We've just finished two weeks of travel through the Wine Country. As we live close by, we often visit for day trips but until our recent retirement, really hadn't stayed overnight in the area. The starting point was an Exploritas CA Delta cruise, posted previously.
After it ended, we got in the car and just kept on going! We visited in early May. Spring is still very cool and windy up here, so layers of Polarfleece along with sunblock and a hat/cap are needed! In spring, there are relatively few tourists - the season starts Memorial Day through harvest time in mid-October - which is good because these roads are mostly two-laners. Traffic can be hideous at summer's height.
In the Wine Country, the major cities have the same name as the county does, just to confuse visitors, LOL. Summers are hot, although our nights always cool off considerably. BTW, October is ‘crush time’, so it stays crowded (and expensive) until after the grapes have been collected.
If you are driving, the back roads are a much prettier way to see Calistoga/Napa - you can drive up Hwy 101 North to Geyserville, for example, to visit the Russian River wineries or eat in Healdsburg. Then take 128 East, which is the 'back way' into Calistoga & Napa. Visiting this early means the hills are still green from winter rains, and the views across the valleys are terrific. Many wineries and some restaurants are sited for great views and because it's not so busy, have more time to chat with visitors.
Yes, staying here is expensive. Hotels and restaurants are just as costly as San Francisco is, which means you are paying a lot of $$$. But there are some lower-cost hotels, not top-quality but adequate. Eating - well, if you don't drink (like us) you can get away with $30-150/person for a meal. If you do....it'll cost you more although you can always bring a bottle of wine and just pay corkage.
We can highly recommend the (Napa Valley) tour at Castello di Amoroso, the medieval reconstructionist castle built by the head of Sattui Winery (URL:
http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/). It's a medievalist's dream, with magnificent stonework and superb brick vaulting of the kind almost no one in the world knows how to do any longer. The gardens are simple but pretty with vineyards around, with a small flock of the fattest, happiest-looking chickens I’ve seen in a long time. We had a lovely mini-tasting afterwards of Sangiovese, a Cab blend, and their dessert Gewurtztraminer with a dark chocolate fleur de sal that was very salty and an intriguing contrast with the dessert wine.
The food is wonderful in Napa County, which includes Yountville, Rutherford and Calistoga. We loved Bottega and adored Auberge du Soleil, but there are many other (expensive) places equally good. Be warned that reservations are ALWAYS necessary in the Bay Area! Get thee to OpenTable.com and register ASAP, although Napa/Sonoma restaurants don’t take reservations more than 2 mos. in advance. Even so, Cyrus (city of Healdsburg, Sonoma Cty) and French Laundry (city of Yountville, Napa Cty), the two most sought-after restaurants, will only take phone reservations, 2 months in advance to the day.
Sonoma (the city) is our long-time favorite. It has the prettiest historical town square, and several historical buildings worth a quick look. Dining is not quite as good as elsewhere, although Café La Haye and Girl and The Fig are perennial pleasures with everyone. Sonoma has a wonderful paved bike trail just outside the square that is a 4.7 mile walk and very pleasant (bring your own water bottle, though).
Then we drove north to visit Mendocino for three days. It’s a long-enough drive that many tourists never get here, a good 2-1/2 hr drive from Sonoma on either Hwy 128 or Hwy 120. Both are windy, curvy, and if you can’t go fast enough, please have the courtesy to pull over to let faster drivers whizz past! Be aware that once you get into summer and autumn, it’s CA fire season, so always check the local news and be ready to avoid any forest fires that start. The highways up here are carved right out of the forests, so don’t think that being “a few miles away” will keep you safe.
In spring everything is damp and green, however, so the drive is long but delightful. Huge tree stumps from pre-1920’s logging are ghostly, moss-heavy reminders of today’s big 18-wheeler logging trucks that still travel the highways. Mendocino is a very small town with no commercial development, which pushed all the grocery stores, drug stores, and other modern-day necessities to nearby Ft. Bragg, another 10-minutes north on Hwy 101.
Not much to do here but eat and hike. The walks are wonderful, state parks are everywhere, accessible beaches and riverfront abound. It’s often cold and foggy, so heavier layers are needed. Many great B&Bs up here, reasonably priced compared to the closer-to-the-city B&Bs in Napa and Sonoma counties. We loved Agate Cove Inn, with its private cabins, jetted tubs, fireplaces and magnificent views. Café Beaujolais and MacCallum House were wonderful meals, as was Rendezvous in Ft. Bragg.
Driving back south down Hwy 101 to the city of Healdsburg in Sonoma’s Russian River wine country, we eat at Barndiva (loved it!) and Madrona Manor (so-so, especially for the high price). Again, not so many tourists come here although it’s closest to San Francisco, but there are many good wineries and some good places to eat. Healdsburg has a smaller town square than Sonoma, not quite so historic or interesting, but the whole area is lovely, with beautiful back roads to drive.
If you follow the Russian River to the coast, a wealth of small towns and farms opens up before you, as well as the famous oyster farms of Bolinas and the magnificent Pt. Reyes National Seashore park. One could spend another week exploring this area, too! CA is a very big state, and it’s impossible to see it all even in a month’s time, let alone two weeks.
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