Which tourism downturn? Napa wineries are reporting unusual demand for tastings valued at over $ 500

“June is usually not a big month for wine hospitality here, especially for high-end reds,” said Tim Martin, owner of Tusk Estates and Immortal Estate, which are currently offering a $ 550 tasting. “But inquiries are off the charts. I haven’t seen traffic like this for years. “

With California pandemic restrictions ending and the weather heating up, it’s no surprise tourists flock to Wine Country. But this version of wine tasting is a far cry from what the crowds who pop into the bustling tasting bars along Highway 29 experience. Bills for those high-end Napa vacations can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars; Some winemakers were even surprised at how quickly their most expensive offerings were selling, given the economic impact of the pandemic.

Tor Kenward, owner of Tor Wines in St. Helena, didn’t expect a big rush when he started running a new premium wine tasting called the Black Magic Experience last year. For $ 950 per person, visitors can visit famous wineries like To Kalon, Vine Hill Ranch, and Dr. Visit Crane, whose fruits end up in his Black Magic Cabernet. Given the high price tag, Kenward thought it would take some time to pique interest in the wine tasting. And yet: “We have a much greater demand than we can currently meet,” he says.

It’s a sharp twist on recent fears that the valley was slipping into a tourism downturn due to the COVID-19 crisis and forest fires in 2020. Now the air is clear, the orange skies of 2020 a distant memory. The rich seem to be spending their money in the Napa Valley.

That there is cash for such luxurious leisure activities could be due to the larger economic patterns of the moment: According to the Institute for Policy Studies, America’s billionaires increased their wealth by 45% in the first 12 months of the pandemic. But there is also some catching up to do with non-billionaires who are willing to travel and spend some money again. Theorem Vineyards on Diamond Mountain in Calistoga is receiving more tasting requests than it can hold, says owner Kisha Itkin.

This applies to the standard experience in the theorem, which includes a tour, a tasting of three to four wines and a cheese platter (150-250 USD), as well as the more expensive offers: a tasting with a limousine ride from home or hotel with champagne, followed by a private food and wine couple ($ 850-1,500 per couple, depending on distance traveled); and the Theorem Vineyards Baccarat Experience, which features a custom-engraved crystal wine glass from the French company Baccarat ($ 750 per person).

A persistent desire for social distancing can also contribute to the high demand: a private experience may now require a surcharge. “People are definitely willing to pay a little more because it’s so private,” said James Cerda, vice president of sales and marketing at Theorem.

With many Americans still suspicious of international travel – and many countries still not open to tourism – domestic destinations like Napa and Sonoma are likely to receive some of that summer travel. And many of those who travel there probably want to do something special. Experts say that the people with the end of the pandemic look out more adventurous, once in a lifetime experiences, maybe because COVID was such a powerful reminder of our mortality.

Angela Dürr, owner of A Cultured Vine concierge service, which plans luxury experiences in Napa Valley, says interest in high-end experiences in Napa is the highest in years. “It’s as if you turned the taps on properly,” says Dürr. She had to hire a new employee last month just to keep up with the requests.

Durr’s customers, she says, aren’t happy to do the same wine tasting as they did on their last trip to Napa – nor do they want something that can be arranged through a Wine Country booking service like CellarPass.

“I have to come up with things that I couldn’t have done on my own,” says Dürr. “It could be something like this: Let’s get in a helicopter, take a ride, land next to a vineyard, now you’re under this 500-year-old oak and it’s nothing but you and the vintner and a table that is already set up. “

This is what customers pay for: Dürr recently planned a trip for a 10-person group with a total cost of around $ 80,000 and another for a group of three couples that ended up costing almost $ 40,000, including the airfare. Contributing to these bills are a rental apartment or hotel, private cookery dinners, and Dürr’s own fee, which starts at $ 1,600 for two days of trip planning for up to four people. (For larger groups, it starts at $ 2,200.) These sums also reflect the expectation that a group will spend at least $ 2,000 on wine at every winery it visits.

For winemaker Shannon O’Shaughnessy, tourists’ desire for special additions helped fuel her new wine brand, Aileron Estates, which launched during the pandemic. As a pilot who loves flying, she began offering double-decker flights in addition to tastings. For $ 550, you can get about 20 minutes in the air – complete with some wacky “aerobatics” if you want – in vintage open-cockpit planes. (It gets quite noisy, warns O’Shaughnessy.) Packed lunches are available at an additional cost. Later, head to Brasswood in St. Helena for tastings.

“Small wineries usually vie for attention and try to get people to do tastings,” she says. “And now I have so many inquiries that it feels like a full-time job.”

It is possible that Napa’s current luxury tourism boom is a bubble and it could burst. The region’s famous wine industry is facing many obstacles: it is struggling to attract millennials, and overall wine consumption is not growing in the U.S. if the 2021 fire season – which could be severe in California – proves to be as damaging to the grape harvest as the 2020s Years that could seriously damage the Napa Valley economy. The area’s prestige may be strong enough to withstand such a crisis, or interest in its fancy wine excursions may wane.

But for now, these upscale experiences point to the evolution of wine sales. Luxury wine customers are less likely to buy wine unseen than they would have been in the past, when a rating of over 90 from a trusted reviewer was sufficient. Today, these customers want to stroll through the vineyard, spend time with the winemaker, and snap memorable photos before buying. Helicopter flights and engraved crystals sweeten the deal.

Still, some of the new high-end offerings are old-fashioned: just tastings of expensive wine.

Immortal Estate, which is calling its new $ 550 offering a 100 point experience, includes a tasting of four wines, bottles that sell for $ 75 to $ 303. The appeal, says Martin, the owner: Two of these wines were rated with 100 points by the Wine Advocate. The $ 550 fee is a hefty fee for four servings, but Martin says it’s meant to signal that this is only for die-hard wine collectors.

“In order to be able to move out of our library,” says Martin, “a kind of fee has to be due to separate the looky-loos from the people who mean business.”

Kenward, owner of Tor Wines, says people – including customers – are even telling him to charge more for wine. (His most expensive wine, the $ 450 Black Magic, was recently revealed after golfer Phil Mickelson drank it from a trophy in an Instagram video.) Kenward once says, a friend of his, who “sells wine to them “Blackcard folks” persuaded him to charge $ 155 for a Chardonnay, as opposed to Kenward’s typical $ 85. All 90 cases were sold out in one day, which surprised even Kenward, who admitted that it is always a shock when an expensive wine sells out so quickly.

“A lot of people predicted that we would have our Roaring Twenties after the pandemic, and maybe they’re right,” says Kenward. “But to be honest, it feels a little crazy.”

Esther Mobley is the San Francisco Chronicle’s wine critic. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @Esther_mobley