winery question
 

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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>(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<BR>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.