We will have four days to see CA wine country and a little of SF. We will be flying out of Fresno to return to the East coast, so will have 4 full sightseeing days. Thanks for any suggestions as to where to stay along the way, best route, wineries, etc.

Meant to say that we will take a scenic route to Wine country, then probably drive "the fastest route" back to Fresno the night before we fly home. Thanks again ...

Just to clarify - you're flying in and out of Fresno, or into somewhere else then out of Fresno?

Lee Ann

Yes, we are flying in and out of Fresno, with the first week of the trip being taken up with family matters. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks, EP.

Is the point to actually be IN wine country (ie Napa or Sonoma) or wine tasting? If it's just wine tasting--head up HWY 41 north fron Fresno to HWY 49 (or detour to Yosemite). Outside Sonora, there are a number of wineries, lots of quaint towns and historic villageson up to HWY 4 east to Murphys. Check out http://www.calaveraswines.org/wineries.html

We want to BE IN wine country, to see the area.

Well then, head up 99 to 120 west to 205 west to 580 west to 680 north ($4 toll bridge)to 780 west to 80 north to 37 west to 29 north to Napa (or 29 to 121 west to 12 north to Sonoma). These are the most direct routes; there are some more scenic ones that will take you through the Delta if you want to avoid all freeway driving. You can loop back to SF from Sonoma by taking 37 west to 101 south for the drive across the Golden Gate Bridge ($5 toll).

The whole state of California is "wine country". It would be closer to go to the Sierra foothills as mentioned above or over to Monterey County. Great scenery and great wine. Plus you could check out Carmel, Pacific Grove & Monterey. Madera County has a wine road also.

Good luck,

MY

Is it possible to change your departure point to SFO, or Oakland or San Jose? Would save you a days travel back to Fresno?
If you definately want to get up to Napa, etc., get a good map and off you go (see TrvlMaven above) It will take maybe 4 hours+ to Napa, depending on traffic and time of day in Bay Area. The scenic route discussed above would require a night some place, like the Sonora area perhaps. Its a slow road. With only 4 days, I'd hightail it north and do your Napa and SF thing directly.
Plenty of places to stay up there, including some real nice B&B's in places like Yountville, Healdsburg, etc.
You will have fun.

Thank you all. I didn't realize that all of California is wine country so to speak! I guess I was thinking of "Northern CA" wine country or the most famous area of wineries, huh? I can see that I need to research more. We want to see beautiful scenery, do some coastal driving and visit wineries. Thanks again.

You might want to check out the wineries of Amador County. Personally, I like it better than the Napa/Sonoma/Mendocino area. The wineries in Amador do not charge for tasting, traffic is light and many times the owners are pouring. Plus, the area is beautiful. Check out Villa Toscano, Deaver, and Stonehouse.

www.villatoscano.com
www.amadorwine.com

Elsie:

Monterey County would only be about 3 hrs from Fresno. And you wouldn't have to hassle with the Bay Area traffic. The Carmel Valley has numerous wineries, plus you would have handy access to the coast. Driving along Carmel, PG & Monterey. Good luck.

MY

I like the suggestion for Carmel Valley. You could wine taste at Chateau Julien and Bernardus, a lunch at Bernardus Lodge (Wickets) would be very nice, it's a gorgeous resort in Carmel Valley.

Also, nearby in Monterey is Ventana Vineyards, right next door to Tarpey's Roadhouse where you could have dinner after your tasting. The tasting at Ventana is complimentary and they produce some really nice Sauv Blancs and whites here. The Taste of Monterey, right across from the Monterey Plaza Hotel was recently mentioned in Sunset (March edition.) We tasted here a few months ago and purchased their Silver Mountain Chardonnay which was amazing, we recently took a bottle of this great wine to our condo in Huntington Lake and the Lakeshore Resort restaurant. Cheers! ***kim***