Wine tours in Napa Valley?

[vacationcruiser1]

We will be on the Discovery on Oct 1 sailing and want to do a wine tour from San Fransico to Napa Valley for the day. Does anyone know of a tour company that would have a large group tour that we could join.  All the companies that I have contacted have private tours which are 1000.00 for the day. I do not want a Princess tour either.

[HBCcruiser]

Have you checked some of the tours through Viator? They offer a lot of options. 

 

https://www.viator.com/Napa-and-Sonoma/d914-ttd

[vacationcruiser1]

Thanks!

[wineforhealth]

Great time to go to the wine country as harvest is well underway. 
 

Your tough area is getting transportation to and from port to your tour departure spot in Napa. If you can find a tour to pick you up in SF and drop you off would be best.

 

[JimmyVWine]

58 minutes ago, wineforhealth said:

Great time to go to the wine country as harvest is well underway

It depends. Many small, family run operations close during harvest and crush, or strongly urge visitors to pick a different time. They call it “crush” for two reasons: what is happening to the grapes and what is happening to the employees. The winemaker and owners are more concerned with the production side in early October than they are with the customer relations side. Usually if I am invited to go out to Napa in October to pay a visit to a winery, it is to work the harvest and not to taste. That said, if you stick to the large producers like  Mondavi, Beringer, Phelps, Caymus, Silverado and the like, they will have a division of labor such that the hospitality side won’t shut down during crush. 

[wineforhealth]

13 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

It depends. Many small, family run operations close during harvest and crush, or strongly urge visitors to pick a different time. They call it “crush” for two reasons: what is happening to the grapes and what is happening to the employees. The winemaker and owners are more concerned with the production side in early October than they are with the customer relations side. Usually if I am invited to go out to Napa in October to pay a visit to a winery, it is to work the harvest and not to taste. That said, if you stick to the large producers like  Mondavi, Beringer, Phelps, Caymus, Silverado and the like, they will have a division of labor such that the hospitality side won’t shut down during crush. 

I would agree with you in part, some wineries are by appointment only. I’m going into my 47th “crush” here in Sonoma County next week and looking forward to it.

[lovecruzin]

22 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

It depends. Many small, family run operations close during harvest and crush, or strongly urge visitors to pick a different time. They call it “crush” for two reasons: what is happening to the grapes and what is happening to the employees. The winemaker and owners are more concerned with the production side in early October than they are with the customer relations side. Usually if I am invited to go out to Napa in October to pay a visit to a winery, it is to work the harvest and not to taste. That said, if you stick to the large producers like  Mondavi, Beringer, Phelps, Caymus, Silverado and the like, they will have a division of labor such that the hospitality side won’t shut down during crush. 

We often visit Napa and Sonoma during crush. It is my experience that the Wine Educators in the tasting room are not the same people working in production. We go to the smaller wineries and rarely have a problem getting and appointment for tasting.

[lovecruzin]

23 hours ago, vacationcruiser1 said:

We will be on the Discovery on Oct 1 sailing and want to do a wine tour from San Fransico to Napa Valley for the day. Does anyone know of a tour company that would have a large group tour that we could join.  All the companies that I have contacted have private tours which are 1000.00 for the day. I do not want a Princess tour either.

Are you comfortable renting a car and doing it on your own? Not recommended if you want to drink a lot..

You could head to Sonoma Square where you can park the car and walk to tasting rooms and have lunch. 

[Philob]

Please note it's about 50 miles or 90 minute drive, on a good day, each way.

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, lovecruzin said:

We often visit Napa and Sonoma during crush. It is my experience that the Wine Educators in the tasting room are not the same people working in production. We go to the smaller wineries and rarely have a problem getting and appointment for tasting.

The wineries I am referring to do not have "Wine Educators".  During crush, it is "all hands on deck."

[JimmyVWine]

58 minutes ago, Philob said:

Please note it's about 50 miles or 90 minute drive, on a good day, each way.

Yeah, I was going to mention that.  A roundtrip drive out to the heart of wine country,  (St. Helena in Napa and Healdsburg in Sonoma) is going to run you between 85-100 minutes each way on a weekend and 20-30 minutes more on a weekday.  Kind of hard to do any meaningful winery visits with the time left over.  Maybe a couple of hit and run tasting room stops, but not much more.   An alternative would be to seek out tasting opportunities in SF itself.

  https://www.sftourismtips.com/wine-tasting-rooms-in-san-francisco.html

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[lovecruzin]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

The wineries I am referring to do not have "Wine Educators".  During crush, it is "all hands on deck."

Lol! Ok then “wine pourers” . Although you mention meaningful winery visit, imo that would be a place that has a wine educator not just someone who reads the tasting notes and tells you what flavors you will taste!

Never had an issue with finding a place to taste during Harvest/Crush.

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by lovecruzin

[wineforhealth]

12 hours ago, lovecruzin said:

Lol! Ok then “wine pourers” . Although you mention meaningful winery visit, imo that would be a place that has a wine educator not just someone who reads the tasting notes and tells you what flavors you will taste!

Never had an issue with finding a place to taste during Harvest/Crush.

 

Well said

[JimmyVWine]

13 hours ago, lovecruzin said:

Lol! Ok then “wine pourers” . Although you mention meaningful winery visit, imo that would be a place that has a wine educator not just someone who reads the tasting notes and tells you what flavors you will taste!

Never had an issue with finding a place to taste during Harvest/Crush.

 

Just performed a "sanity check" to make sure that I wasn't losing my mind, and went to the website of one of my favorite wineries.  Here's what they have on their website:

 

The Winery

All winery visits are by appointment only.
Please email either my sister Xxxxx or me (Xxxxx) to arrange a time.

Please recognize that since we have no employees, we're not always able to accommodate requests.

And we're pretty much completely unavailable from mid-July thru mid-November due to bottling and harvest.

[JeffT237]

On 8/5/2022 at 12:49 PM, vacationcruiser1 said:

We will be on the Discovery on Oct 1 sailing and want to do a wine tour from San Fransico to Napa Valley for the day.

 

We are on the October 15th Discovery and are looking into this company for a wine tasting excursion:

https://greendreamtours.com

I read on their website that they do pick ups at the pier and the times should work with the 7am-10pm port stop in SF. 

[lovecruzin]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Just performed a "sanity check" to make sure that I wasn't losing my mind, and went to the website of one of my favorite wineries.  Here's what they have on their website:

 

The Winery

All winery visits are by appointment only.
Please email either my sister Xxxxx or me (Xxxxx) to arrange a time.

Please recognize that since we have no employees, we're not always able to accommodate requests.

And we're pretty much completely unavailable from mid-July thru mid-November due to bottling and harvest.

Wow a very small family run winery. 

Probably not a place on the OP radar.

[wineforhealth]

4 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Just performed a "sanity check" to make sure that I wasn't losing my mind, and went to the website of one of my favorite wineries.  Here's what they have on their website:

 

The Winery

All winery visits are by appointment only.
Please email either my sister Xxxxx or me (Xxxxx) to arrange a time.

Please recognize that since we have no employees, we're not always able to accommodate requests.

And we're pretty much completely unavailable from mid-July thru mid-November due to bottling and harvest.

Thank you JimmyVWine but very few wineries are like that. I have a very good friend who fits that category. That winery would be Direct to consumer and mostly wine club only sales with each vintage sold out before release.
The OP is looking for something much different. Like a drive touring the wine country and enjoying a picnic lunch while tasting wine.

I enjoy your posts here on CC you add very good view into fine wines. 
Next time your in Healdsburg try 106 The Roof Top  above The Mathewson

[wineforhealth]

3 hours ago, JeffT237 said:

 

We are on the October 15th Discovery and are looking into this company for a wine tasting excursion:

https://greendreamtours.com

I read on their website that they do pick ups at the pier and the times should work with the 7am-10pm port stop in SF. 

Perfect and your port time allows you to relax and enjoy yourselves.

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, JeffT237 said:

 

We are on the October 15th Discovery and are looking into this company for a wine tasting excursion:

https://greendreamtours.com

I read on their website that they do pick ups at the pier and the times should work with the 7am-10pm port stop in SF. 

 

Thanks for posting this link.  This is a tour that I would enjoy.  It is much like what I experienced on an all day wine tour in Auckland.  

[disneyochem]

On 8/6/2022 at 12:38 PM, lovecruzin said:

Are you comfortable renting a car and doing it on your own? Not recommended if you want to drink a lot..

You could head to Sonoma Square where you can park the car and walk to tasting rooms and have lunch. 

Having grown up in Sonoma, it is called the Plaza, not the Square.

[lovecruzin]

8 hours ago, disneyochem said:

Having grown up in Sonoma, it is called the Plaza, not the Square.

All the times I have been there, I did not know that. I always hear “its off the square”.

I will never make that mistake again after being so politely corrected. 🙂

Edited August 8, 2022 by lovecruzin