New Multi-Winery Tasting Room to
Open in Napa
Posted: Monday, August 12, 2002
By Tim Fish
If you're queasy from navigating the hills and back roads of Napa
Valley in search of boutique wineries, then a new cooperative
tasting room -- pouring the wines of 10 different producers -- may
save you some heartache, and a little time, on your next trip to
wine country.
Vintner's Collective opens Aug. 17 in the heart of the
revitalized city of Napa, and participating wineries include Patz
& Hall, Cafaro Cellars, Clark-Claudon Vineyards, Elan Vineyards,
Judd's Hill, Mason Cellars, Melka Wines, Mi Sueño Cellars, Strata
Vineyards and Vinoce Vineyards.
"Our main customers will be businessmen who visit the valley but
don't have a lot of time," said Garret Murphy, the man behind
Vintner's Collective. "Most of these wineries are too small to have
a tasting room. Small high-end producers need a place to showcase
their wines."
For $5, visitors will be able to pick three tastes from a
rotating list of wines; a $15 fee includes five tastes and a
souvenir glass. While a few of the wineries will pour wines only
once or twice a week, most will have at least one wine available
daily, Murphy said. Winemakers and vintners will occasionally be on
hand to pour wines, and most of the wines will be available for
purchase.
A Frenchman who came to the United States as a consultant for
restaurants at Napa resorts Auberge du Soleil and Meadowood, Murphy
said he found that wine was a more interesting career than food. He
considered opening the collective in the northern part of the
valley, the center of Napa's wine industry, but he said, "There's no
more development going on in the north, and besides with Copia, it's
needed."
Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts opened
last fall in downtown Napa, creating a new flow of tourists into a
city that was once considered only for locals.
Vintner's Collective is located at 1245 Main St., inside the
city's historic Pfeiffer Building, built in 1875. It will be open
from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., every day except Tuesdays.
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