Okay, my mother and I are considering venturing out west. I've never been to California or the west coast and have always wanted to go for a visit (all my costal experiences have been on the northern east coast) and we are interested in touring the wine country. Both of us are VERY clueless about CA and slightly nervous about just renting a car and driving around (heck, I don't even own a car, I ride the subway). What I would love to find is a nice tour which isn't cheesy (as some tours tend to be). Does anyone have any suggestions? Typing in "Wine country tours" in google got me a rather overwhelming result.

We liked Cakebread Cellars and Schramsberg. Schramsberg was a little different because they make champagne and store it cellars.

I meant to write they store it in caves.

You might want to check out the Yountville Inn for your lodging in Yountville. The concierge could recommend many reputable tours for you.

If you go up to Calistoga, check out the Indian Springs Resort for your lodging. www.indianspringscalistoga.com Try a mud bath or soak in their huge heated mineral pool! Very nice and soooo relaxing. Enjoy California! ***kim***

Vittrad,
I narrowed the google search with "Napa Valley" and got only 283,000 hits. Still too many? ;-) I think most of those are one-day "tours" by limo or bus. If that's what you're looking for, kim's suggestion is a good one.

If they're out there, I would recommend against multi-day escorted tours that lock you into a schedule. You will want flexibility that they don't allow.

The most difficult of the driving is from SFO (or OAK) to wine country and back. Once there, whether Napa Valley or Sonoma, it's relatively easy to get where you want to go. In spite of your nervousness, I think this is the way to go.

Not sure when you are coming but if it's in October or November, there is one excellent option: a wine country river cruise. These 3 or 4 day cruises visit many of the best places in the Wine Country and you don't have to be bused around in large groups. I have heard very good feedback from those who have done it.

http://www.travelwizard.com/american...y-cruises.html

If you do decide to rent a car (which is really the best option unless you don't drive at all), you can take the Evans Airport bus from Oakland or SFO to Napa and arrange for Enterprise to meet you with a rental car. This option keeps you off the heavily congested freeways of the Bay Area. Then you can drive around Napa and Sonoma counties on country roads mostly and avoid potential gridlock.

Have not been to the wine country in twenty years so can not really help with your question. But if you have not seen the movie "Sideways" (currently up for 7 golden globes) I would suggest seeing it before your tour. It is a buddy-roadtrip movie about two guys touring the wine country and it is quite amusing. If you go to their website you can also see the tour the movie follows. (I have no idea if this would be one of real interest though.) Have fun.

The movie is filmed in the wine country around Los Olivos in the Santa Barbara area. We just toured this region, very nice.

It was fun seeing the movie in Santa Barbara at the Rivera Theater, up on the hill by the El Encanto hotel. ***kim***

It's not very scary. California was invented after the automobile. The freeways are very well marked. The maps are up to date. We have a lot of gas stations in the places you might expect them. Whenever I drive in another state I have trouble because the roads are marked so I always miss my turns. It's pretty easy here.

The Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery in Napa Valley is an amazing experience. There are tours of the beautiful,old chateau which consists of an awesome collection of Francis Ford Coppola's personal items and props from his movies. You can also tour the estate grounds and the vineyard as well as partake in the wine tasting. Enjoy!

My husband and I did just that in Oct. We flew in to SanFrancisco..stayed there for a few days at the Best Western Tuscan Inn..they were very helpful...told us NOT to rent a car while in the city...so we walked a block away and rented a car when we were ready to tour...we drove to Napa and Sonoma...stayed in a great B&B in Sonoma...and toured from there on our own. We could walk to some of the wineries right from our B&B. We also drove down to Carmel, Big Sur, took the Pebble Beach 17 Mile Drive..a must see...and just poked around. We drove back to SF, dropped off the car, stayed one more night at the Tuscan Inn. While in SF...toured Alcatraz and all of the local sites. We loved the whole trip. Let me know if you would like the name of the B&B...it was great...lovely hosts...non-intrusive but very very helpful.

I would recommend Sonoma wine country over Napa. It was much more beautiful and Napa seemed more touristy than I had hoped.

thanks everyone for your comments, I'm taking notes, perhaps I will rent a car after all for this excursion, i'm planning on possibly going in the summer, or late spring.