winery
Merry Edwards Wines
Papapietro Perry Winery
Radio-Coteau
Ramey Wine Cellars
Rochioli Vineyards and Winery
Scherrer Winery
Seghesio Family Vineyards
Siduri
Unti Vineyards
Williams Selyem Winery
Woodenhead Winery

agreed, easily Oenotri. Bottega was good, but it had a Disneyland feel to it. It appeals to Napa newbies IMO. If you still get excited over truffle fries, try Bottega.

At Oenotri, I would recommend the charcuterie plate, panna cotta and a pizza or whatever pastas look good to you.

~$25 from Kyoto Station/Central Kyoto

the walk is not that bad. Take a taxi and give them the address in Japanese if possible. I have a copy of what our hotel provided if you want it. The taxi will take you to Arashiyama just passed the bridge and you just walk along the water until there is a dead end and turn uphill. The attached pics show our walking path.

Regarding Tsukiji market, Daiwa only gets a line once Dai's line gets too long (2 hours). We went to both on a recent trip, Dai was better than Daiwa. I would get to Dai at 4:50AM. We got there at 5:30AM midweek and waited 40 minutes. Within an hour the wait looked to be 2 -3 hours and then a line began developing outside Daiwa. I ate a la carte at Dai (recommended) and got about 18 pieces for $80. The set menus were ~$40 and $27. Dai opens at 5AM.

Try going to Jiro or Saito for lunch. We went to Jiro for lunch and there were a few empty seats at the 1PM seating. Keep calling back. A few chefs regarded Saito as the best, but we couldn't get 2 people in at lunch. We also went to Sawada, easily better than Jiro (the meal is paced too fast, couldn't even finish my beer). Jiro and Sawada were about $300pp out the door.

The department stores were cool, but the food quality took a bit of a dive for me. We went to Isetan in Shinjuku.

Trying booking through a hotel concierge

We just went last week to both Dai and Daiwa on our trip. Regarding the line and quality, if you get there at 5AM to 6AM, the line is more like 30 minutes. I would imagine you can get comparable sushi for the same price elsewhere in Tokyo, but there is an allure of getting it right at the market and shopping/sightseeing afterwards. I thought the quality was very good, service was tourist friendly and you get to try a lot of different fish off the a la carte menu. Definitively a step above Daiwa. I would wait in line at Dai instead.

Just went last week and opted for the most expensive lunch I believe. Out the door, no drinks, just tea was 12,180 yen or $130 for two people. It was a lot of food and highly recommended.

On the hours for Kurofuneya, tabelog tells me:
17:00 to 05:00 Mon-Fri
17:00 to 23:30 Sat
Yes enter the shop open after 10 o'clock at night, mosquitoes enter the shop after midnight, until the first train

If mosquitoes can enter after midnight, I'd assume we can also.

The bars look good, I remember reading about Hive Five's hot dog, maybe we'll end up there. Thanks.

I only mentioned Gonpachi because I know it's popular and I didn't want people to recommend it. I want the best tasting food available at 1AM near Ginza or Shiodome. Actually all three of your recommendations sound good. Would you happen to have the tabelog link to the bars. I think I'm ready for the Japanese menu.

Arigato

I guess the name is Echigo Yayasokichi, my post had the google translation.

I have trouble searching Tabelog, even with the translate,I was looking for the best tasting food available at 1AM near Ginza or Shiodome. Any help?