Napa App Users Vote! The 50 Top Searched Winery Pages from Amicis Winery Guides

Online, July 17, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Wine lovers are a mobile, well-educated population and the percentage that carry smart phones is higher than the average. So, when coming to Wine Country they frequently use mobile Apps for guidance. What they search for is revealing; their favorite restaurant wines, what they hear in recommendations from friends and colleagues.

Napa's top commercial wine tour app, Napa Valley Wine Tour by Ralph & Lahni de Amicis, published by Sutro Media, has released their list of 'Most Viewed Winery Pages', producing some surprises. For instance, in these days of massive corporate brands, half of the top twenty are family owned, including wineries #1 and #3.

Exclusivity matters: Wineries #1 and #2, Cakebread and Opus One, are visited by appointment and found prominently in high-end restaurants. Winery #10 Far Niente, could be called the French Laundry of wineries, providing a wonderful, and pricey tour/tasting to a very limited number of guests, and requiring reservations far in advance. On the other end of the customer spectrum, Winery # 3, Castello di Amorosa is open to everybody and does no distribution, like their sister property, V. Sattui, the most visited winery in Napa, and yet they came in at #23.

Wineries #3, 4 & 5, Castello di Amorosa, Artesa Winery and Beringer Vineyards are most famous for their architecture or history. #6, Caymus, is a family owned, high-end restaurant wine, that until recently was only visited by appointment, until they opened a tasting bar, to the applause of local tour guides. Wineries #7, 8 & 9, Domaine Chandon, Robert Mondavi Winery and Sterling Vineyards are three big corporate labels with wide distribution, that have devoted a great deal of energy to creating a complete visitor experience.

Cabernet is King in Napa, so the famous Judgment of Paris winner, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, should come in high on the list. Yet they come in at #25, while the Chardonnay winner, Chateau Montelena, comes in at #12, even though Chard is considered locally as an also ran. What happened? The popular wine geek movie Bottle Shock featured Chateau Montelena, but gave only passing mention to Stag's Leap, so there media trumps tradition.

In another example of that, Inglenook, aka Rubicon, aka Neibaum Coppola comes in at #11, despite their tastings becoming increasingly exclusive, an uncertain street sign situation, and a GPS glitch that often places them a mile north next to Grgich Hills, #34. Taken together, it makes finding them a bit challenging for the first timer.

Generally the list shows three sides of the premium wine consumer, comfort with the familiar, the quest for the prestigious and the search for the hidden gem. Add to that a great love of architecture, views, gardens and food and you have the Napa Valley experience. Because the Napa Valley Wine Tour App was created by tour guides Ralph & Lahni de Amicis, it seeks to fulfill all of those client desires when they come to this beautiful place.
To see the entire list of rankings and to watch the six minute video about the Top Napa List visit www.AicisTours.com/napalist

The visit rankings of the 250 winery pages currently in the App.
1: Cakebread Cellars - Appointment - Family Owned
2: Opus One Winery - Appointment - Family Owned
3: Castello di Amorosa
4: Artesa Winery
5: Beringer Vineyards
6: Caymus Vineyards
7: Domaine Chandon
8: Robert Mondavi Winery
9: Sterling Vineyards
10: Far Niente - Appointment
11: Inglenook - Francis Ford Copolla
12: Chateau Montelena Winery