Thinking About Going to Wine Country, California?

I always thought about going to Sonoma/Napa Valley. So when the opportunity came up, I was happy to spend a vacation there.

My husband and I hadn’t taken a vacation alone in a long time and I romanticized about what it would be like to spend five days touring around the area, eating great food and drinking some incredible wine.

Before I tell you what we did, I need to inform you about the climate. In the summer, it’s cool in the morning (high 60’s – low 70’s) and very cool in the evening (mid-60’s). During the heat of the day, it’s downright hot. It stays in the 80’s. So, if you’re thinking of going there, make sure to bring a sweater or sweatshirt for those cool mornings and evenings.

Here was our itinerary:

Day 1 – SONOMA COUNTY

We started out the day at a lovely little restaurant that is famous for their eggs benedict called Garden Court Café in Glen Ellen. I’m not huge eggs benedict fan because for the most part, they never are made right – they are either too mushy or too hard-boiled. But these eggs benedict were perfectly made and there were a variety to choose from. We tried the traditional and the salmon ones. They were delicious!

After that, we went on a tour through Chateau St. Jean. Jean Paul was our tour guide and spoke in a heavy French accent. He walked us around the vineyards and let us taste quite a bit of nice wines.

There, I met a group of folks from Canada who just completed the Vineman Ironman. It was great to hear about their experiences and made me think that it may be something I should strive for in 2016.

Following Chateau St. Jean, we drove a little while to Ledson. There we entered a gothic looking mansion with a huge center hall staircase. It reminded us of the Munster’s house in the old TV show. There were two bars. One was packed with people and the other was empty. We walked over to the empty bar where Brianna talked with us about the wines.

After pouring each glass, she laid the glass on the side and rolled it back and fourth. I never saw that before. She said it was something that they only do at Ledson winery. After tasting a series of wines, I decided to buy my first case and join the wine club.

When it was just about lunchtime, we left Ledson, got back in our car and headed to St. Francis for a wine pairing lunch. The winery was elegant and upscale. There were about 20 of us from all over including: Norway, Kentucky, Canada, etc.

Each dish was better than the next and the wine pairing was simply superb. I would highly recommend this lunch at St. Francis. The cost was only $50 and well worth it.

We finished off our wine tour for the day at BH Cohn. The wines were nothing to write home about and at that point, we were exhausted from so much tasting that we went back to our hotel and slept it off for a few hours before having dinner back in Sonoma at the El Dorado Kitchen. (I was so full from all the wine that I didn’t eat.)

Day 2 – NAPA VALLEY

We started the day with a tour at Robert Mondovi Winery. What struck me was that the winery was it was high tech. Everything was elegant and you can see real money at work in every room that the tour guide showed us. I was also impressed with the sculptures and art work that surrounded the vineyard.

Since we already buy Mondovi, I didn’t join the club but I did like the dessert wine that we tried. It wasn’t that sweet and would make a perfect addition with some cheese after a meal.

We had an hour of down time before our next tour so we went to the BV Grille for a nice relaxing lunch. “Would you like wine with your meal,” the waitress asked. I shook my head. I was already almost wined out!

After lunch, we went on a tour through Frog’s Leap. Seth was our tour guide and offered the group of us a funny hat to wear during the tour. I’m glad I took one because it was so hot outside; it really helped with the heat. The interesting thing about this tour was that it was the complete opposite of Mondovi. There was no irrigation. They grew fruits and vegetables alongside the grapes and they processed all their wine in a big red bar that was more than 100 years old.

The owner of the vineyard comes from upstate NY and used to be a frog farmer and sold frog’s legs, hence the name – Frog’s Leap.   I didn’t like the wines so I left without buying anything.

Next stop was Orin Swift in St. Helena. It wasn’t at a vineyard, it was in a store. The first night that we were in town, we had a bottle of Abstract and loved it. After that, all I wanted to do was taste other Orin Swift wines. We had a series of four different wines in our flight and each was better then the other one. I ended up buying a case and joining the wine club. I was dazzled with the interesting designs on the label of each bottle along with the caliber of wine in the bottom.

Day 3 – HEALDSBURG

Instead of starting the day tasting wines again, we decided to rent hybrid bikes from Wine Country Bikes on Front Street in Healdsburg. We rode along the Russian River and up and down hills. They were steep at points and I found myself going backwards instead of forwards but it was fun anyway. (That’s when I realized I need bike-riding lessons!)

Following that, we decided to head over to Francis Ford Coppola’s Vineyard and check out the estate. What struck me was that it looked more like Disneyland than it did a winery.

He had a ton of movie memorabilia from all his famous movies including The Godfather. He even had a Tucker car on the property. It was hot!

We had a lovely lunch on the property and sat by the pool. Then we went inside and had a wine tasting. Since we waiting for nearly a half hour up in the estate area, we decided to sample the “regular” wines downstairs. A young woman helped us and even comped us the tasting because we waited so long. That was really nice!

We decided to drive further north and by accident ended up at Chateau Montelana. What amazing grounds! They had a Japanese garden and the castle was incredible. It sat up on the top of a hill. We tasted four different wines in the flight and we were glad we stumbled upon this winery because it was delicious!

Day 4 – SONOMA COUNTY

We took the day and went to the Spa at the Fairmont Hotel in Sonoma. It was delightful. They had a series of mineral pools, with one piping out under water music. We had massages and just relaxed.

At around 4 pm, we decided to go to the Sonoma Square in town and try out Walt, a winery we also read about with incredible reviews. There, we met Dan Wood who looked like he was a Brooklyn hipster. He explained where the wines came from and talked about each one. Apparently Walt and Hall buy grapes from various vineyards and then only make Chardonnay and Red Zinfandels.

Not being a white wine lover, I ended up buying a case from Walt as well along with joining their wine club too.

That evening, we sampled a new restaurant in Glen Ellen called Aventine Glen Ellen. It was an Italian Restaurant and this was the first that I would highly recommend. After diner, we did something unusual. We went back to St. Francis Winery and watched a movie under the stars with grapes all around us. What fun!

Day 5 – BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco was a short one-hour ride from wine country. We drove to San Francisco and after a business meeting with a potential client; we walked into Chinatown for a bowl of wonton soup and then walked around Fisherman’s Wharf.

San Francisco is an amazing city with incredible architecture. It’s unique and unlike any other city. However, those hills are crazy. If you’re not used to walking up and down steep hills, beware!   Otherwise, you will be taking a ton of taxis or trolley cars to get you from place to place.

We walked. It was tough.

Since we had some time before dinner, we decided to go on a boat ride around San Francisco. It was cold and the cold water was blowing on us but it was enjoyable non the less.

Our last dinner was at a “fancy” restaurant called Gary Danko. I wanted to impress a client so my husband and I took him there. For the most part, the food was incredible and I was able to purchase my favorite Orin Swift wine there.

I had two complaints – they gave us a half piece of sour dough bread, which looked like it was broken in half by hand and the butter cake dessert was so hard I thought if I threw it on the ground it would actually bounce.

Otherwise, everything was delicious. It was a pricy meal though so I would have expected everything to be perfect.

The trip to wine country was definitely a bucket list item and I think I may just go back in 2016 for that Vineman. (Well, I guess we’ll see….)

Here’s a short video of our wine tour…