Napa/Sonoma Valley on a budget?

[barkley]

Hi again! I mapquested some distances and agree that we need to stay no further than Calistoga. Is Santa Rosa nice? I found a nice cottage there. The Meritage is all booked, but it does look wonderful! I'm scared of crowds because practically every hotel and B&B I've been interested in is booked!

Are tastings included in tours? I'm thoroughly confused by the different options I'm seeing on all of these winery websites. We will probably do one tour and then maybe just explore the grounds of one more on our own. I don't think she will be able to be on her feet for hours. The hot air balloon ride sounds like an amazing idea, I'm going to check that out!

Santa Rosa is alright-it's not wine country, it's a city that is allot of subdivisions filled with commuters to the bay area. if you're considering staying there, it will be like staying in a city in any part of the California and then still traveling to and from wine country. 'yes' you may see some vineyards on the outskirts, but it's gotten to the point where any available dirt in the vicinity of Napa and Sonoma have grape vines planted on them-but it doesn't have the look and feel of what your mil is dreaming of. you'll find rentals that identify themselves as 'wine country' or 'the gateway to wine country'-these will include places like Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, American Canyon, and even Fairfield. the reason their rent is lower as compared to the other places people have suggested is because they aren't in wine country, and often entail allot of driving (and you don't want to have to drive to a winery, back to rest/change clothes, back for a restaurant reservation....it gets to be allot of driving and depending on the time/day-allot of heavy commuter traffic).

if you're going September on you will encounter some crowds because those are the most popular months. it won't be like wdw crowds, but the traffic gets heavier and slows down, reservations are a must (esp. at lodging and restaurants).

I really encourage you to phone their convention and visitor's bureau-they can let you know if there are any events going on particular weeks/weekends that are drawing huge crowds.

 

[pixiewings71]

Hi again! I mapquested some distances and agree that we need to stay no further than Calistoga. Is Santa Rosa nice? I found a nice cottage there. The Meritage is all booked, but it does look wonderful! I'm scared of crowds because practically every hotel and B&B I've been interested in is booked!

Are tastings included in tours? I'm thoroughly confused by the different options I'm seeing on all of these winery websites. We will probably do one tour and then maybe just explore the grounds of one more on our own. I don't think she will be able to be on her feet for hours. The hot air balloon ride sounds like an amazing idea, I'm going to check that out!

I wouldn't chose to stay in Santa Rosa, too far from Napa. I also wouldn't avoid all wineries on weekends, just know you'll run into crowds if you go on a weekend, we always go on weekends because we work during the week. I'm sad the Meritage is booked, it's gorgeous and they have a spa. You could do the spa experience in Calistoga on a weekend, you'll probably want a rental car anyway so it wouldn't be too far to drive. You might want to check out the geyser in St Helena, that might be fun. Also, watch Groupon, I actually got this one today http://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-bk-the-sunburst-calistoga-3-modesto?p=1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&sid=426b5eb9-befa-427a-bafb-05eeb25f7374&division=modesto&user=db09bb1050c60be09543b6bebbaa999092a8c0743135b1cc7cc861398bd54883&date=20140719&s=body&c=button&d=deal-page&utm_campaign=426b5eb9-befa-427a-bafb-05eeb25f7374
and I get others often, I also get discounted wine tastings from Groupon. Might be worth it to sign up. See if you can find the Groupon for the Sweet Shop, you can get a chocolate and wine tasting there, it's really good.

 

[pixiewings71]

oh and yes, if you pay for a tour you will get a tasting, at least that has been the case at every winery I've been to, and on a few occasions they let my driver take the tour for free, because he's not drinking.

 

[gate_pourri]

Healdsburg is not in wine country-you would either have to go about 40 minutes (in decent traffic) to get back to Calistoga (kind of the top of the valley), or at least an hour to Sonoma.

I wanted to add my 2 cents here: Healdsburg IS in wine country. It isn't in Napa County and is quite a drive to the cities of Sonoma and Napa, but it is Wine Country: The Alexander Valley and the Dry Creek Areas specifically are beautiful. It is a gorgeous place to stay.

I grew up in Sonoma County (my whole family still lives there) and growing up, my family - once I was old enough to drive, I was the DD - spent more time wine tasting in Healdsburg, then in Sonoma proper, even though we lived only 1 town away from the city of Sonoma and about 40 minutes from Healdsburg. We drove further, to get to Healdsburg.

This was mostly because it is a LOT less touristy/crowded and a LOT less expensive.

When I was home last Christmas, we spent a gorgeous day in Healdsburg. There is a great square, with a nice area to picnic, good restaurants, and shopping.

A tip - If you go wine tasting in that area, request 'recommendations' from the first place you go. We did that at Christmas [At Martini Ranch in Dry Creek Region], and got free coupons for 6 wineries and 1 olive oil place, all within a mile radius.

This is not to deter you from Napa county. I am a BIG wine drinker, and spend at least one day every time I'm home in Napa wine-tasting/shopping. But if the views are more/just as important, and your on a budget, I would definitely look into the Alexander Valley/Dry Creek area.

Wineries/Tasting Rooms in Healdsburg

Dry Creek Wine Region

Alexander Valley Wine Region

Healdsburg is also very easy to get to, if you come into SFO - just head down the 101.

As for Santa Rosa... I wouldn't recommend that area. It is the largest town in the county... Not really were I imagine 'vacationing'

 

[barkley]

I wanted to add my 2 cents here: Healdsburg IS in wine country. It isn't in Napa County and is quite a drive to the cities of Sonoma and Napa, but it is Wine Country: The Alexander Valley and the Dry Creek Areas specifically are beautiful. It is a gorgeous place to stay.

I grew up in Sonoma County (my whole family still lives there) and growing up, my family - once I was old enough to drive, I was the DD - spent more time wine tasting in Healdsburg, then in Sonoma proper, even though we lived only 1 town away from the city of Sonoma and about 40 minutes from Healdsburg. We drove further, to get to Healdsburg.

This was mostly because it is a LOT less touristy/crowded and a LOT less expensive.

When I was home last Christmas, we spent a gorgeous day in Healdsburg. There is a great square, with a nice area to picnic, good restaurants, and shopping.

A tip - If you go wine tasting in that area, request 'recommendations' from the first place you go. We did that at Christmas [At Martini Ranch in Dry Creek Region], and got free coupons for 6 wineries and 1 olive oil place, all within a mile radius.

This is not to deter you from Napa county. I am a BIG wine drinker, and spend at least one day every time I'm home in Napa wine-tasting/shopping. But if the views are more/just as important, and your on a budget, I would definitely look into the Alexander Valley/Dry Creek area.

Wineries/Tasting Rooms in Healdsburg

Dry Creek Wine Region

Alexander Valley Wine Region

Healdsburg is also very easy to get to, if you come into SFO - just head down the 101.

As for Santa Rosa... I wouldn't recommend that area. It is the largest town in the county... Not really were I imagine 'vacationing'

the op's mil has a bucket list desire to stay in Napa/Sonoma 'wine country'. yes, Healdsburg has become a wine country (though when I went to college at Sonoma State, and when dh attended boarding school in Healdsburg it was just a spot in the road with a couple of pine mills and the strategically placed boarding school established there b/c there was nothing the boarding school kids could 'escape' to for fun/trouble), but for anyone whose bucket list is the "Napa Valley" they've seen in magazines or on the travel channel-it's the valley proper (Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga) or Sonoma. It's the drive up 29 through the vineyards and the tree tunnel. It's the bed and breakfasts down the lanes off 29, and more recently the 'Top Chef' popularized restaurants.

honestly, so much of the areas around Napa has by virtue of vineyards become IMHO pseudo wine countries-you can go over the ridge on one side to Healdsburg, or over the other side to Winters and both have lots of vineyards these days. for that matter, much of the actual wine production has left both Napa and Sonoma counties to go to Stockton, Lodi and Modesto-so much that friends that grew up in Napa and live there now say it's like 'homecoming' by virtue of the numbers of people from Napa moving there along with their winery jobs. Still, for me and anyone who asks me for a "Napa Valley Experience" recommendation-it will always be the areas I've previously named.

 

[rnorwo1]

Too far. Santa Rosa is about an hour away from Napa. Usually a tour includes a tasting. I have found the best help has been to narrow things down from napavalley.com info on certain wineries then go to those websites of the individual winery. What are your dates?

We are arriving in SF on Sept 19th and will drive out to Napa on the 20th, will leave on the 24th.

DH and I make a great navigational team in unfamiliar places, but neither my SIL nor MIl could find their way out of a wet paper bag BEFORE drinking a bunch of wine, so simplifying the driving will help me considerably! I've booked the flights and am going to commit to a place to stay tonight,so I can move on to planning the funner things!

Thanks for all of the links, I will look at each of them. This may be a ridiculous question, but what exactly do you see on a tour? Is it their cellars, how they make the wine, etc? Knowing what I'm comparing may help us choose the wineries!

Thank you all again, my anxiety level has gone way down!!

 

[MAJPLO]

What you see on a tour will vary a little bit by winery. You may see anything from the actual vines to the barrel room to crushing (especially since it is fall) to bottling and labeling plus the tasting room. I still have to say Cakebread was one of the better, more inclusive tours. A little higher priced than some others and they ask that you make a reservation, but I have always thought the value or bang for your buck was excellent there. For views, the castle is fabulous and Artesa is high up on a hill and has great views. It is a more modern design and has a lot of stairs so you would definitely want to check on accessibility for that one. Cakebread. A must. IMHO

 

[alice99]

Thanks for all the great information and links. I stumbled upon this thread last night and it works out great for me too.

I am staying in Sonoma, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but, , Is there anywhere close-by that I can see Redwood Forest?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Thanks for all the great information and links. I stumbled upon this thread last night and it works out great for me too.

I am staying in Sonoma, I don't mean to hijack your the=read, but, , Is there anywhere close-by that I can see Redwood Forest?

Muir Woods:

http://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm

 

[rnorwo1]

Thanks for all the great information and links. I stumbled upon this thread last night and it works out great for me too.

I am staying in Sonoma, I don't mean to hijack your the=read, but, , Is there anywhere close-by that I can see Redwood Forest?

No problem, we can each learn! I think I've settled on Sonoma also, found a nice 2BR for less than $200 a night.

Thanks for the info on the tours, now I know how to compare what I'm reading. Cakebread keeps coming up, so we will definitely do that one, and I'm leaning towards the castle one, also. I think we will do a spa treatment and a hot air balloon ride, and I would love to also go to Muir. That may be about all we can manage, in addition to exploring a town or two for dining and a little shopping. She wants to zipline, but I don't know if she will be able to.

Thanks again, I'm signed up for groupon/living social, and have lots of Info for other discounts thanks to you all!!

 

[barkley]

We are arriving in SF on Sept 19th and will drive out to Napa on the 20th, will leave on the 24th.

DH and I make a great navigational team in unfamiliar places, but neither my SIL nor MIl could find their way out of a wet paper bag BEFORE drinking a bunch of wine, so simplifying the driving will help me considerably! I've booked the flights and am going to commit to a place to stay tonight,so I can move on to planning the funner things!

Thanks for all of the links, I will look at each of them. This may be a ridiculous question, but what exactly do you see on a tour? Is it their cellars, how they make the wine, etc? Knowing what I'm comparing may help us choose the wineries!

Thank you all again, my anxiety level has gone way down!!

I'm guessing you're renting a car in San Francisco and returning it when you go back on the 24th? if that's the case, and your return flight is also on
the 24th make sure to plan LOTS of time to get to the airport.

the commute traffic on a weekday into the bay area is heavy-and if you have to drop off a rental car and take one of their shuttle's to the airport you need to allow even more time. sfo is a big airport and it can be lengthy getting through security so allow plenty of time.

if you go to napavalley.com there's a calendar that lists the times some of the wineries have tours each of the days you are there-it's also a pretty good site to get general information.

 

[barkley]

No problem, we can each learn! I think I've settled on Sonoma also, found a nice 2BR for less than $200 a night.

Thanks for the info on the tours, now I know how to compare what I'm reading. Cakebread keeps coming up, so we will definitely do that one, and I'm leaning towards the castle one, also. I think we will do a spa treatment and a hot air balloon ride, and I would love to also go to Muir. That may be about all we can manage, in addition to exploring a town or two for dining and a little shopping. She wants to zipline, but I don't know if she will be able to.

Thanks again, I'm signed up for groupon/living social, and have lots of Info for other discounts thanks to you all!!

you will love Sonoma. the plaza in the downtown is a great place to visit-it still has all the old town charm. on Tuesday nights through the end of October there's a farmer's market held-there's food, crafts and live music. a nice relaxing way to spend a couple of hours.

in Sonoma Plaza you'll see a restaurant named 'Mary's Pizza Shack'-it's nothing fancy but the food is good and very reasonably priced-all made from scratch and made to order. It started out as truly a little shack of a restaurant down the road in boyes hot springs (they still have a location there). if you visit you'll read on their menus about how the founder Mary designed the place to have an open kitchen so that the customers could see their food being prepared, and she could interact with her customers while she prepared it-I can tell you from personal experience that this is not some marketing gimmick storyline. back when mary was running the original shack it was like going to a family member's home for dinner-she would greet everyone as they walked through the door, and it was not unusual for her to come walking out of the kitchen with a pot of her awesome red sauce and go table to table to see if people wanted some more ladled on their pasta-I dated a young man who loved to take me there b/c she would always remark that I was 'too skinny, you need more meat on your bones', ladle more sauce on my pasta and add a couple more of her huge meatballs (we never left without to-go containers and mary playfully scolding me to 'eat, eat it in the car, eat it when you get home-just eat!'). the newer restaurants are all family run-and they've kept her old recipies

 

[rnorwo1]

Awww, that sounds like a wonderful place, will definitely check it out. Yes, will have a rental car, not looking forward to driving and navigating in that traffic by myself, ugh. Our flight leaves out at 9:30, so I'll add quite a bit of time, thanks for the tip... Would be horrible to miss our flight!

 

[gate_pourri]

Although it may not be considered the main "Sonoma" wineries strip, IMO you can have a great time on the Arnold Drive Wineries. Depending on where you're staying, it may be closer: I believe it is closer from the "square" then the main "Sonoma Highway" strip.

Jacuzzi: I've never tasted the wines here, but the oils are great. A nice mid-wine tasting stop to "oil up" your stomach, for more tastings. http://www.yelp.com/biz/jacuzzi-family-vineyards-sonoma

Viansa: An Italian "castle". Great views. Great tastings. Also offers nice food tastings (salsas, sauces, etc) http://www.viansa.com

Gloria Ferrer: This is a must stop, if you like sparkling wines. We are a member of this winery, so I'm not sure what the regular tasting consists of, but I highly recommend. The grounds are beautiful. http://www.gloriaferrer.com

Cline (http://clinecellars.com), Rams Gate (http://www.yelp.com/biz/rams-gate-winery-sonoma) and many others are also on this street.

Also:

Domaon Carneros: depending on where you are staying, you may not be far from here - on highway 12 (the main road to Napa). Beautiful grounds. Good sparkling. https://www.domainecarneros.com

If you plan on going to the main "Sonoma Highway" wineries, I can send you some hidden gems.

 

[mrsboz]

I am very surprised by how many people do not seem to enjoy these beaches. Thanks for the input though. i am still not sure now what to do.

 

[pixiewings71]

you will love Sonoma. the plaza in the downtown is a great place to visit-it still has all the old town charm. on Tuesday nights through the end of October there's a farmer's market held-there's food, crafts and live music. a nice relaxing way to spend a couple of hours.

in Sonoma Plaza you'll see a restaurant named 'Mary's Pizza Shack'-it's nothing fancy but the food is good and very reasonably priced-all made from scratch and made to order. It started out as truly a little shack of a restaurant down the road in boyes hot springs (they still have a location there). if you visit you'll read on their menus about how the founder Mary designed the place to have an open kitchen so that the customers could see their food being prepared, and she could interact with her customers while she prepared it-I can tell you from personal experience that this is not some marketing gimmick storyline. back when mary was running the original shack it was like going to a family member's home for dinner-she would greet everyone as they walked through the door, and it was not unusual for her to come walking out of the kitchen with a pot of her awesome red sauce and go table to table to see if people wanted some more ladled on their pasta-I dated a young man who loved to take me there b/c she would always remark that I was 'too skinny, you need more meat on your bones', ladle more sauce on my pasta and add a couple more of her huge meatballs (we never left without to-go containers and mary playfully scolding me to 'eat, eat it in the car, eat it when you get home-just eat!'). the newer restaurants are all family run-and they've kept her old recipies

mmmm Mary's Pizza, one of my favorite places to eat! I love the Sonoma Italian dressing and they have the best creamy pesto I've ever had. If you do go I recommend the Pesto Fresco Bread Sticks, with Ranch, sooooooooooooooo good!! I like to go for lunch, we have one pretty close to our office in Fairfield.

I am very surprised by how many people do not seem to enjoy these beaches. Thanks for the input though. i am still not sure now what to do.

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