They could have been at Mondavi or Beringer or one of the secluded “by reservation” wineries, but no, they had come to downtown Napa for their first glass of wine of the day.

Wineries have too much “attitude,” said Sherrie O’Hearn, a Chico resident who was beginning her birthday celebration at the Bounty Hunter with her friend Colleen Uhyrek.

“Downtown Napa has kicked it up a notch,” Uhyrek said. Until Bounty Hunter opened, she would have passed up downtown on her wine country holidays, she said.

Uhyrek, who once owned a wine bar in Chico, said she didn’t need tours of vineyards and barrel rooms before tasting a premium Napa Valley wine.

By stopping at the Bounty Hunter, with its 40 wines by the glass, she had cut to the chase. “The service is awesome. The knowledge is awesome. The decor, the inventory, it’s all good,” she said.

After their early afternoon glasses of wine, Uhyrek and O’Hearn planned to do some shopping at Napa Premium Outlets, then finish their day with dinner at Mustard’s.

On the same Thursday afternoon, Tricia Cugini, a wine novice, and Emmett Castellan, her slightly more experienced partner, were having a wine tasting adventure at the Vintner’s Collective, a tasting room for 18 high end wineries on Main Street.

The Sacramento residents had gone to four Upvalley wineries the day before and had hit a fifth winery that morning. They were ending their two-day wine sojourn at the Vintner’s Collective, with an olive oil tasting to follow.

During his Internet research, the Vintner’s Collective, which occupies a handsome stone building built in 1875, popped up as “most romantic,” Castellan said.

They were tasting reds, but didn’t get more specific. “Whatever (they’re pouring), it’s good stuff,” Castellan said.

What did they think about coming downtown to a tasting room opposite an office building under construction and just down from the Fire Museum?

“I like it,” Cugini said. “It’s an eclectic mix.”

The stylish tasting bar at the Vintner’s Collective is a relaxed world onto itself, Castellan said. A visitor quickly forgets that there aren’t vineyards outside the front door, he said.

Over at Napa Wine Merchants on First Street, two Canadians who had driven to Napa in their motor home were beginning three days of serious wine tasting courtesy of the $20 Downtown Wine Tasting Card that gave them access to 10 tasting facilities.

They will pass up tours of wineries and the Upvalley in favor of the concentrated wine tasting that can be done in downtown Napa, Kevin Heinze said.

“We really love the fact that we can walk around  and try different places without having to drive period,” Elise Heinze said.

When Stave, the wine lounge across the street, opened at 3 p.m., they would move there, then end their afternoon at the Bounty Hunter where they were planning to buy a bottle of Port, she said.

This was their second visit to Napa. The year before they had gone to seven of the 10 tasting facilities offered by the Napa Downtown Association’s tasting card.

The day before, Filomena Lepore and Anouk Soufer, two young women from New York City, strolled into Stave in the late afternoon. “We just stumbled upon it,” Lepore said.

After some instruction by staff, they had each put $20 on a wine tasting debit card that gave them access to some 35 wines by the glass, dispensed by fancy machines from Italy.

“These machines are unique. We’ve never seen anything like this in New York,” Lepore said.

Soufer admitted she would probably rather be at an Upvalley winery than in downtown Napa. “I feel like being in town is a little too touristy,” although Stave was “less so,” she said.

When William and Carol Beckman of Houston pulled into downtown on Thursday afternoon, they were on their dream vacation to the Napa Valley following William’s retirement.

While looking for the Visitor Center, they had gotten lost, which is how they ended up at the Vintner’s Collective.

Despite the 18 wineries at their disposal, they did not linger for even a sip. They only asked for directions.

The hour was late, William Beckman said. They had to rush if they were make it Upvalley before the wineries closed.