Originally Posted by
LongingForORD
Hi,
Not sure if I can answer any of your questions, but I live out here so I am going to try to send you in the right direction.
I think you will need to rent a car to do all the things you want, try to get a good deal with a rental at SFO. Sonoma county generally will be cheaper than Napa county, but with a car it is all doable.
Do you belong to any hotel chain programs? If so, you can use points to get a cheap hotel, especially if you stay just off of 101, which is convenient, but not always scenic.
Here are some local maps/site ect for you to look up. (all for Sonoma county)
www.sonomavalley.com
www.wineroad.com
www.sonomacounty.com
Hope that is some help, fall is a great time to come out to wine country.
First of all, thanks for the replies all.
Thanks for the tips re: 101. I presume that's a major highway? I generally prefer to travel in the slow season because there are less people and because it's usually cheaper.
Since it'll be warmer in Napa/Sonoma than here in Toronto even in the dead "winter" I'm fine with Jan/Feb if it means better rates.
Originally Posted by
lhgreengrd1
If you're on a budget, Sonoma is FAR more cost-effective than Napa. It's also much more diverse in terms of microclimates, and wine varieties.
Russian River area is for cool varietals like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and sparkling wine made from those grapes, with some Zinfandels as well. Some of my favorite wineries here are Hartford, Martinelli, DeLoach, Gary Farrell, and Hop Kiln. Rochioli is a great winery, that is invariably sold out of most of their wines.
Dry Creek is the Zinfandel capital of the world. I really like Rafanelli, Quivera, Ridge, and Mazzoco
Alexander Valley is for Cabernet and Merlots. and some Zinfandel. Wineries to see are Simi, Sausal, Field Stone, and Alexander Valley Vineyards
Rhone varietals do well in a range of climates and can be found in all of these regions.
As far as hotels, Sonoma/Santa Rosa is less pricey than Napa, and weekdays are substantially less pricey than weekends. You can often get the Hilton or Doubletree in Santa Rosa or Rohnert Park for under $75 a night on Priceine during weekdays. Friday and Saturday nights, you can expect to pay MUCH more.
I was actually thinking of going for a long weekend in Feb we have here, but it's during Valentines weekend so ya... the rooms are a LOT.
I'd be find with using Sonoma as a "base" and going from there to Napa. I'll look into that as well. The only reason I decided to pick Napa and Sonoma was because of time, but I'm assuming it'll be a 6 day trip (1 day of travel there and 1 back, leaves me 4 real "days"), maybe I'll be able to add an extra day and check out another wine region?
Originally Posted by
darthbimmer
Definitely take look in the San Francisco forum as Napa & Sonoma wine country is usually discussed there. For example:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/san-f...pa-sonoma.html
BTW, what price level do you consider "budget"? I know some people for whom anything over $100 is spendy and others who don't blink at $275/night for a full service hotel.
In terms of budget, I don't really have one, except that I'd like to keep accommodation rates under $60 if at all possible, especially since hotels to me are just a place to sleep.
Ya know those Japanese pod hotels? Ya, that's enough for me. I'm a basic no frills sort of guy. I don't need much.
I would like to do a tour, only because then I don't have to worry about having to spit out most of the wines and I can actually enjoy the wines w/o any issues. Having said that, the "cheapest" tour I've seen was about $120, which is likely going to be the best rate short of doing it myself.
I wasn't sure if this or the San Fran board was a better place to ask for info, but I'll have a look in there too.
Since I've never used priceline, from what I understand, isn't it more of a last minute booking sort of thing?