To contact us about a tour please fill out this form. If you want to tour within the next one or two days please call our cells at 707-235-2648 Lahni, or 707-235-2364 Ralph.
You will hear back from us very quickly as to whether or not we have that date available. Rates vary depending on the season and the starting point.
The Landmark Winery is a jewel of a place nearby Chateau St. Jean. Great courtyard, friendly tasting room, family run and bocce to enjoy with the great wines.
This is the original Cuvaison winery just south of Calistoga.
Cuvaison in the Carneros district is just across from the entrance to Domaine Carneros and they have the great views in common and very little else. A small, very modern winery with intimate service in sight of the vines, by appointment.
St. Francis Vineyard & Winery: 100 Pythian Rd.Santa Rosa(SonomaValley) 888.675.WINE (9463)www.stfranciswine.comHrs: 10-5TF: $$-$$$$Wines: Chard, Cab Sauv, Merlot, Zin, Syrah. Notes: Spanish style visitor’s center & tasting room overlooking vineyards and mountains. Traffic light at the corner makes it a great ‘northern limit’ for a SonomaValley tour on a busy day. Some seriously good wines and a wonderful staff.
The Cuvaison Winery Facility in Carneros is next to their vineyards. The newer of their two sites for tasting, it enjoys great views and an ultra modern building. Convenient to Domanine Carneros, Acacia, Saintsbury and Bouchaine.
Deerfield Ranch is one of the few cave tastings in the Sonoma Valley. Just across from Kunde and the next drive south from the Kenwood Restaurant, the wines are wonderful and the sit down tasting is gracious.
The Saintsbury Winery in the Carneros section of Napa is well known for their wonderful Pinot Noir. It is a relaxed, enjoyable tasting by appointment. Planning tip, they are closed Sundays and in the high season allow a couple of days warning for an appointment.
We added a Thomas George Winery Video to our site. They have done wonderful things with that location with an improved tasting room and caves where they taste on the weekends.
Duckhorn looks very different in the winter, greener and misty. Their sit down, side by side tasting is elegant, but don't expect an education with that. The service is more restaurant style than the wine education approach found at many high end winieries, but the wines, building and gardens are so exceptional that we have to cut the staff some slack.
The Robert Sinskey winery is a great place to taste and visit in the cool weather. Not that it isn't fun in the summer with those wonderful gardens. But, in the cool weather the smell of the kitchen, the warmth of the ovens, the woody coziness of the interior all contributes to a gracious experience.
The Inman winery is a great chance to visit a small family winery with the winemaker. Located just off Olivet Lane in the Russian River Valley of Northern Sonoma go to their website to check the hours and then make the time to visit.
Sebastiani is one of the old time Sonoma wineries and if you want to know the wine making history of the modern era this is a must see. Plan to spend some time there, visit the barrel room, if you can take a tour, and of course taste the wines. They are high quality and a good value.
Nicholson Ranch sits on a prominent hill at the most southern part of the Sonoma Valley, just across the road from Los Carneros. So its not surprising that their wines have a Carneros style, clean, crisp and leaning towards Pinot, Chardonnay and Syrah. It is a pretty place that sits on top of its caves, family owned and run with some interesting features.
The Homewood Winery is a small place just off Hwy 121 with a casual, local feeling, moderately priced wines and a fun time. They source their wines from a wide variety of areas, so they are not a classic Carneros winery, but here the story is more about the winemaker, who is usually on hand, than the vineyards.
The Jacuzzi Winery is a delightful place on the way from San Francisco to both Sonoma and Napa. Located in Sonoma Carneros this is the sister winery of Cline across the road. Designed in an Italian style and featuring many wonderful Italian varietals, this building also houses the Olive Press, so there is shopping galore to go along with a friendly tasting bar and beautiful architecture and grounds. Take the time to climb the tower and enjoy the views.
For many people visiting Sonoma from San Francisco, Viansa is the first winery they taste at. Shaped in an Italian style both in architecture and choice of wines, it has something for everyone, wine, views, deli, picnic tables and shopping. But with popularity and convenience comes traffic, so if you arrive there and the parking lot is full consider driving a little farther north. On the other hand when they are not slammed with customers it make a very nice experience.
It is rare that I go to the Cline Winery in Sonoma and don't visit the Mission Museum that they built on their property next to the winery. The museum is built around a collection of models constructed for a world's fair over 70 years ago that were forgotten about. The Cline family found and restored these beautiful little buildings and paired them with paintings. It is both impressive and charming and just another reason to visit Cline.
Continuing with our Los Carneros theme this video features the Cline Winery, one of the most popular of the Sonoma Carneros wineries. Late in the day in season it gets slammed with business because it is the last winery on the southbound side of the road enroute to San Francisco. But that shouldn't obscure that this is a fantastic winery, with excellent wines, history, education and great hospitality.
Gloria Ferrer winery specializes in sparkling wines although they make some nice still wines as well. They are one of the most convenient Sonoma wineries from San Francisco being located in the near Carneros district. They sell glasses of wine, rather than do classic tastings and you can enjoy them on their patio with great views of Los Carneros and the Bay in the distance.
Anaba is a stylish tasting room on the way to the Sonoma Plaza. Their vineyards are just behind the corner lot that they have transformed into a very appealing place to stop. The wines are true to their Carneros nature, clean, crisp and enjoyable at a good price point. They have a fireplace which is nice in the cool weather, and a great patio with good views (and heaters) so its good the rest of the year.
The Schug Winery in the Sonoma Carneros is five minutes off the main road and yet feels like a different world. With great veiws of the region tucked in its own little, lush canyon, with vines acending the hills, this German style building speaks of Schugs history. A significant wine maker of very good, moderatly priced Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, this always worth a visit.
It is always a surprise when you come around the corner on Westside Road and see the Hopkiln Winery in the Russian River Valley and it is always worthy of a stop. In fact, I think that the reason it is often hard to find the Rochioli winery is that it is the next driveway south from Hopkiln and it's bigger neighbor is so distracting.
The J Winery just south of downtown Healdsburg in Northern Sonoma is a great place to do a tasting. They were one of the first wineries in the area to do food pairings, in their 'Bubble Room'. Not surprisingly they are most known for their sparkling (bubbles) wines, but they offer a great selection of both sparkling and still wines to taste, in a beautiful space.
The Rodney Strong Winery is located in Northern Sonoma just south of the town of Healdsburg. It is a unique building that gives an interesting overview of the wine making process.
The Avia Hotel in downtown Napa is a particular favorite of ours. Besides being intimate and charming, it is beautifully designed and located in a great spot close to wonderful restaurants, galleries and shops. This us just a quick look at the public rooms.
It amazed me that I hadn't done a video of
Chateau St. Jean
before considering how often I visit there with clients.
Visited the Grgich Hills winery the other day with a Croatian family and Mike and Ivo, both from Croatia came down and charmed my clients in their native tongue.
Groth Winery
Plumpjack Winery
Petroni Vineyards
As we travel around wine country with tour clients we like to fill in the time taking photos and videos. Here are videos of some of the wineries that we have visited. The accompanying text is from our Amicis Winery Guide books, and our Smart Phone Apps.