Wine Country Itinerary Breakdown
Start at: The Ferry Building
Our wine country tour starts at the San Francisco Ferry Building. You will meet your wine country Tour Guide outside in front. Your Tour group and wine country tour guide will all board the shuttle to Napa Valley going across the Golden Gate Bridge.
The famous San Francisco ferry building is home to the ferry plaza farmer's market which is a well done Farmer's Market with plenty of variety and vendors offering delectable treats. The Ferry Building is located on The Embarcadero street at the foot of Market Street. It is the center of the transit hub that connects the surrounding bay area communities to San Francisco. Tour starts at 8:30am. Check-in is 15 minutes prior. The tour will end at the Ferry Building via Ferry/Bay Cruise.
Drive over Golden Gate Bridge
We will drive over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to beautiful Napa Valley and our first winery stop - Domaine Chandon. Your Tour Guide will provide historical narrative of the Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Ocean and the Marin headlands before going into their informative wine country 101 narrative. For the ride home, we take a Ferry/Bay Cruise back to San Francisco where you will again see the bridge from inside the bay. At this time, the sun will be setting in the backdrop of the bridge while you take pictures from the ferry.
Domaine Chandon - Napa Valley
Domaine Chandon will be our sparkling wine stop on the tour. We believe it's important to make sure you have a sparking wine tasting, because they are generally more liked than wine even though they are not as popular. People tend to enjoy sparkling wines more even though as a society, we tend to drink them during celebrations only. Domaine Chandon will not disappoint during your wine country tour experience. Their tasting room offers a spacious arena to relax and take in the beautiful wine country vista that sits right behind the tasting bar. Domaine Chandon's winery is second-to-none in the wine country. One starts to realize why Napa Valley has more prominent wineries than almost anywhere else in the world after visiting Domaine Chandon. See more of Domaine Chandon.
V. Sattui Winery - Napa Valley
V. Sattui winery will be our picnic lunch stop. Here we will treat you to an amazing wine country experience. It's not just about getting into a shuttle and visiting some wineries on this tour. The picnic lunch will give you an opportunity to relax and take in the California Wine Country and some good food with others in your group. Further at V.Sattui they offer our groups a wide variety of 6 different wines to taste for only $5 per person. The lunch coupon we give you can be used for your tasting fee too. It should be noted that we will not be rushed for lunch, we will have 90- minutes to taste and eat lunch outside. See more of V.Sattui winery.
Picnic Lunch - Napa Valley
While at V. Sattui winery we will eat at the picnic tables outside. A picnic lunch caps off an amazing wine country experience. The picnic lunch will give you an opportunity to relax and take in the California Wine Country and some good food with others in your group. Lunch will be prepared for you while your tour the winery and taste the V.Sattui offerings. Also at V. Sattui are opera singers who, if you catch them. Each person is given $10 food vouchers for lunch so you can select what you want and bring it to the picnic table. We provide free refreshments on the tour which you can also use for lunch. We recommend buying your favorite bottle of wine or sparkling wine that you tasted during the first part of the tour to have with your lunch.
Andretti Winery - Napa Valley
We will stop at the beautiful grounds of the small Italian villa of the Andretti Winery in Napa Valley. Andretti winery offers our guests the best in service as they provide us a special place in the back yard set behind in front of the vineyards and mountains to taste their Napa Valley wines. They offer four different varitals to try during the tour. What is great about this tour stop is that you can only purchase Andretti wines from the winery. Andretti, by the way, is owned by Mario Andretti - famous Italian Indy 500 race car driver. See more of Andretti Winery.
Rutherford Ranch Winery - Napa Valley
Rutherford Ranch Winery on the famous Silverado Trail in Napa Valley produces the best value in premium Napa wines. Using only the most lush, and concentrated fruits of each harvest allows Rutherford Ranch Winery to craft each vintage to prefect balance. Since the mid 1980’s Napa has been home to Rutherford Ranch, allowing them to build a reputation as one of the finest in the region. Originally planed to only grow grapes and sell to others wineries changes as the harvest one year during the mid 1980’s gave way to Rutherford to produce their own estate wines as well as private label wines. At Rutherford Ranch you will get to taste Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (mostly available) as well as ports, merlots and their ever popular Rhianian. See more of Rutherford Ranch Winery.
Beautiful Bay Cruise from Napa to SF
As a tour group, we're going to take a 45-minute bay cruise from Vallejo, California, which is very close to Napa Valley. This is a perfect way to end our wine country tour, because it's a nice and relaxing ride. During the ride, you go outside and enjoy the amazing views and San Francisco weather. This won't be a typical bay cruise, because you have the opportunity to see picturesque views of well known U.S. landmarks: Alcatraz island, San Francisco City View, The Bay Bridge and The Golden Gate Bridge during the cruise. Your Tour Guide will be aboard the ferry cruise for additional follow-up questions about Napa Valley and the wineries we visited during the tour, as well as any historical highlights of San Francisco. The Ferry/Bay Cruise portion of the tour will surely be one of the most memorable parts of your wine country tour with the Wine Country Tour Shuttle.
Ferry Cruise Drop-off : The Ferry Building
The tour ends by ferry/bay cruise at the Ferry Building. Here you can go inside and drink the wine you just purchased while over-looking the bay or head back to your hotel. The Ferry Buliding is centrally located to most hotels, especially if your hotel is in Union Square, Financial District or Fisherman's Wharf. Most San Francisco hotels are in those neighborhoods.
Winter Weekend Note from The Wine Country Tour Shuttle
From October 29th through April 1st 2008 our weekend tours (Saturday and Sunday) all start 15 minutes earlier at 8:15am.