My husband, baby and I are thinking of going to northern Calif the begiining of Nov. We have never been to a winery and are wondering how formal this is. Is it ok for a baby to go- (well behaved) or is it more like going to a nice restaurant?

It would be worth calling ahead to find out. A lot will depend on your baby's age as to whether a tour would be feasable. The tours I've done have been pretty informal.

We took our 4 month old son on one winery tour ten years ago. The biggest problems we came across were uneven surfaces, including stone steps that made it hard to use a stroller. If you take your child in a stroller, make sure you keep the seatbelt on all the time. I almost ended up dumping my son out of his stroller at Sterling Vinyards (I think), as we went down some steep steps. Fortunately, the seat belt caught him.

(Please, no unfit parent comments from other posters!)

Judging from a thread about babies and wineries we had a couple weeks ago, I don't think babies are very popular at wineries. Do a text search to see if you can find that thread.

My husband and I love to visit and have done so with and without babies....no problem! unless things have changed markedly. We have visited mostly in Napa - and there are many babies, even in some of the best restaurants. You can make many of the tours what you like, from serious learning to fun and sipping
Just enjoy!!

There should be no problems. Many of the wineries provide tours & a few require reservations but if you are just going to taste there is certainly no issue. For tours I would suggest the (sparkling) wine caves & some good wineries (to see) Ferrari-Carrano, Beringer, Niebaum-Coppola, Ledson & Opus One. Preston has a fine bakery (great place for lunch) & Regusci will often let you wander back into the hill where they store the barrels. Quivera has also let us barrel taste in the past. I realize these are a scattered offering but hopefully you'll run across a couple of them in your travels. Enjoy !!

You must bring your own baby-bottle as they will not allow under-age babies to taste wine out of their bottles.