Our office decided to reward our department by sending us for a day of wine tasting (er, team building) last Friday.

We rented a limousine from Beau Wine Tours (http://www.beauwinetours.com/). We ended up with a 16-passenger vehicle that looked more like a shuttle bus from the outside and a luxury limo on the inside (thank goodness we didn't get their stretch Hummer - that so wouldn't go over for San Franciscans!).

We picked out the wineries we wanted to visit ahead of time and preordered some boxed lunches for a picnic through Beau.

First stop was St. Francis Winery (http://www.stfranciswine.com/)
$5 tasting fee, refunded with your wine purchase (Reserve wine tasting, $10). To put it mildly - BLECH! The wines they were offering were horrible. We all agreed and quickly reboarded our vehicle. What a waste of time and money.

Second stop: Chateau St. Jean (http://www.chateaustjean.com)
$5 for three wines (Reserve wine tasting, $10). After our first experience, we opted for the reserve tasting here which was fun and informative. The wines were top-notch, and priced as such. I popped $50 for a reserve Merlot and was a bit surprised that they didn't offer to refund the tasting fee.

They did have a nice large gift shop and went out of their way to take a group photo for us on their lovely patio.

Lunch Stop!
After all of that wine we couldn't wait for our picnic at Valley of the Moon (http://www.valleyofthemoonwinery.com). Unfortunately, the grounds here turned out to be less than engaging - but our tasting guide was great. We had a private tasting for our group ($5/person) in their barrel area. Good wines here - and affordable. Made us realize how much we'd over-payed at Chateau St. Jean.

Last stop - and we were all feeling it by this point: Viansa Winery & Italian Marketplace (http://www.viansa.com)
Complimentary tasting of four wines (Reserve wine tasting, $5 for three wines).

Loved this place! Huge gift shop and fabulous wines that you aren't going to find at your local liquor store or supermarket. I applaud the marketing of this place. It's run by one of the sons or grandsons of the Sebastiani family. The approach is that all of the grapes are from Old Italian vines that have been shipped over. So you're basically drinking Italian varietals - and boy are they good!

We had a private tasting and appreciated it as the indoor tastings were pretty crowded.
For those not able to get to the wine country - they have a tasting shop in San Francisco (http://www.viansa.com/about/enoteca_viansa.html) - haven't yet been, but eagerly want to check it out.

All in all - a wonderful day for wine tasting.

After spending all that money on a limo, I'm surprised that you had to also pay to taste. I visited wine country twice (Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley, along with Healdsburg), and never paid for a tasting, with the exception of Clos du Bois which charged us $5, but you got a nice engraved wine glass.

I want to add - although Viansa is always overrun by tourists, do stop there for a view.

I would be interested to know what you tasted at St. Francis as I have always had good experiences there, particularly w/their wine & food pairings. Ledson would have been a better choice though & it is right down the street w/beautiful grounds & a deli to purchase lunch if needed. Typically if you arrange for your group ahead of time, you could have avoided any tasting fees. I'm not sure who organized the trip...however...I would have included Gloria Ferrer for sure. And Valley of the Moon is one of the few wineries in this area that I would skip. Substituting instead Mayo, Imagery or BR Cohn. You may have done better had you asked on here first...Just a thought.

& probably saved some $$$ as well.

Gloria Ferrer actually asked us not to come by. They said they were holding a private function that day and that they couldn't accomodate our group.

I don't actually know if we paid for tastings at every stop as I wasn't handling the money. I do know that the one place that required us all to dip into our pockets was Chateau St. Jean.

I actually enjoyed our visit to Valley of the Moon - though I would not choose it again for a picnic stop.

While I didn't take notes on what we tasted - it was unanimous that St. Francis was serving up swill. They should have paid US to taste it.

I guess it is all a matter of taste as I only found about 2 wines @ VOM that was even drinkable. I just know you could do much better for your money than what you did. Most places in Sonoma don't even charge a tasting fee & the ones that do, typically do so only on weekends. Next time you decide to wander out, let us I know. I have connections at several wineries that would have treated you much better than it sounds like you were...

Well SFImporter you had a fun and relaxing day and that is a great way to start a weekend. I haven't been up to Sonoma in about a year, I need to get hold of my friends (who love wine too) and set a visit up. Your post reminded me that they mentioned this about a month ago and it slipped my mind. CinCin!

I have been at a few wineries that don't charge a tasting fee at all, but when a big limo with a bunch of people pulled up - they suddenly started quoted them a tasting fee...maybe the big limo groups are not profitable for some wineries??? Or they don't want to be overrun with large groups...

We visited Vintage 1870 in the Napa Valley on a recommendation from http://www.justwinecountry.com and found a lot of unique shops.

To- SAnParis
Is there anyway I can contact you directly for some information? I am planning an anniversary thing in Sonoma and would like your advice. thanks!

ttt