San Francisco & Napa Sonoma

I'll be spending a few days in San Francisco in early August and was looking for:

1. Where to stay in San Francisco. I want to be in the middle of the action!

2. Whether to visit Napa or Sonoma (or both!) and what wineries to visit. I'll have one full day (a Friday).

Thanks for your help!

Dave

Do you want to try to visit, say, 40 wineries?

Pick Napa for snazzy and costly, Sonoma for semi-snazzy and sort of sophisticated, and Russian River Valley or Dry Creek Valley for lots of freebies and lots of tiny places nobody has ever heard of.
I'm an RRV/DCV freak myself. I could name 40 wineries there!
If you do go to my version of cheap wino's heaven, here are a few: Foppiano (Healdsburg) - petite sirah; David Coffaro (DCV) - zin and blends you never thought of; Ferrari-Carano (DCV) - magnificent garden and pretty good blends; Dry Creek Vineyards (DCV - duh) - zin, sauv. blanc, chenin blanc, usually good meritage, good pricing and a good place if there isn't a bus in; Pellegrini (RRV) - decent and friendly; Hook & Ladder (RRV) - Cecil DeLoach's new store; Sunce (RRV) - magnificent PN in California but not overblown style. The last three are all on Olivet Road between River Road and Guerneville Road.
The drive down Westside Drive from Dry Creek Vineyards (more or less) to the Farmhouse Inn on River Road is one of the neatest drives in the wine country. And the Farmhouse Inn is a great dining place and they have rooms - not inexpensive, though.

John (trying not to name all the really great places that aren't open on Friday)

I would agree with John - if you want to check out some small, interesting places then the Russian River Valley is a great place to go.

If you want to get a little more variety, you could go up to the town of Sonoma and hit a few of the places there. I haven't been up that way in a while, but Gundlach Bundschu was always interesting. You could also start further up and hit places like Arrowood and Chateau St. Jean. Once you're down by the town of Sonoma, it's an easy jaunt over to Carneros for sparklers at Domaine Carneros or amazing views from the terrace at Artesa. This kind of tour would involve paying for tastings and would be less personal than the RRV, but it still can be fun. Or you could start in the town of Sonoma, make your way through Carneros, and then head up the Napa Valley. You can pretty much hit as many wineries as your wallet and blood alcohol level will allow. Both the town of Sonoma and the Napa Valley offer all kinds of places to stop and get a bite to eat, so that's not a problem. If you go with the RRV, you might want to stop and grab picnic supplies at the Oakville Grocery (pricey, but good) or some other market there.


Have fun!

I know it is fashionable to bash Napa but there are still some places I would hit-particularly if you are looking for art/setting/history and an active touristy experience. These reflect my biases as to wine style and experience.

Hess Collection: Redwood Road, Napa (take Hwy 29 to Redwood Road west, follow the signs up the mountain. I still quite enjoy their Mount Veeder Cabernets, and the winery itself is stunning-an old monestary facility with a glass elevator and a (to my experience) fantastic art collection. The tasting room is beautiful, also.

Beaulieu Reserve Room. Hwy 29 at Rutherford Road. Expensive tasting ($30), but they often have special packages if you are looking to buy...and I love the lineup almost across the board.

Heitz Cellars. Hwy 29 south of St. Helena. No tasting fee and they sometimes taste older vintages. I love their lineup of classic cabs.

Freemark Abbey Hwy 29 north of St. Helena. Great cabs and you usually have a chance to taste wines that are up to a decade-or twenty years-old. Very nice tasting room crew and a lovely facility.

William Harrison. Silverado Trail south of Zinfandel Lane. Tiny five acre winery. The tasting room manager, Rob, is a total hoot and their wines have a lot of "funk" and quirkyness and soul to them. Still one of my favorites~!

Clos du Val. Silverado Trail near Napa Still classic wines, and on weekends you can taste older vintages. The 1998 is stunning right now.

Last time I was there we stayed here:

http://www.coventrymotorinn.com

Very cool place, right on Lombard Street, and a hard-to-find amenity...free parking! The rooms were roomy and comfortable, and mine overlooked Lombard Street.


I would vote for a trip to Windsor to the Mueller winery. They just opened a tasting room and have some wonderful pinot noirs. In Napa I always go to Vanderheyden Vineyards. Mr. Venderheyden makes a late harvest cabernet that is most delicious. And he is quite a character.

http://www.vanderheydenvineyards.com/

Can I come with you?

I've stayed at a number of the less posh hotels near Union Square in San Francisco over the years. My last stay (in Oct. 2007) was at the Carlton Hotel, 1075 Sutter Street. I recommend it and will probably stay there again if I get to San Francisco next year. Prices average about $167 a night (which isn't high for the City.) On Trip Advisor the great majority of postings rate the Carlton as excellent or very good. (It is not to be confused with a Carlton-Ritz however.) http://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/carlton
Of course, if you want luxury accommodations there are other choices.
I enjoyed a dinner and drinks at Absinthe Brasserie and Bar on Hayes Street (a taxi ride or public transportation away) but there are many restaurants and bars closer to Union Square.

On my visit to Sonoma I stayed at Orchid Inn, a bed and breakfast in Guerneville area near some of the Russian River Valley wineries. I agree with previous recommendations such as Ferrari-Carano (where I did the higher-end tasting in a more comfortable, less-crowded setting with personal attention from the pourer), Hook and Ladder, Pellegrini, Martinelli, Arrowood. You might make an appointment at Merry Edwards and I would add Gary Farrell (beautiful view as well as nice wines.) One problem is that it takes longer to drive to Sonoma than to Napa from SF so you lose some of the wine tasting time unless you start out earlier. Healdsburg has a number of tasting rooms. I got to Rosenblum and Selby and two others.
If you could stay overnight in Sonoma County you could take in more winery visits.

Thanks for the suggestions - I can't wait to get out there!

Quick question on shipping: for the wineries I visit, can I have wine shipped to Maryland? Maryland doesn't allow direct shipping but I seem to recall it could be done if you visited the winery.

Thanks,

Dave

[Jenise]

Dave, the important thing is what's implied by what posters have already said--you can't do BOTH, but you can have a great day in either. I'd say if you prefer to taste Cabs and cab blends, do Napa. If you love zin or pinot more, head to the Sonoma side (ostensibly, Russian River for pinots, Dry Creek and Sonoma proper for zins. Of course, you'll be able to taste all kinds of other things in both places, but largely the generalizations I've sited hold true for which area excels at what.

Quick question on shipping: for the wineries I visit, can I have wine shipped to Maryland? Maryland doesn't allow direct shipping but I seem to recall it could be done if you visited the winery.

I do not think Maryland allows wine from any source - retail shop or winery - to be shipped in. Do you know anyone who works in DC? (I do but you can't trust me not to drink your purchase. ) You can ship uo to one case a month to DC and perhaps someone could receive it and hold it for you.

By the way, David, I've had a lot of luck calling wineries ahead of my visit to see if anything special can be arraigned which resulted in several private tours and tastings. If you've never been to a winery, Mondavi might be a good place to start; it was for me, but that was 30 years ago.

[Jenise]

if anything special can be arraigned

Can we tell you work in a courthouse?

Go to Sonoma.

Ask your hotel for a wine map. Napa, as much as I may like many of the wines from there, is too touristy and commercial when it comes to wine tasting trips. I advise giving it a miss.

I second the recommendation of Russian River Valley, or Dry Creek, or Healdsburg, as places within Sonoma County to concentrate on. My advice is to get a map that shows where the wineries have their tasting room, pick a road with a concentration of wineries on it, the go there and in order visit every place that's open. You'll have a few disappointments, but that will be more than made up for by the hidden gems you find. All of Sonoma is within a day trip's drive of San Francisco, but you'll have to be selective and visit only one subregion of the county per day.

Salut,

-Paul W.

if anything special can be arraigned

Can we tell you work in a courthouse?

The fact that I work in a courthouse is purely hearsay.

I do not think Maryland allows wine from any source - retail shop or winery - to be shipped in. Do you know anyone who works in DC? (I do but you can't trust me not to drink your purchase. ) You can ship uo to one case a month to DC and perhaps someone could receive it and hold it for you.

Thanks for the offer. My parents live in Virginia so I ship my wine to them.

I recently performed a detailed audit between my wine log, my wine club credit card bill, and my parents! To my horror, I discovered a missing shipment. My parents insisted they didn't accidentally drink it, so I contacted the wine club and to my surprise they actually shipped out a replacement free of charge (this was over 6 months since the original shipment). They used to have DHL do their shipping and switched to UPS right around the time my shipment went missing so I guess DHL enjoyed my California wine.

If you do go to Sonoma County, get a free "Russian River Wine Road" map. It's the best one I know of for locating wineries, it has all the roads of interest on it, and it's plain enough (not a lot of decorative advertising in the middle of the map) that it's easy to read. If the hotel doesn't have it, the tasting rooms do.

John

If you do go to Sonoma County, get a free "Russian River Wine Road" map. It's the best one I know of for locating wineries, it has all the roads of interest on it, and it's plain enough (not a lot of decorative advertising in the middle of the map) that it's easy to read. If the hotel doesn't have it, the tasting rooms do.

Along those lines, CSAA (AAA for NoCAl) has a very nice "Wine Country" map. Don't know if it has the detail you describe, John, but does pretty well for locating the better-known operations and gives some useful information about tasting room hours, etc.

Mark Lipton

Quick question on shipping: for the wineries I visit, can I have wine shipped to Maryland? Maryland doesn't allow direct shipping but I seem to recall it could be done if you visited the winery.

I do not think Maryland allows wine from any source - retail shop or winery - to be shipped in.

Actually, you can ship to Maryland if you purchase wines in Cali. You have to use one of the companies that has approval to move wine or whatever it is called because that is what you are doing, moving your wine to the state. I found it in the law once before but not sure where and have to run to a meeting so not enough time to look for it now. However, think of it this way, if you move to Maryland you are allowed to bring your wine. Same thing.

There are a number of companies that do this but it may not be easy for you to get your wine there if you only have one day. I have used buffalo shipping post in Napa to ship cases home without incident.

I have the CSAA map, too. It shows more detail, which is both good and bad - it's harder to pick out the place you're looking for when you're barrelling up 101. Not that you barrel very fast these days.

John

Quick question on shipping: for the wineries I visit, can I have wine shipped to Maryland? Maryland doesn't allow direct shipping but I seem to recall it could be done if you visited the winery.

I do not think Maryland allows wine from any source - retail shop or winery - to be shipped in.

Actually, you can ship to Maryland if you purchase wines in Cali. You have to use one of the companies that has approval to move wine or whatever it is called because that is what you are doing, moving your wine to the state. I found it in the law once before but not sure where and have to run to a meeting so not enough time to look for it now. However, think of it this way, if you move to Maryland you are allowed to bring your wine. Same thing.

There are a number of companies that do this but it may not be easy for you to get your wine there if you only have one day. I have used buffalo shipping post in Napa to ship cases home without incident.

I hate it when I have to admit I am wrong but the state has changed the law since the last time I looked. The permit information I found and copied below adds additional conditions that were not in the law the last time I shipped via buffalo shipping post

(d) Change of domicile permit.- The holder of a change of domicile permit may transport into this State the holder's private stock of alcoholic beverages, for personal consumption only, when the permit holder is changing his domicile into this State, provided the taxes levied by § 5-102 of the Tax - General Article have been paid to the Office of the Comptroller.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I see a plan coming together.
Dave

I'll be spending a few days in San Francisco in early August and was looking for:

1. Where to stay in San Francisco. I want to be in the middle of the action!

2. Whether to visit Napa or Sonoma (or both!) and what wineries to visit. I'll have one full day (a Friday).

Thanks for your help!

Dave

"Middle of the action" in San Francisco is pretty subjective. Some would consider Union Square the middle of the action, while others would say North Beach or even some of a certain leaning would say The Castro is the middle of the action. It may help if you could tell us what kind of action you are looking for.

In general, I have had good luck staying at the Stanford Court (Nob Hill), the Saint Francis (Union Square), the Mandarin (Financial District) and the Hotel Nikko (Theater Disctict?). None of those are cheap (we are talking San Francisco after all) but with the slow economy you can probably negotiate a favorable rate. Avoid Fisherman's Warf.

As far as wineries in either Napa or Sonoma, if you only have one day you will probably want to focus on one or the other. In Napa, Pine Ridge has a nice tour and tasting. Hess has a wonderful free art gallery but I would skip the tasting room (not very good wine IMHO). Provenance has a friendly tasting room with some good wines.

Like some of the others said, the Russian River Valley is a nice part of Sonoma for wine tasting. Rochioli and Gary Farrell are good places to stop for a wine tasting. Ravenswood (in Sonoma but not in the RRV) has an informative tour and barrel tasting but I am not sure if they have that on Friday mornings. Their tasting room is open on Fridays though.

Have a great trip!

Again, depending on what you are looking to do, there is a Marriott Courtyard on Beach near the intersection of Columbus. It is about midway between Ghirardelli and the western end of Fisherman's Wharf. Of particular appeal to me is that it is less than two blocks from the Buena Vista Cafe, the place that introduced the Irish coffee to America.

At the high end of the spectrum, if you can get into the Pacific Union Club, do so. Top of Nob Hill.

I stayed at the Harbor Court Hotel (http://www.harborcourthotel.com/) on Steuart St (on the Embarcadero) when I was in SF in this past January and loved it. Boutique, european style, small but lovely rooms, very classy with excellent dining within walking distance, very reasonable rates, at least when I was there. Were I to return, I'd stay there again. Much more fun than the chains.

Hi David,

My wife and I just did Napa, Sonoma and San Francisco in April. We stayed at the Chancellor Hotel http://www.chancellorhotel.com/ on Union Square. It is right on the cable car line and a good location. It is rated number 5 on trip advisor.com. Even though the rooms are a bit small we found the hotel comfortable, with good service, a decent restaurant for breakfast, and very affordable. Ask for their rate with parking included for the best deal if you are driving. We negotiated a price of $128/night that included parking which is a really great price for San Francisco. Not sure if you can get that price during the high tourist season, but it is worth a try.

I suggest Sonoma if you have just one day to tour wineries. Ferrari-Carano has the best gardens of any winery I have ever visited and its cabernets are excellent and less pricey than Napa cabs, but not cheap either. If you are a zinfandel fan the wines at Segeshio are some of the best I have tried. J winery had a great sparkling reserve Brut (1999).

Good luck and have a great trip.

Hi David,

My wife and I just did Napa, Sonoma and San Francisco in April. We stayed at the Chancellor Hotel http://www.chancellorhotel.com/ on Union Square.

Thanks for the information. I booked the Chancellor for the same reasons you mentioned: good reviews on Trip Adviser, reasonably priced, and in the middle of the action. I'm also leaning towards Sonoma and the Russian River Valley as part of an action packed day.

Dave