Wine Wednesday: 10 Wine Country Tips

Today, I have a short post for Wine Wednesday. I decided to put together 10 quick tips if you have never visited wine country before! I have several other more specific tips, but I thought this would be good for anyone who wants to know a little more before visiting the area for the first time.

Don’t try to do more than 4-5 wineries in 1 day.
Plan a nice dinner one night. There are so many good restaurants in Wine Country that you should definitely plan to do a fancy dinner.
If you are looking to save money, stay in American Canyon. It is only a 30-40 minute drive to the wineries in the morning and you can save a TON of money.
Drink a TON of water.
Eat a good and heavy breakfast before your tours OR make sure to get a good lunch after 1-2 wineries. You might not get to/want to eat a lot when wine tasting since the wineries are only open 10 AM – 4/5 PM.
- We usually don’t do lunch or we try to do something realllllllly quick like the V. Sattui Deli!
If the winery is going to charge you for the tastings, buy a bottle of wine. More often than not, your wine tasting fees are waived when you buy a bottle. I feel that this is a fair trade. Also, you can probably bring your bottle of wine to dinner 🙂
Ask wineries for recommendations!
- If you are at a good winery, I think they should give you recommendations on other wineries to visit. I have found so many wineries through this method. There are probably 15+ places I would have never gone to if it weren’t for this.
Take a ton of pictures! Wine country is beautiful.
Wear comfortable shoes – you will be standing a lot! Most wine tastings have you standing while you taste. I like this so I am not sitting all day – think of it this way – you are burning a few extra calories while wine tasting!
- Note: There are some wineries where you will sit and taste on certain parts of their tour!
Take some time to stop in downtown St. Helena (Napa side) or downtown Healdsburg (Sonoma Side).
- These are the CUTEST little towns.