I am traveling with friends on April 5th to SF. We have never been to a winery so don't know which one to even try. We want to have FUN though.....Any suggestions??

The mot FUN winery I've ever been to was Meeker in Geyserville. Those people are crazy!!!

If you want to learn about wine, you should definitely hit Mondavi. They have a good tour. If you go to Napa, you will hit a winery every two minutes. You may want to start off at Viansa and Gloria Ferrer in Carneros. They are both good wineries that are newbie friends and both have good decks to hang out on. They are within 2 minutes of each other and are a couple of the closest wineries to SF. Have fun!

What you may consider doing is asking the hotel about tour companies that have small vans and do the tours that way. it's fun, and there are several advantages. first, the owners of these companies many times have the "inside track" on which wineries to go to. they don't want you to have a bad experience. Next, you can DRINK ALL YOU WANT because someone else is doing the driving. Our van picked us up a the hotel, took us to 5 wineries. (Viansa, Cline, Moet (i think) and several others. I'd definitely check out a bubbly winery - very cool. We also had lunch in Sonoma which was included.

HAVE A GREAT TIME!

Smith,

What kind of fun do you want to have wine tasting?

- do you want to learn how wine is made?
- do you want to visit places that have historic importance in California wine making?
- do you care if you have to pay for the tastings?
- are you wanting to eat in a restaurant or do you want to bring a picnic?

Napa wineries are among the most famous, accordingly they are often the most crowded and almost all of them charge for tasting. Some apply your tasting fee as a credit if you buy wine.

Sonoma wineries are smaller, less well known and often are still family run. Some charge for tasting, some don't.

Carneros is a region at the south end that is known for sparkling wine production. I like to stop at Gloria Ferrer, tho' it's really just a champagne bar. They do have a lovely terrace that looks out over wine country.

Oakdale Grocery in Sonoma is a great place to pick up Gourmet picnic goodies. Many wineries have beautiful grounds for picnicking.

The farther off the beaten track that you get the less likely the winery is to be crowded and the less likely you are to have to pay for the tasting.

My favorite wineries are Chateau St. Jean, Belvedere, Preston, White Oak, Kunde and Gundlach Bundschu. Of course, none of them are near each other.

Here is a link for the Russian River growing area:

http://www.wineroad.com/maps/

I would recommend Napa over Sonoma. As Traveling Kate pointed out, there are more wineries in Napa than in Sonoma. The Sonoma wineries are just too far from each other. Since it appears that you only have a day, for the wine country, Napa will be alot less driving than Sonoma. I secong Travelin Kate's advice about Viansa.

We went to Napa a little while ago, and loved our day trip! HEre's what we did:

We went to Clos Pegase (right before Calistoga), did the tour (quite long at 1 hour 15 minutes but informative). Then went right accross the stress to Sterling, you take a tram up, nice view of the area. Wine was ok, fun experience. Then we went to Domaine Chandon, very nice, they do sparkling wine, leave them for last as they close at 6.

We only had time for 3 wineries, but if you can fit a 4th, Mondavi would be good I heard, or take your pick, there are tons on the side of the road. You'll have fun no matter what!