Best Winery Tours in Napa and Sonoma Valleys
 

My wife and I are planning a week long trip to the Wine Country in California and we would like to know the best winery tours. Any ideas?

Ted my wife and I thought the best tour was at Beringer in Napa County, but from the esthetic point of none are better than Ferrari-Carano in northern Sonoma County

I would highly recommend the private tour at Robert Mondavi. The cost was $15 and was an exclusive tour with about 8 other people. The tour is about 4 hours long but included tours out to the vinyards, wine laboratory, cellars and then an hour and a half of private sampling of a variety of their wines. Definitely worth the time and money. The experience will never be forgotten. Other tours I would thought were good was Rutherford Hill and St Suprey. Have a great time.

Sterling is fun; nice setting. You ride a gondola up a hillside to get there. And good wines....Have fun.

Napa: Sterling for the view & architecture.
Beringer for the building & history, Chandon for the restaurant & sparkling wine, Sonoma: Ferrari-Carrano for beauty, Niebaum-Coppola to be on the cutting edge, Newton for its' incredible art collection as well as wines. Check out the many wine sites. Easy way to find is at freerun.com.

For a very different experience, you might consider a wine country cruise, going from San Francisco, Napa/Sonoma and Sacramento. Wine tasting on board and day trips to several wineries. Cruise company is Alaska Sightseeing Cruise West or email me if you want more info.

Vianza and Kunde, both in Sonoma are great. Vianza has a beautiful view of the valley and a great gift shop where you can taste many creations that go along with their wines. Kunde offers a tour of their wine caves and the people there are great.

I agree with the other postings here. For something small and a little more out of the ordinary, I found Hop Kiln Winery to be very enjoyable. It's just outside Healdsburg a few miles past the Madrona Manor Inn. Try the Primitivo!

SUPER IMPORTANT-do not drink and drive in California, please. Locals rent Limo's for Wine Tours, enjoy but be safe and legal.

I live in Wine Country which is a very beautiful place to live and visit. I recently took guests on tours and I was the driver while they toured, for a total experience I would limit the tours to 3 wineries, have a lovely meal at any of the resturants, all of which are great and fun, take a walking tour of the cities and their town squares, and savor the moment and total experience. I would rent a limo if I were going to join in vs driver, door to door service, they know all the routes,take you on tours, out for a meal,you have the opportunity to see the countryside at a leisure pace.Napa & Sonoma are very beautiful counties, have so much to see and do, that it takes time and can take days to visit, you realy are unlimited in beauty, activities, tours, resturants.
Savor and enjoy.

I recently toured Benzinger in Sonoma and it was very nice - I'd recommend it. It's in Glen Ellen. Also Hess in Napa has a beautiful setting and a modern art collection which was neat.

My wife and I just returned from San Francisco, and loved it, we took a ride up to Napa, and toured some of the wineries. I would definately calling and making reservations at Mustards Grill, we stopped there before any of our tours and ate an excellent lunch. As for wineries, we went to Mondovi, Domain Shandon and Costentino's. Personally I enjoyed Constentino's the best, it's a small winery, still doing things the old fashioned way. Domain shandon, has a beautiful resturant, and "rest area" that overlooks the valley. We didn't eat there but did sit there for a good hour or so just enjoying the scenery. Enjoy!