Hello..... I was reading messages on Trip Advisor and this forum...We have never been to the Wine Country and we are confused regarding location ?? I would like to get the feel of "walking" at night from our hotel to visit bars,restaurants,etc...where would you recommend ?? We are not concerned about price....what wineries would you recommend that we visit ?? We drink Silver Oak,Quinnetesa,Jordon,ZD,etc....We will be in the area for 5 nights and then headed to Carmel for 3 nights

Many Thanks

I think you have to decide where exactly you want to locate. If you want to walk from your hotel around a town, I'd suggest Healdsburg and either the Hotel Mars, or Hotel Healdsburg. Both have excellent restaurants, but there are many others around town also. During the day there are wineries to visit and lovely drives to take to the ocean and redwoods. This is all in Sonoma COUNTY. (there is also the town of Sonoma) There is Napa county, and the town of Napa....so its a little confusing. Healdsburg is straight up hwy #101 about 1.5 hrs north of the Golden Gate bridge.

The Hotel Healdsburg is an excellent choice for lodging. We also had the tasting dinner at the Dry Creek Kitchen that was very good. The hotel is very contemporary, has many nice amenities including a nicely heated pool, jacuzzi, small spa and nice buffet breakfast set outin the morning. The rooms are very nice, ours had a 6' soaking tub and a King bed with a balcony overlooking the grounds. ***kim***

Also look at The Grape Leaf Inn in Healdsburg.

And..make certain you visit Gary Farrell.

Most of the wineries you mention are in the Napa Valley, which is where I live. The Carneros Inn, while lovely, is at the southern end of the Valley, and remote, so would not provide the walking around experience you desire. If you would like to walk around town from your hotel, you'd need to stay in a town such as Calistoga, St. Helena, or Yountville. You might like to stay in Calistoga. From there it is a short pleasant drive to the Alexander Valley where Jordan is (and also to the town of Healdsburg). What kind of lodging are you seeking? High end like Carneros? I could recommend some, but need to know more. Also you can check www.napavalley.com for more information.
If you like Silver Oak wines (which I enjoy also), you might also like Peju and Freemark Abbey. There are many interesting wineries.
Consult your map of Northern California.
Napa Valley is not very big; it is long and narrow, with the town of Napa on the southern end and Calistoga at the northern end, and several very small towns in between. It is a 30-minute drive from Napa to Calistoga, so it is not very far.
The reason you are confused about location is that when people refer to "Wine Country" they could mean either Sonoma County (a large area) or the Napa Valley. On this forum, people can get mighty testy about their preferences. I think from your tastes expressed you might prefer to visit Napa Valley but you could easily visit both areas with the time you have available. The "other wine country"(Sonoma) is an easy day trip from here.

elnap is right...Carneros is nice, but not convenient to walking. Napa town has more to walk to, but upvalley may be more of what you are looking for.

For cabs the Upper Napa Valley is probably the place you want to be(Silver Oak). Stag's Leap also has some great bottles of same.(Quintessa is there as well). Check out Rombauer and Pine Ridge as well for cabs. I like Robert Sinskey as a place to take folks. (great pinots-beautiful winery)

For Pinot Noirs and Zinfandels you cannot beat Healdsburg and the Russian RIver area.

For walking around consider (Napa Valley) either Yountville or Calistoga.
You can walk to all sorts of good places in Yountville including Bouchon, The French Laundry, Bistro Jeanty etc.

Calistoga is more low key in terms of dining options and at the upper end of the valley. This is a spa town. We just stayed at Indian Springs in the lodge and liked it a great deal.

I am a Healdsburg side fan because I happen to prefer Pinots and Zins to Cabs. and I find it a tad less commercialized. We have lots of family in Napa so seldom stay in hotels. That being said, we were just up there last Sunday night on a lark and drove down the Silverado Trail Monday am. It was beautiful.

We ate at Go Fish in St Helena. It had some great aspects to it particularly that you can sit at the counter and there is an extensive sushi menu. I can't get the smoked salmon and blinis out of my mind!

BTW~the original Fodor's Winos held their gathering in Yountville.