Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

As I understand it, Ed/Lisa will be in France the entire month of April.

Seeking input on the following dates:

Thursday March 16th to
Sunday March 19th

OR

Thursday March 23rd to
Sunday March 26th.

BD

If for some reason this was in late February or closer to the beginning of March, I'd try to attend. Just in case your dates are not firm.

Right now I can make pretty much any weekend in March.

Looking good, both Stefan/Lucie and MichaelP/Nalan can make those dates.
We'd love to see you there Jeff, we'll have to see how it all shakes out.

Jim March 23-26 doable for Danielle and myself. Other dates not. Love to turn it into a mini California tour.

Danny

Both weekend seems ok for me too. Will be harder to get Marie-Claude with me but I'll do what I can. But northern California is basically a good incitative.

Nic

I can come, Jill may or may not join me

Excellent!
Shaping up nicely!
Let's see how the dates work for SF Ed.

I'll work my calendar around the chosen date.

I have some credit card miles I could use for travel.
My wife has been going to the NCAA Women's final 4 with girlfriends most recent years.
So I might be able to take a long weekend on a different week but same time of year.

I can make it to either of those weekends. Not sure if Marjorie will be available.

Chris Bublitz

I'm liking how this is shaping up!

I will do my best to attend.

Do we know where in California?

Either SF, Napa, and/or Sonoma.

Either of those are fine for me.

I've said it before but I think the month of March for coast to coast short weekend type of trips isn't low risk.

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/subject_are ... 3/table_03

If one doesn't have a direct flight to the Bay Area from their home airport, and has to connect anyways, there are some advantages to flying into Sacramento when visiting wine country.

Less fog problems vs. SFO
Cheaper rental cars
Easier drive to Napa/Sonoma

It may not cost extra either.

Good point, Arv - a one-day travel delay on a three-day trip is a pretty big hit. All of the Colorado ski areas are open through April and the snow is still falling big time that time of year. Plenty of direct DC area -> San Francisco area flights.

However, we're planning on putting the house up for sale in the spring so we may be short money or time during that period -- call us a definite maybe and we'll see how it plays out.

Sorry - been in Chicago for the World Series and not checking the board

Both of those weekends work for me!

SF Ed

YES!

Ok I'll post further in next day or two.

Ok let's take a hard look at that weekend of

Thursday March 23rd to
Sunday March 26th.

Are there any holidays or other major events going on that weekend?

I don't think we can do February, Jeff, although possibly March 2-5, I suppose. Right now the above weekend looks most likely to me.
I might be in southern Cali though in February.

Holidays around then:

Easter is in mid April in 2017, pretty late actually, which is the only obvious common holiday. Good Friday is observed in only a small sliver of enterprises, although the stock exchanges do respect that.

The State of California recognizes March 31 as Hugo Chavez day but most commercial / Federal agencies do not.

Leaning towards the weekend of:

Thursday March 23rd to
Sunday March 26th.

If there are any objections, now is the time to speak your mind.

So your next big decision is location.

SF: great food and hotels, fun city. Also expensive and far from the wineries.
Sonoma: Great wineries, some fun restaurants, less expensive, decent accommodations.
Napa: Great wineries, fine restaurants, very expensive, limited accommodations and usually pricey.

We did Napa in '02, Sonoma in '06, and I can't remember what year we did SF, was it '11?

How were Napa and Sonoma as convention sites? Obviously the day trips to wineries and the scenery can't be beat.

That time of year is not high demand for Napa or Sonoma (as it is still pretty likely to rain) so they are not bad at all. I am a much bigger fan of Sonoma than Napa.

Very happy to host something at my place in SF on Friday like I did the last time everyone came out here. Can't volunteer MichaelP for him, but he has a modest place in Napa that might be a fun casual get together place if we decide to go with Napa.

SF Ed

I vote Sonoma.
Would like to eat at The Girl and The Fig again.

I have a small connection with Lagier-Meredith Winery in Napa.
Steve is a customer of mine, although I haven't tried their wine yet.

Racer Chris wrote:I vote Sonoma.
Would like to eat at The Girl and The Fig again.

I have a small connection with Lagier-Meredith Winery in Napa.
Steve is a customer of mine, although I haven't tried their wine yet.

Lagier-Meredith is in a really stunning location atop a ridge and the wines are good. Carol is an academic who studied grape phylogeny and genetics, so she is a very interesting host.

Personally I like the scene in Sonoma more than Napa too.

Traffic in the whole area is wretched now though.