hi,
i was wondering what region in the wine country is the best for two people in their mid-twenties on their honeymoon. I'm a little worried about too self important people ruining my vacay. only been wine tasting once before, in old mission, and that was a pretty laid back atmosphere. Just looking for a comfortable place for people who like wine, but are not that educated about it, but want to be. Any suggestions would be great!!

Don't worry. There are many first timers at the wine tastings. For the most most, everyone is there to enjoy the tasting in whatever way they can. It is a great (the best) place to learn about wine. You'll come back knowing how to taste a difference between many different wines.

Napa is great, but I don't know much about it. I wouldn't rule out the Santa Barbara area. Lots of good wineries, and a more laid back atmosphere.

I'm assuming you mean the area commonly known as Napa and Sonoma? In Feb we stayed in Sonoma and had a great time at the wineries in that area. We visited Ravenswood, and though we're not in our 20s, it had been years since we had done any wine tasting so we were completely in the dark. The staff at Ravenswood was so great. They poured wines in "like" groups. For instance, they would pour all the Zins and explain each one as we tasted so we could compare the diferent flavors and then on to the Merlots etc. We had a great time there. The tasting is $5 but can be applied to any purchase. The wines we took home from Ravenswood did not last long!

We visited Benzinger which is up the road in Glen Ellen. Beautiful grounds. Nice tasting room, free unless you do the reserve wines. Nice staff.

The Kenwood area has lots of good wineries like Kenwood (great staff lots of wines), Chateau St Jean (lovely but crowded, 5 wines for $5) and Kunde.

Sant Rosa has lots of wineries.

But the place you might like the best for a honeymoon might be Healdsburg. In Healdsburg alone we had a list of 32 wineries to look into. Unfortunately because of the distance between Sonoma and Headlsburg, and the distraction of the wineries in between, we only made it to Healdburg for lunch. We liked it there very much. There's lots of info on this site about Healdsburg. Type it into the search and check it out for yourself.

Good luck. And don't pay attention to the self important it's generally not the winery staff who are the snobs.

The Wall Street Journal just ran an article last weekend, I think, on smaller, quieter wineries in the Sonoma area. All of their picks had free tasting and were much smaller, so the tastings were far less rushed than you will find at the larger places.
I think you should be able to get it online, if not post back and I'll see if I still have it.

brooksy - have you considered going to Canada and into the Okanagan? there are great wineries in the Kelowna, Penticton, Oosoyos, Naramata areas, with nice accomodations close by and with the exchange, you can really go 5 star!

thank you to everybody for all the suggestions

Since no state was mentioned I am going to put in a good word for Oregon wineries. Very laid back and unpretentious and in a beautiful area too. Come north and try it out!

Jess: I don't get the Wall St. Journal. Would you please give us information on the small wineries. I'll be going to Sonoma area. Thanks

Linda,

I have the article and will forward it to you.