winery tour

I will be doing a 7 day coastal cruise for my 40th birthday in early May. we will be stopping in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Astoria, Victoria and Vancouver. I would really love to do a winery tour, but would prefer to do one privately than with the cruise ship.

Does anyone have any recommendations for private tours in any of these ports? Is one port better than the other for winery tours? I am thinking worst case scenario I will do one through the ship in either Santa Barbara or San Francisco. Thanks

Dana

It is about a 1 hour trip to reach the Napa valley for wine tours. It is the wine center of the world so THE place to do wine tasting. If you have seen San Francisco before this might be an option. If your 1st time in SF then skip the wine tour and see SF.

If you do go to Napa, take a cruise ship tour. There are times that traffic is a nightmare but if you buy through the cruise line they will hold the ship until you get back.

As someone who has spent some time in the wine business I would suggest a tour to Napa as the area produces a larger variety of wines of quality. I would suggest Sterling Vineyards, Chateau Montelena, and Mumms Napa as wineries that offer quality wines as well as an experience for non wine aficionados. Sterling has a tram ride to the winery and a video self tour with wine tasting stations. Chateau Montelena won the famous 1976 "Paris tasting" with their chardonnay which was the premise of the movie "Bottle Shock". Chateau Montelena's grounds are spectacular. Mumms Napa tour will explain the "champagne method" of their wines and they also host an art gallery. You can stop off for lunch at the Culinary Institute of America or Gott's Roadside which was featured on Drive-ins, Diners, & Dives.

Santa Barbara wineries are famous for their Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays and you can taste them on the "Urban Wine Trail" in town. I sampled some tasty wines at Au Bon Climat on my recent wine coastal.

Astoria has a wine tasting room that offers quality Pinot Noirs and Pinot Gris. Bad weather might cause you to miss this port so I would do the wine tasting in Santa Barbara or Napa.

Seattle has a ship's tour to Chateau St Michelle but there's no wine tours in Victoria or Vancouver. I did the reverse of your Princess wine coastal back in October.

If it's Pinot Noir that you want, forget going back to the ship :-) and head for Mendocino County (particularly the wineries on CA 128 in and around Philo).

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Seattle has a ship's tour to Chateau St Michelle but there's no wine tours in Victoria or Vancouver.

Not true, there are several wineries and a cidery in the Victoria/Southern Vancouver Island area. Perhaps not as well established or as well known as Napa but worth a look.

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Not true, there are several wineries and a cidery in the Victoria/Southern Vancouver Island area. Perhaps not as well established or as well known as Napa but worth a look.

 

 

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They're not even well known in British Columbia!:D If they are staying post cruise in Vancouver, there are a few 40 minutes outside of Vancouver in Langley. At least you can buy their products in a local liquor store.:)

In San Francisco we once did a DIY tour of the Napa valley which quite frankly was a disaster for us. A few years later we did a great tour of the Sonoma valley with some folks from our roll call, the tour operator was Terrific Tours.

http://www.terrifictours.com/

There are some wineries that are close to Vancouver but they are not well known, the real wine country in British Columbia which by the way is excellent, is located in the southern Okanogan and is a full 4.5 hr drive in either direction from Vancouver; thus the cruise ships don't offer a tour.

Touring Napa in one day is very challenging and we live there! I did a diy tour for friends when we did a pacific coastal a couple of years ago. We rented a van in SF and drove up to St. Helena and back. While it was an enjoyable day for them I felt rushed and always worried about the time. It is aprox one hour to Napa from SF, but most of the well known wineries are another 30 min north in the St. Helena area. In the end we only had time for two wineries and lunch before we had to head back.

I think if I had to do it again, I would hire a driver and van and maybe do the wineries around the town of Sonoma, it's a little closer and not quite so spread out. And also a very beautiful area.

I've posted this before in answer to wine tasting questions:

If you are limited in time and are interested in wine, I'd say head straight up 101 and hit Sonoma wineries not far from the freeway. For a unique experience of Russian River Pinot Noir and Chardonnay try Martin Ray in Santa Rosa. And the standard for Zinfandel can be found just up the road at Seghesio. Many of the wines you will try at these two (and other) wineries, are not available in stores and you may find yourself deciding to join one of their "wine clubs."

If only you could spend more time in NorCal, it would be well worth it to head off onto CA128 from US101 and head to Mendocino County. (particularly Philo), which has some of the best Pinot Noirs available anywhere. Navarro has a great tasting room and a great club purchase program (80% of their sales are based on tasting room and club sales with not a bad wine in the bunch).

At the bottom line, it's tough to find a really bad venue.

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Just fyi, the 101 freeway has a lot of construction going on, and traffic to the Santa Rosa area can be awful. Still think it's much better heading to the town of Sonoma lots of wineries off of 121 and much closer than going to Santa Rosa and vicinity.

Totally agree Jen!!! Still horrible construction on the Narrows in Novato. Best bet is to get off at Hwy 37 and hit hwy. 12 to the Sonoma, Kenwood area....Great wineries, and beautiful scenery. :cool:

I will be doing a 7 day coastal cruise for my 40th birthday in early May. we will be stopping in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Astoria, Victoria and Vancouver. I would really love to do a winery tour, but would prefer to do one privately than with the cruise ship.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations for private tours in any of these ports? Is one port better than the other for winery tours? I am thinking worst case scenario I will do one through the ship in either Santa Barbara or San Francisco. Thanks

 

Dana

Santa Barbara is one of my favorites.