Robert Mondavi Winery - One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

The Robert Mondavi Winery, in Oakville, is still the Go-To winery for first-time Napa Valley visitors due to its thoroughly enjoyable, totally informative, educational, primer tour.

Mondavi puts the entire wine-making experience into a context like no other winery in the valley through its Signature Tour, a 75-minute, $25/person tour, which follows the path of the grape from vineyard to bottle.

The tour, offered seven days a week, leaves hourly, from 10 am to 4 pm, from beneath the main winery archway, and ends with a sit-down tasting of three wines. Reservations are  highly recommended, especially in summer months, as tour groups are limited to 15 people.

In the 42 years since tours were first offered here by patriarch Bob Mondavi, literally millions of visitors have passed beneath the winery’s Mission-style arch, in search of knowledge – and, it goes without saying, great wine, too.

Which is why I send all first-time Napa Valley visitors – friends and family -- to Mondavi  to take the Signature Tour. And in 12 years, not one has come back disappointed.

Yes, there are wineries in Napa Valley whose settings my be more resplendent, or which hang off the edge of a cliff, or which were designed by a celebrity architect, or which have a darker, bigger, deeper cellar… but not one of them offers a better, more informative, tour.

For reservations, call 1-888-RMONDAVI, or get details at www.robertmondaviwinery.com.The winery is at 7801 St. Helena Highway, Oakville, CA 94562.

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In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.