Wine tastings and wine country
Four wines, the people behind them, and no scoring sheet on the table.
A tasting card is a wall. It tells a guest what they are supposed to find and turns the next forty minutes into a test they might fail.
I do not use them. I select four wines and bring the story of each one: who farmed it, who decided when to pick, what the year did to the fruit and what somebody did about it in the cellar. A room usually holds someone on their first flight sitting next to someone who has been drinking seriously for thirty years, and telling both of them what to taste serves neither.
WSET Level 3, more than a decade reading rooms as a National Park Service interpretive ranger, and direct relationships with the people who make the wine.
The Corporate Tasting
Board retreats, client dinners, conference breakouts, offsite afternoons. Up to 60 guests · Ninety minutes
Built for a room where a third of the people are there because it was on the agenda. I select the four wines for the group and each one carries something worth hearing, so nobody has to perform enthusiasm about a tasting note they cannot find.
You buy the wine. I choose it, handle the sourcing conversations, and it goes on the venue's existing beverage program or comes from a partner winery. That keeps it on one bill and keeps the licensing clean. No AV under thirty guests. A handheld or lavalier mic above that.
$3,500 flat
Second same-day session $1,500
Private tastings and wine education
The Private Tasting
4 to 20 guests · 90 minutes · Your home, a private dining room, or a rented space
An evening built around four specific bottles I select for your group. You buy the wine, I bring the rest. Guests leave knowing why they like what they like, without it having felt like a class.
$500 up to 12 guests
$800 for 13 to 20
Wine Education
1 to 12 guests · In person or by video · Single session or a series
Built around what people actually get stuck on. Reading a label without overpaying for it, getting through a restaurant list, how a palate works, and pairing without the rules somebody made up in 1974.
$350 per session
Formats
One place, four makers
Four wines from a single AVA, each from a different producer. What the ground does, and four answers to it.
One maker, four places
A single winemaker's work across four sites. The clearest way to show a person's hand.
Vertical
One wine, four vintages. Weather as a character.
Built to a theme
Send the occasion and I will build the flight to it.
The travel half
Wine country
Most wine country itineraries are a list of the five wineries that answer the phone. You arrive, you pay a tasting fee, you are handed a card, and by the fourth stop your palate has stopped reporting accurately and you cannot remember which wine was which.
This is not that. Fewer stops, chosen for a reason, with appointments where an appointment gets you a different afternoon than a walk-in. Couples, families, and small groups. No buses.
Curated Itinerary
Single or multi-region · Three to four stops a day, no more
Route, appointments, pacing, and notes on what you are about to taste and why it is on the list. You travel on your own and the plan does the work.
Three or four stops is a ceiling, not a suggestion. A fifth tasting is a palate that has quit.
$350
Waived when lodging is booked through Fora Travel, where I am an independent travel advisor
The Hosted Trip
Small groups, couples, and families · End to end
Everything above, plus lodging booked through Fora Travel, transport, dining reservations, and me on the ground with you if you want it.
Custom quote
Regions
Napa Valley · Sonoma County · Russian River Valley · Paso Robles · Amador County · Lake Tahoe and Northern Nevada
Other regions by arrangement.
What I am and what I am not
I am not a tour guide, which is a separate license and a different job. I am an independent travel advisor of Fora Travel, which is how lodging and bookings are handled, and a WSET Level 3 certificate holder who knows the producers on your itinerary.
Driving is yours to arrange, or I arrange a car and a driver as part of a hosted trip.
Built for planners
You buy the wine, I select it
Wine goes on the host venue's or partner winery's beverage program. No separate alcohol invoice to reconcile and nothing to license.
No AV to arrange
No screens, no slides, no deck. A mic for groups over thirty.
Winemaker access
Direct relationships with producers in Napa, Sonoma County, and Amador, including bringing a winemaker to the table where the calendar allows.
Works in the room you have
Ballroom, private dining room, barrel room, crush pad.
Lead time. Corporate dates book four to twelve weeks out. Private tastings usually need three weeks. Itineraries need three to four weeks. Hosted trips need eight to sixteen weeks depending on the region and the season. Harvest books early and September in Napa books earliest of all.
I take a limited number of tastings each year so the flight for each one gets built rather than reused.
Questions
Do you bring the wine?
No. I select the wines and handle the sourcing conversations, and you purchase them. They run through the host venue's beverage program or come from a partner winery, which keeps it on one bill and keeps the licensing clean.
What if our group knows nothing about wine?
Good. The session is built for a mixed room. Nobody is asked to identify anything.
Can you work with our DMC or planner?
Yes. I work directly with clients and with destination management firms and planners.
How far do you travel?
Northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe, and Northern California without question. Further by arrangement, with travel billed as itemized line items.
Can a winemaker join?
Sometimes. It depends on the calendar and the season, and harvest is harvest. Ask early.
Do you book the wineries on an itinerary?
Yes. Appointments are made in advance, and where a relationship gets you a different visit than the public tasting, that is the version you get.
Do we have to book lodging through you?
No. I am an independent travel advisor of Fora Travel, and booking lodging that way waives the itinerary fee and sometimes gets you upgrades or amenities a direct booking will not. That is the only difference.
Do you come with us?
On a hosted trip, if you want. On an itinerary, no.
How it starts
Tell me who is going, roughly when, and what a good day looks like to them. That is enough to start.
patrick@vianarra.com · +1 (650) 418-0507
The Story in the Glass
Guided tastings, corporate events, and wine country trips.Most guided tastings are a list. Four wines, four sets of descriptors, a room that nods along and has forgotten all of it by dinner.
I pick wines that have a story behind them. Who farmed it, who decided what and when, what the year did to the fruit and what somebody did about that in the cellar. That is what the time gets spent on.
I don’t run through tasting notes. Everyone’s palate is different, and a room usually holds someone on their first flight sitting next to someone who has been drinking seriously for thirty years. Telling both of them what to taste serves neither. Telling them where the wine came from, and what it cost somebody to make it that way, gives them each something to do with their own glass.
There are no tasting cards.
What I do
The Private Tasting
For a birthday, an anniversary, a holiday table, a group of friends who want an evening that’s actually about something.
Where your home, a private dining room, a rented space.
Size four to twenty.
Runs around ninety minutes, and longer if the room wants it to.
The wine you buy it. After we talk about who’s coming and what they usually drink, I send you a list of four specific bottles and where to find them. Nothing on the list is hard to get, and nothing is expensive for the sake of being expensive.
An evening that teaches without feeling like a class. Four wines that have something to say to each other, and the reason each one ended up in the glass the way it did. People leave knowing why they liked what they liked, which is the part that sticks.
Fee: $500 for up to twelve. $800 for thirteen to twenty. Travel outside Reno-Sparks at cost.
Wine Education
For someone who wants to actually learn, on their own or with friends. No prerequisite. Starting from zero is where most people begin.
Where your home, a private room, or a video call.
Size one to twelve.
The wine you buy it, from a list I send ahead. A session on labels and buying can run over video with no wine at all.
Covers what people actually get stuck on. How to read a label and know what it’s telling you and what it isn’t. How to pick a bottle in a shop or off a restaurant list without overpaying or defaulting to the second-cheapest red. How to think about pairing when the old rules stop applying. And how to taste properly, meaning what the swirl is for, what order to pour in, and how to tell what you like from what you’ve been told to like.
The private tasting is an evening with people in it. This is a session with a syllabus. Some people want the dinner party. Some people want to stop feeling stupid in front of a wine list.
Fee $350 for a single session up to twelve. A series is quoted.
The Corporate or DMC Tasting
For an offsite afternoon, a client dinner, a board retreat, a conference breakout. For a destination management company or a hotel, the slot on the agenda that keeps defaulting to a bus and a winery tour.
Where a ballroom, a private dining room, a barrel room, a crush pad. Indoors works, so the weather can’t take the day.
Size up to sixty. A second session the same day handles a bigger group.
Runs around ninety minutes, compressing when the agenda is tight.
The wine it runs through the venue’s own beverage program, so it bills as F&B and nobody has to reconcile a wine invoice against a facilitator fee. A partner winery supplying the pour is the other route, and it’s often the better one.
Requires a handheld or lav mic for groups over thirty. No slides, no screen.
I can also build the event itself rather than just the tasting inside it: the winery partner, the format, the venue coordination, and the story that holds the evening together.
Fee $3,500 flat, up to sixty guests. $1,500 for a second same-day session. Travel at cost. Full event builds quoted separately.
The Wine Country Itinerary
For anyone planning a wine trip who doesn’t want to spend three weeks guessing which appointments are worth the drive.
What you get the route, the winery appointments booked, the order they happen in, and notes on why each one is on the list and what to ask when you get there. Built around what you actually drink, not a top-ten list.
How I pace it four winery stops in a day is the ceiling, and three is usually better. Past that the palate is gone and so is the point of going. Every itinerary I build assumes a driver or a designated driver, and I’ll arrange the car if you want me to.
Regions most of what I build is California: Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, Sonoma Coast, Napa Valley, Amador County, Paso Robles. Anywhere in the world is on the table.
Fee $350 for a single region. Longer trips and multi-region routes quoted separately. Lodging is not included, and that’s on purpose. Lodging is where I can get you upgrades, amenities, and rates you can’t book yourself, and it runs through my travel practice instead. Book the lodging through me and the fee comes off.
Travel arranged as an independent travel advisor of Fora Travel.
The Wine Country Trip
For a couple, a family, a small group who want the whole thing handled.
What you get everything in the itinerary, plus lodging, transport, restaurant reservations, and the pieces that go wrong when nobody’s watching them.
With me on it optional. If you want a host, I come along. Not as a tour guide, which is a separate license and a different job. As the person who knows why those particular appointments are on the calendar in that order and can talk about what’s in the glass once you’re standing there.
How it gets booked Lodging goes through Fora first. That’s where the upgrades, the property credits, and the amenities come from, and they cost you nothing on top of the rate. When a property isn’t in the program, and small wine country inns often aren’t, I book it direct or through another source and tell you which one it is.
How it gets paid I don’t handle your money. Lodging, cars, and anything else I book go through the supplier’s own payment link, in your name and on your card. Winery fees, restaurant bills, and some experiences are paid on site when you get there. What I invoice for is my time.
Fee quoted once the shape of the trip is set. Hosted trips are quoted separately.
Travel arranged as an independent travel advisor of Fora Travel.
True of all of them
I don’t sell wine. No fee on this page includes a bottle. You buy it, or the venue does, or a winery brings it. That’s why the wine is named on every card above.
A winery pouring for you. For the right room I can bring in a producer to pour their own wines and speak for them, at a private table or a corporate event. I have direct relationships with winemakers in Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, Sonoma Coast, Napa Valley, and Amador County, and connections past those. Nobody explains a wine like the person who decided when to pick it, and a guest who has met the winemaker buys differently for the rest of their life.
Credentials that matter to a venue. WSET Level 3, and I hold the alcohol service certifications required in both Nevada and California.
Who runs it
I spent more than a decade as a National Park Service interpretive ranger at six sites, standing in front of people who had no obligation to care about anything I said. That’s where the format comes from. Reading a room, knowing when to talk, knowing when to stop, and finding the one detail that makes the rest of it land.
Author of Stop Leading on Empty, published by Archway/Simon & Schuster in 2026. I write about wine for Edible Reno-Tahoe, Senior ResQ, and Edible San Fernando Valley, and I publish the Pour Story Society newsletter.
Based in Sparks, Nevada. I travel.