Another amazing experience my friend Mary and I got up to on our 40th birthday extravaganza in July was a wine tour to Napa and Sonoma Valleys, with a stop at Muir Woods on the way out of town.
We booked through the tour through Viator with Extranomical Tours. We ended up getting really lucky with our driver, Roman, and the friends we made on the way.
Your tour starts by getting picked up at several pre-arranged locations. As we were staying near the airport we made our way into the city and joined the group at one of the hotel pick-ups. Everyone was on time which was so refreshing which meant our day could get underway without any frustrations or hold ups. It was a sign of the good things to come for the rest of the day.
Muir Woods
The drive up to Muir Woods was pretty windy (like curvy, not blowy) and sadly very foggy (ugh, the summer fog in San Francisco is a real thing!) but it was still early so our excitement for our day’s adventures outweighed any downsides like a little nausea and lack of views. You pay for your entry to the National Park. I meant to bring my Annual National Park Pass along and sadly forgot it so it was $10 each to get in.
There are three different types of redwoods remaining in the world – Dawn Redwood, The Giant Sequoia and these, the Coastal Redwood. John Muir – the founder of the Sierra Club – was a pioneer of environmentalism and conservation, so the park was named for him. It was an easy walk that took about 1 hour to go to the end of the trail and back. I can’t remember exactly, but you’re given 1-1.5 hours at the park to walk around.
It was time to move on to our first winery. We went to one in Napa Valley and two in Sonoma Valley.
Here’s the scoop. Napa is well-known, so wine tours like to say “Napa Wine Tour” since that’s where everyone wants to go. It helps them get bookings. But the separations between Napa and Sonoma are simply political boundaries. The grapes are the EXACT same.
However, you pay more to go to a Napa Winery and do tastings compared to a Sonoma Winery. For what it’s worth – I didn’t enjoy the wines at the Napa Winery at all. I much preferred the Sonoma Wineries and their experiences, with the final being my favorite of the day.
Napa Winery – Kieu Hoang
I don’t want to bad mouth one winery over the others. But Kieu Hoang was not to my liking at all. I didn’t enjoy the reds or the whites.
I have a theory as to why, but it’s just that – my own theory. The winery we went to is owned by someone who used to be in pharmaceuticals. He has beautiful bottles that have the molecular makeup of each wine on the label and I LOVE that touch.
Unfortunately, wine making isn’t just a science. There’s an art to it too and I’m not sure this wine maker has yet to tap into the “art” so much as the “science” of wine making. I’d be willing to go back in a few years to see if he’s been able to crack it though. Plenty of others were there and seemed to enjoy the wine on offer so it might just not be for my palate. As I went to find others’ views on it, I saw that the winery is now permanently closed and experiencing legal trouble.
Lunch
After Muir Woods and the Napa Winery, we went to lunch in Sonoma Plaza. Here’s where you had a choice to make before you went – we chose to add the gourmet lunch option with wine tasting for an extra $55 per person to our initial ticket.
When Roman started listing all the possible locations to find lunch at the Plaza I felt concerned that we’d not made a great choice. Were we missing out!? In the end, our final decision was no, we weren’t missing out. But let me tell you the pros and cons so you can make your own choice.
Pros of the Pre-Booked lunch
We didn’t have to do a thing once we chose our lunch option. Just show up. That meant our fast and furious lunch stop of around 1.5 hours (which is quickly eaten up by a wait list on a busy day in the Sonoma Plaza) was more leisurely than that of our fellow passengers. We had enough time to wait in line afterwards for ice cream at Sweet Scoops – which I recommend doing!
The price can’t be beat! $55 per person for a shared cheese and fruit plate upon arrival, a lovely lunch AND 4-5 wine pairings from local wineries!? Knowing that a wine tasting alone in Sonoma is $20-$30, this was a nice added treat to the lunch offering. If the wine pairing hadn’t been included it might not have been worth it, but honestly the lack of waitlist was also an added benefit worth paying for.
Cons of the Pre-Booked Lunch
You go to one restaurant and it turns out that the wine tour guests that chose the pre-ordered lunch are all sat together at a large table. As an extrovert this wasn’t too daunting for me, although I was just wanting time with my girlfriend and not having to be “on.” For Mary, an introvert, this was a nightmare scenario. She found a few others in the medical profession and was able to chat with them while I talked to most of the rest of the table, but be aware that you’re in for a communal dining experience.
You miss out on other great options too. When we went back to Sonoma with my mom and stepdad at Christmas we went to B&V Whiskey Bar and Grille that had great wine, food and whiskey on offer. It was pricey, but if you can find out what day/time your tour is and make reservations maybe it won’t be too bad a wait.
Sonoma Wineries – Muscardini and Mayo
After lunch, the stop at Muscardini was a welcome respite. We sat in the garden and listened to the live music playing. It was dog-friendly, always a plus, and had the distinction of Best Micro Winery in California. The wines were good but not life changing, so I still didn’t buy any bottles to take home.
The final winery was my favorite. Mayo Family Winery had the best wines of the day and the best host. I got a few bottles to go and the combination of time together, wine and wonderful weather meant that we made friends with our fellow passengers and had a little silliness of our own in the barrel room. I especially enjoyed the Tempranillo, so I got a bottle of that to share with Stephen.
Before returning us to our hotels, Roman had one little surprise for us. We stopped and saw the Golden Gate Bridge and posed for pictures. In the end it was the best view we got during our time there (although we’ve gotten better views since), so I’m glad we were able to stop.
On the way back to the hotels Roman suggested a great place for dinner at an Indian restaurant and we went with some of our wine companions. Shout out to Roman (our guide – hilarious, fun and interesting), Angelic, Adam, Devin and Tom for making our day so fun and memorable!
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