imatraveler

Hi all. I just found out about this message board and I think its great. I need some help with an upcoming vacation.

My husband and I decided to go to 'wine country' (we're thinking Sonoma and maybe some place nearby) for our first wedding anniversary, this July (either Sun - Sat or Mon - Sat). But I don't really know where to begin. We want a nice leisurely, relaxing trip where we can get some good wine tasting, hiking and fun in without being too rushed.

First - should we plan to fly into Oakland (a friend mentioned this) or can we do wine country just as easily from San Fran. I'm hoping we can do the latter as we've never been to San Fran and I LOVE bridges and was hoping to get some great shots of the Golden Gate.

Second - we LOVE wine. We prefer red wine and also sparkling wines. We're big fans of oaky cabs and other full bodied wines. I heard there are barrel tours. Where should we go? We want to go to scenic wineries where we can get some great tastings in. It'd be great to have some picnics at the vineyards (if possible...where we can buy some wines there for the picnics). Maybe someone can recommend a bunch of wineries to hit up (maybe starting with a wine class somewhere to learn about what we'll be spending a few days doing)...

Third - the miscellaneous things to do...Where are some great places to go for hiking? Not all day hiking trips but maybe a place to go in the am before we head out to the vineyards. Also would you recommend the spas? Alcatraz? Yosemite?

Fourth - Places to stay. We don't want to blow our budget on lodging but we would like to stay some place cute and quaint. Any recommendations?

Finally - to be able to do San Fran and wine country, approximately how many days would you recommend we stay at each? For San Fran we pretty much want to take a ton of pics of the bridge and maybe visit some friends one night. Any great places where we can picnic in the area and get our bridge pictures in...

Any advice you can offer would be great.

Thanks in advance!

Budman

Here's a couple of links that will get you started. The first one links to the wineries in the area, and the second one has some proposed itineraries. Barrel tasting was first weekend in March, but most wineries have tasting rooms open during the week and on weekends, and some you have to make appointments.

We're partial to the Healdsburg area. Love it, both the Dry Creek and Russian River areas.

Oak, you like Oak? A lot of them use new or 1-year old French Oak barrels.

http://www.wineroad.com/
http://www.visitwineroad.com/

LoriNY

Welcome to Fodors!!! If you do a search on this forum, you will finds lots of info regarding wine country. I just returned, and I have posted a trip report. We used the info gleaned from this board to put together our trip - which was a huge success. My advice is to avoid the weekends in the valley - it is really crowded, and I can't even to begin to imagine how crowded July will be, as it is considered high season. In fact, the woman we met at Quintessa told us that in July her job is not to be a pourer, but a bouncer.

imatraveler

Thanks for the tips so far. LOVE oak. THats how I came to know I love Cabs. Bummer to miss out on the barrel tastings but I'm sure we'll still get our fare share of tastings and fun in. Should we fly out to Oakland or San Fran or does it really matter? Most sites say its between 30 and 1 hour from San Fran to the wineries so I think thats what we'll probably do. And to skip out on San Fran's crowds maybe we'll fly out on a Sun (July 3 - our actual anniversary), stay overnight, do San Fran Monday all day and stay over and leave Tues am for the wineries... Its rough having our anniversary in July. Its peak season EVERYWHERE!

weimer

It's lots of fun to plan a wine country trip. Beyond Budman's reccomendations Iwould reccomend also making a list off all the wines you like at home. Go to thier web sites to see if they have tours and tastings. It's always fun to visit a winery that your familiar with.

I like to stay at the Rennesaince Lodge in Sonoma. Great property by several good restaurants.

As for flying, go with SFO if you want to drive the Golden Gate.

mfenimore

I HIGHLY recommend the tour of DelDotto vinyards in Napa. It was my favorite. Not much scenery but the barrel tour is great, you taste right out of the barrels. It is not cheap and you need advance reservations but it is so worth the money, the tasting lasts over two hours. Coppola has great scenery and if you do the tour of the estate it is very interesting. I also really enjoyed Viansa in Sonoma. The wine is not great but they have an awesome food market and you can buy something and eat it outside on their picnic tables with some wine and enjoy the great views.

I would say two days in San Fran and two or three days in wine country would be good if you love wine. We did two days in Napa and 1 in Sonoma on our way back to San Fran. We spent only a full day in San Fran but have been there before.

Have fun

NorCal_Jo

Hi - regarding flying into Oak vs SFO - there are benefits to both. I live in the East Bay and fly out of one or the other depending on price and commute. For example, depending on time of day, events, etc. it can be about the same time to fly into Oak and drive across the bay bridge into SF than to drive up 101 to SF from SFO (since you said yo love bridges you can hit the bay bridge which has great views of downtown SF from the east angle). Anyway, if you want a relaxing, leisurely winetasting trip with some hiking Sonoma would be fine as it is centrally located or I would steer you towards Healdsburg/Russian River valley area for at least a day trip because of the laid back nature of the wineries, fewer people, and rolling hills. If you stay in SF 1 night, you could do a short hike in John Muir woods as you head over the GG bridge up 101 towards Healdsburg on day 2. Since you like reds and sparkling, I might recommend "J" winery for sparkling wines and great pinot noirs. Also, Lancaster near Healdsburg has terrific reds. Davis Bynum for terrific pinots and cabs. Also, keep in mind that you could even head over to the Calistoga end of Napa valley fairly easily for a day trip to get more big reds (Chateau Montelena for cabs, Josephs Phelps for lots of good wines and views over valley). Your other questions - Yosemite is completely out of the question. Spas - Calistoga has great spas (Lavender Hill, Indian Springs) as does Sonoma. Hiking - as mentioned, John Muir or trails in the Russian River area but July is pretty dry so I'd recommend John Muir as it is redwoods and lush. Bridge pictures - either drive into the Presido and take a a view from the Presido hill overlooking the bridge from the SF side - gorgeous or go to the Marin headlands side (north side of bridge). One other combined hiking/bridge choice would be to take a ferry to Angel Island and walk/hike around the island - excellent view of the entire SF cityline including the bay bridge and GG bridges. It depends on your priorities. Keep in mind that you'll want to get a good start in the am in wine country as it is pretty in the morning and you really won't go to more than 4-5 wineries in a day if you are leisurely and pinic - even if you start a 10 am as many close by 4-5pm. Many wineries will let you picnic if you call ahead and others are more relaxed, especially in Sonoma/Healdsburg. If you like views, the tram ride up to Sterling winery is a fun thing (do it first thing at 10am) as you get to ride a tram to the top, take a self tour and taste wine along the way. It is a bit commercialized but even my husband and I who live here thought it was really fun and the views were great. You can also take a tour of the champagne caves at Schramsburg if you call ahead. Hope these tips help!

sequoia370

Hike at Armstrong Redwoods, 2 miles north of Guerneville, about half an hour from Sonoma.

You can fly into Oakland and go to San Francisco. And you'll see two, no three, bridges that way. It's not really any farther to the City from Oakland Airport than it is from SF Airport.

I once flew into Oakland and headed across the Bay Bridge to SF, only to find the traffic on the bridge completely stopped for about twenty minutes or so. People were getting out of their cars, walking around taking pictures and chatting with total strangers about what might be causing the jam and anything else. Finally everything started moving again and I never did find out what caused it in the first place.

Take pictures of the GG Bridge from Fort Mason in the Presidio, on the city side or from the Marin Headlands on the north side.

sequoia370

Sorry, Fort _Point_ is in the Presidio right under the bridge, Fort Mason is on the waterfront to the east. But you can get pictures of the bridge from both points and in between as well.