Wine Tasting Experience – Napa Valley Wine Tours
California . Travel . United States
Wine Tasting Experience – Napa Valley Wine Tours
Our Top 5 Winery Picks for Napa Valley
If you’d like to plan the ultimate Napa Valley wine tasting experience, we’ve got just the tour for you! We’ve selected our favorite 5 wineries throughout Napa Valley, based on tasting rooms, wine flight options, and the overall experience at each winery. Our 5 favorite vineyards include a few well-known names and a several smaller venues. For our Napa Valley wine tour, we booked a private tour from San Francisco through Viator, one of our Mod Fam affiliate partners. (We receive a small percentage of any sales through our site at no additional cost to you, so feel free to click away on any Viator link or banner you see throughout our post!) And if you want to visit each of our top 5, click here and select the “Private Sonoma and Napa Wine Tour From San Francisco.” That package will get you door-to-door service from San Francisco to your choice of vineyards. Not sure where to begin? We’ve got you covered! Keep reading for information and photos of our top Napa Valley wine tour picks!
#1: Jacuzzi Family Winery
#2: Domaine Carneros Château and Vineyards
#3: V. Sattui Winery
#4: Heitz Family Cellars
#5: Sterling Vineyards
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Wine Tasting Experience – Napa Valley Wine Tours: Getting There
The first thing to figure out when planning your Napa Valley wine tour is how to get there. For our Napa Valley wine tour, we booked a private tour from San Francisco through Viator, one of our Mod Fam affiliate partners. We live just an hour and a half flight from San Francisco, and then it’s a quick 30 minutes to the heart of San Fran to stay downtown, near the piers, or in the financial district. We like the combination of staying downtown San Francisco and then driving out to Napa Valley and Sonoma County for the day, rather than staying in St. Helena or another of the towns in wine country. There are pros and cons either way; if you stay in San Francisco, it’s a bit of a drive to get out to the wineries, so unless you’re planning on hiring a driver or tour like we did, that can be quite a long day for your designated driver! But if you stay in San Francisco, you can explore the city when you’re not on your winery tour. Staying close to the wineries is convenient, but you won’t enjoy all of the amenities you’ll have in the city.
Map Your Wine Tasting Experience: San Francisco to Napa Valley
Whether you have your own designated driver or book a private tour from through Viator, you can click on our route map below to see distances and our 5 recommended winery tastings, starting with Jacuzzi Family Vineyards and Domaine Carneros. Our recommended wine tasting itinerary can be done in a single day, or spread it out over several days if you want to take your time and really enjoy each stop or even add your own stops to the itinerary. Our route also includes a stop at V. Sattui Winery. V. Sattui has its own marketplace and food carts for casual lunch options while you enjoy wine pairings at any of their tasting rooms throughout the property. Between charcuterie and other light fare along the way, our recommended wine tasting experience has everything you need for the best vineyards, food and drink for a full day wine tour or several days if you have the time.
#1 Wine Tasting Experience: Jacuzzi Family Vineyards
Our top wine tasting experience has everything you need for a memorable Napa Valley wine tour: balanced varietals served on the vineyard’s Italian courtyard, ample interior tasting rooms for larger groups and parties, local products for sale to compliment your wine purchases, and one of the more inviting locations for a smaller family vineyard in Napa Valley. The setting at Jacuzzi is relaxing and reminiscent of Tuscany. The vineyard has carried this theme throughout it’s property, from the cozy entrance to the vineyard’s architectural nod to the old country. Our favorite collection of wines gets its name from the Jacuzzi family themselves; we shipped several bottles of the Giuseppina Chardonnay, for instance, named after one of the Italian founder’s daughters. According to Jacuzzi, its Giuseppina boasts “alluring aromas of citrus, pineapple, butterscotch, and cashews. The finish is long and smooth, allowing the vibrant fruit flavors to shine through.” We enjoyed a number of their Library and Italian Varietals, as well.
2018 Giuseppina Chardonnay – Jacuzzi Family Vineyards
“The Chardonnay grapes for our Giuseppina come from our vineyards in the cool Petaluma Gap within the Sonoma Coast. This area creates ideal growing conditions for Chardonnay as the cool marine winds blow through the low lying hills west of Petaluma to our vineyards facing the Pacific Ocean, tempering the summer heat. This extends the growing season enabling our grapes to slowly reach full maturity while retaining fresh fruit flavors and vibrant acidity.”
– Jacuzzi Family Vineyards
#2 Wine Tasting Experience: Domaine Carneros Château and Vineyards
Our #2 wine tasting experience is one of two larger vineyards on our itinerary, and one of the most impressive stops along our route. Styled like a French Château and gardens (think California’s scaled down, hip version of Versailles), the sunny patio and summertime tasting space looks down over some of the vineyard’s five nearby Estate Vineyards. Domaine Carneros may have one of the larger production facilities and worldwide distribution, but staff ensure an intimate, personal wine tasting experience for each guest and a light but perfectly paired menu of appetizers and small bites to go with your tastings. We enjoyed Domaine Carneros’s full-bodied reds, like the 2016 Estate Pinot Noir, a balanced blend of 11 different pinot noir clones grown locally by the estate.
2016 Estate Pinot Noir – Domaine Carneros
“The grapes were gently de-stemmed, leaving many whole berries. A ‘cold soak’ followed for five full days prior to fermentation, which took nine to twelve days in small open-topped vats. The fermenting must was punched down three times a day to heighten color and flavor development. After pressing off, the finished wine went directly into French Oak barrels where it rested for ten months until bottling.”
– Domaine Carneros
#3 Wine Tasting Experience: V. Sattui Winery
The V. Sattui Winery, our #3 pick, has everything you need for a mid-day tour, from multiple tasting rooms and a gorgeous site in the heart of wine country to various food options, live music, and shady picnic spots near its impressive market with cheeses, meats, and other essential food pairings. Feel free to bring your own fruit and cheese picnic, but don’t worry if you didn’t bring a thing. V. Sattui has you covered, and local food trucks offer even more food options on the grassy lawn surrounding the tall stone buildings and towering trees. Our favorite wine at V. Sattui has to be the 2017 Gamay Rouge, a crisp, slightly tart rosé made from pinot noir grapes that’s perfect for summer.
2017 Gamay Rouge – V. Sattui Winery
“Bright, fruity and refreshing this is a perfect summer time favorite bursting with juicy flavors of ripe strawberry, crisp tart cherry and cranberry. Fruit flavors and relatively high acids are balanced by a slight natural sweetness derived from the juice of the grapes.
– V. Sattui Winery
We pick at lower sugars and higher acids to preserve the fruitiness of the grapes, then allow the skins to remain on the must (juice) for approximately three days to extract more color and flavor before fermenting at a very cool temperature about 52 degrees to retain more of the wine’s natural fruitiness. Next we stop the fermentation by quickly chilling the wine before it is completely dry, in order to leave a little of the natural grape sugar to balance the higher acid. Finally, we give the wine a light filtration and bottle it when it is only four or five months old in an effort to capture the freshest, fruitiest aromas and flavors possible.”
#4 Wine Tasting Experience: Heitz Wine Cellars
Our #4 pick, Heitz Wine Cellars, sits less than a half mile down the road from V. Sattui. While V. Sattui can be quite lively and sometimes crowded into the afternoon, Heitz is a refuge from all the hustle and bustle down the road. We recommend enjoying pairings and food at V. Sattui before relaxing in the Heitz Wine Cellar tasting room and vine-covered patio behind that looks out to the family vineyards. If sipping a glass of wine in a relaxing outdoor setting at the edge of a vineyard is more your style, plan to spend the afternoon at Heitz. Guests meander through the tasting room, but we found the patio wide open much of the afternoon. Smaller batch wines at Heitz translate to slightly higher prices per bottle, but you have to try the Cellars’ Cabernet Sauvignon varietals. The 2014 Cab contains notes of black cherry and oak from barrel aging, and it’s worth the price.
2014 Cabernet Sauvignon – Heitz Wine Cellars
“As a winemaker, the ability to use our own vineyards throughout Napa Valley to craft this wine is one of the things I look forward to most each year. Each vineyard and each block of fruit that goes into the Napa Valley is a thoughtful choice to express the very best of what Heitz Cellar, and Napa Valley, has to offer. The 2014 Napa Valley Cabernet strikes you visually with its brilliant bright purple and ruby hues. On the nose, notes of black cherry, blackberries, ripe raspberry, and tart plum are complemented by savory herbal notes and a gentle vanilla lift from oak aging. This a perfect representation of a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.”
– Brittany Sherwood, Winemaker, Heitz Wine Cellars
#5 Wine Tasting Experience: Sterling Vineyards
Sterling Vineyards, our #5 pick for our Napa Valley wine tour, maintains the only aerial tram in Napa Valley. A short ride on the tram transports guests to the elevated production facility and tasting rooms scattered around the hillside property looking out to the valley below. Given the size of Sterling Vineyards and the variety of wines to taste, you could easily make this your only stop for an enjoyable day of wine tasting. Ample seating on balconies and patios throughout the property make this one of the more scenic and memorable stops, if only because of the scale and views from atop the surrounding hills. Sterling boasts a number of noteworthy wines, but we enjoyed the 2015 Reserve Chardonnay the most, with its light, oak finish and crisp citrus notes.
2015 Reserve Chardonnay – Sterling Vineyards
“Power and grace, purity and poise, an elegant expression of Chardonnay worthy of the reserve title. Aromas of ripe apple and toasted brioche join crème brûlée and custard, followed by intense citrus notes led by lime and lemon zest and ripe pear. Dense and creamy, viscous with a touch of minerality and oak spice alongside subtle vanilla and caramel. Classic and instantly recognizable as one of Napa’s elite. Sterling Napa Valley wines show the depth, strength and expressive quality of California’s most famous wine region. Fruit for Sterling wines is grown throughout Napa Valley, from the cool southern Carneros region next to San Pablo Bay to the rugged northernmost benchlands and reaches near our Calistoga homeplace. Reserve wines allow Sterling winemaker Harry Hansen to select the finest lots to create the most memorable expressions of the varietal for each vintage.”
– Sterling Vineyards
Final Notes: Napa Valley Wine Tour
We recommend progressing through each winery from #1 to #5, with mid-day stops at V. Sattui and Heitz Family Cellars. Depending on your starting point, though, you could just as easily start from #5 and wind your way back toward San Francisco, ending the day at Jacuzzi for a sunset tasting on the Italian courtyard. Either way, our five favorite wine tasting stops in Napa Valley will leave you wanting more. And if you’re traveling from out of the area, you can ship bottles or cases back from each winery for a reasonable, flat rate.
Would love to do a Napa Valley wine tour one day! We have a similar area in BC called the Okanagan which also has amazing wineries, but hope to still make down to Napa one day 🙂
This brings back memories of a Napa Valley vineyard tour I did years ago. It remains a great place to visit and enjoy good wine and food.
This sounds delightful and is something I’ve always wanted to do! And, the cheese!! Thanks for all the great ideas!!
We love using Viator. I didn’t realize there was a day trip option for Sonoma Valley. That is a great idea! Do you know if the tours are kid-friendly? We didn’t get a chance to do the wine region last time we were in San Fran, but would love to go back!
Thanks, Darla! Some wineries have facilities that are more kid-friendly, like the open patio at Jacuzzi and the tram and outside seating areas at Sterling Vineyards. Heitz is smaller, but has a quiet back patio that would be great with kids, but I would check with the individual wineries you’re considering to make sure. Some will have restrictions in tasting rooms or at pouring counters, but others are set up specifically for the whole family. V. Sattui has food, deli, and entertainment options that are geared toward the whole family, kids included. And a one-day tour is definitely a great… Read more »
What a great guide! This is perfect because I am actually planning a trip to Napa in October, so I’m definitely keeping this handy. 🙂
Awesome, Taylor! Have a great trip!
I loved reading this. We have yet to visit Napa Valley, but I would love to. Jacuzzi wine sounds so nice. I would love it, I’m sure!!
I visited Napa Valley two years ago to check it off of my bucket list. I wish I had read this article before my trip. There are so many great places to visit, so thank you for highlighting many I had not heard of before. I also visited Chateau…beautiful grounds
One of the best moments has been enjoying a glass of good wine with my unconditional love at Napa Valley and looking forward to experiencing that place again very soon.
I hope you had a great tym there. Thank you for sharing with us
I love going on wine tasting tours when I visit a new place. I do like wine a lot so going for a wine tasting is a very exciting holiday activity for me. Looks like there are so many amazing wineries in Napa Valley.