I would like to recommend a great boutique winery in St. Helena called Anomaly Vineyards. This is a small family owned winery that does one wine (cabernet) and does it very well.
We live in the Bay Area and plan about 2-3 day trips to Napa per year. We will typically visit 4 wineries per day, appointments only. Our goal is to find lesser known wineries that are doing high-end limited production wines. We find that we get a more personal and intimate experience this way, and are usually very impressed with the wines. We will occassionally throw in one of the larger wineries we haven't yet visited, but are typically disappointed with the experience relative to the smaller wineries.
On our recent trip (April 2009), we visited Garguilo (Oakville), Caymus (Rutherford), Revana (St. Helena) and Anomaly (St. Helena).
Garguilo was outstanding. Gorgeous setting with a beautiful tasting room and huge deck overlooking beautiful vineyards and horse stables. The tasting was a private tasting hosted by a lovely woman named Sue. Wine was excellent and fairly priced, and Sue included a delicious olive/cheese/salami plate which was a very nice touch.
Caymus was a complete letdown. Held in a mausoleum type room, by a hostess who could not have been more stiff. Literally (no joke) delivered a memorized presentation. Looked and acted a bit like Cliff Claven's mother, and we're pretty sure she didn't break a smile the entire time. Skip this one unless you have "Visit Caymus" on your 100-Things-To-Do-Before-I-Die List. Which would be understandable -- the wine is great. Just a lousy place to visit.
We broke here for lunch at Martini House -- our favorite overall restaurant in Napa for combination of atmosphere, food and service. Once again, it exceeded expectations.
Revana got us back on track. Tasting was hosted by the lovely Nathalie, who was fun and friendly and eager to taste guests on this ultra-premium Cabernet as well as another Syrah made by the vaunted Heidi Peterson-Barrett. We were joined by some rather odd Germans who seemed to be on a tour of the most expensive places in Napa (including French Laundry, which they found to be "So-so"), but this didn't throw Nathalie in the least (she's from Bordeaux, so perhaps is accustomed to it). We didn't know what to expect from this place, and were very pleasantly surprised. If you're looking for a winery that decided to spare no expense in making the best possible wine (with bottle prices to match), this is your place.
We ended at Anomaly. Here, we were hosted by Seth, son of the owners, who is now active in the winery. Seth is a fun, friendly and gracious host. The experience starts with a tour of the beautiful vineyards next to the property which sit at the base of the picturesque Mayacaymus Mountain range. After a quick look look at the winemaking equipment and process (which we still find interesting) the tasting is then held in a beautiful little tasting room/cave underneath the winery. We tasted their current release (2005) as well as a prior vintage (2003). Both wines were outstanding. We highly recommend visiting this winery. read more