Can anyone recommend a good tour from San Francisco to wine country?
 

We're taking a trip to SF over New Years, and we'd like to go up to wine country. (We're leaning towards a tour because driving through unfamiliar territory after a wine tasting sounds like a bad idea!) Which should we go to -- Napa or Sonoma? Can anyone recommend a good company?

If possible, we'd like a tour that stops at the redwoods as well. I found a tour for $59 at extranomical.com, which stops in Sonoma (the town and three wineries) and Muir Woods. Is anyone familiar with this company?

Any info would be much appreciated!! :)

Call them to find out how large their vehicles are and what wineries they visit. A sure sign that you will be on a GIANT bus tour is a stop at Viansa, which is more parking lot and deli than anything else and caters to lots of big tour groups. If Viansa isn't on the list you might actually get to interact with some family wineries, and if they say "well, what wineries do you want to visit? What kinds of wines do you like?" you know you've struck gold (but probably will pay several times the price of the big bus tours).

Muir Woods is very pretty but the road in and out of it is extremely windy. If anyone gets carsick easily I would recommend skipping it. Or renting a car so you can drive at your own pace.

>> A sure sign that you will be on a GIANT bus tour is a stop at Viansa, which is more parking lot and deli than anything else and caters to lots of big tour groups.<<

bobludlow
Good description of Viansa. Don't know if you've been there recently. It was sold not too long ago - and it's gone downhill! I've never seen more big busses there than I did about 1 month ago. The inside is also not nearly as interesting as it was last year. It's mostly stocked with condiments that a tourist can put in their suitcace & take back home for aunt Betty. The corner deli/restaurant in the town of Sonoma has been closed.

Stu Dudley

Good call -- one of them did mention Viansa. Thanks for the tip! I'll try to steer clear. May be worth the extra $$ to get a private tour. I'll have to check with my travel posse ;) I'll also see who wants to brave the winding roads for Muir Woods.

CAN we rent a car and drive home after a day of wine tasting? Or am I right to be hesitant?

I'd also love opinions on whether to go to Napa or Sonoma. Anyone have a favorite? It sounds like Sonoma is more scenic, and the "original" wine country.

>>CAN we rent a car and drive home after a day of wine tasting? Or am I right to be hesitant?<<

I don't think anyone can answer that question for you - it depends on how much wine you drink. We're pretty tough on DUIs out here - don't chance it if you think you might be a little too tipsey.

The Sonoma vs Napa question has been debated over & over & over again. See if you can find an old thread.

BTW - next time you post about SF, choose California from the "pick a topic" box. On the US message board, I immediatly select "California" and only reply to those. Your post just happened to be at the top of the stack, so I saw it on the way to reviewing the California posts.

Stu Dudley

Thanks StuDudley. I think we'll opt for the tour -- I was mainly asking, "Are you given enough wine at wine tastings to potentially become tipsy?" Better safe than sorry, I think, especially when you're on the opposite side of the country. :)

And I actually did click California when posting this thread -- but I'm on an ancient computer at work, so it has a few "quirks" (by which I mean grave malfunctions).

Thanks!

Stu & bobludlow have good info. about Viansa. The part of the Sebastiani family that started it
has sold it and the new company re-hired
one of the Sebastiani brothers to run it, soon thereafter he got himself another DUI so he's on leave and there's loads of mudslinging going on-quite sad, actually. The tour buses
are worse than ever.

I think it wise not to drive if you are a)new to these roads and b)have been wine tasting. It will also be dark by
5 PM,so I think a local guide and driver a VG idea. I favor Sonoma because I live in the county and am quite biased :)

Was Viansa part of the extranomical tour?

R5

razzledazzle,

Extranomical's regular wine tour does visit Viansa (and Kirkland and Madonna Estate). The one we were looking at is the Muir Woods / Wine Country tour which apparently stops at a couple of the following: Homewood, Cline Cellars, Larson Family Winery, Schug Carneros Estate Winery, Rockhe Carneros Estate Winery, Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery. Are any of those red flags? :)

<i>&quot;The one we were looking at is the Muir Woods / Wine Country tour which apparently stops at a couple of the following: Homewood, Cline Cellars, Larson Family Winery, Schug Carneros Estate Winery, Rockhe Carneros Estate Winery, Sebastiani Vineyards &amp; Winery. Are any of those red flags?&quot;</i>
Roche, BTW.

No red flags-do you get to chose which ones you stop at ? They are all rather close together (geographically) all
in the Carneros region just a tad south of the town of Sonoma, and spreading West to Sonoma Mt. and East into Napa,boundry the Napa River, (except for Sebastiani which is in town).
It makes for a fairly easy trip from Marin (Muir Woods)to these locations.

There is a broad range of winery style here. Homewood is probably the smallest, as well as being a truly organic producer,
very hands on. Cline is a bit larger,
neat sort of &quot;fancy farmhouse&quot; tasting room with pretty garden and pond -Very Good wine IMHO. Sebastiani is the full blown tasting &quot;hall&quot; with gifts and
goodies galore, should still be decked out from the Holidays. Sebastiani has been in Sonoma for over 100 years. Grab a bottle of their Sonoma County Cab,
is VG for around $15. (Their Cherryblock
Cab at around $60,if you shop for it, is some of the best.)

Does this tour have a lunch stop?
R5

Razzledazzle,

Thanks for the info! I don't think we can choose the wineries with the extranomical.com tour. They do offer a semi-private tour, where we could pick the wineries -- but if we go with a tour group instead of a private tour, I'm not as concerned with which specific wineries we visit as I am with making sure we're not tripping over 500 other tourists. Also, the tour doesn't include lunch...but maybe it's all for the best, because I've never enjoyed a tour-provided lunch anyway :)