Napa/Sonoma in December

I will be traveling to the Jets/Niners game in San Francisco on December 11. I think we will spend a few days in wine country either just before or just after that. Does anyone have any thoughts or comments about doing that during a month that would be cold and miserable in New York?

Bump. We’re considering doing the same but xmas-new years.

speaking to Sonoma specifically:

Jay: as far as weather goes, it might/could be cold up in wine country. not snowing mind you, but enough where you’ll be wearing a coat wherever you go. rain definitely in the mix. in terms of traffic at tasting rooms/wineries, it will be slow(er) and you shouldn’t have much problem getting around or dealing with big crowds. same goes for restaurants in the area. (one note: lots of Xmas/Holiday parties are scheduled in the weeks before Xmas, so call in advance to see if a restaurant is booked for a private event.) you might have a easier time getting access to winemakers for private tastings before they go on holiday toward the end of the month. also, you should have a great time at the game when the Jets take SF down 56-7.

Michael: there is a slight uptick in traffic in the week between the Eves of the Holidays, and since they both fall on Saturday(s) this year, i’d expect hotels and restaurants to book up sooner than later…especially in and around the towns of Sonoma and Healdsburg. VRBOs and AirB&Bs will likely be the same.

have fun.

My wife and I have a yearly trip to the area the week before. Its actually a great time to be there In terms of tastings. Also, many of the higher end restaurants are running their big holiday theme dinners which are sometimes worth checking out. I would be happy to share my last couple of years itineraries with you.

Weather can do almost anything, might be beautiful in the 60s, might be some rain come through, sometimes can get colder hazy/foggy type conditions. But in general I wouldn’t worry, unless a monster storm happens to come through you’ll be fine, and even then it’s just rain, not blizzard that shuts everything down. Dress for your fall weather, temps will most likely be 60s, could drop into 50s, but that’s unusual. Not unusual to get days in the 70s even. You’ll be able to look at the long range forecast before you fly out, which is usually pretty good since they are looking at developments out in the Pacific, which make things fairly predictable on a 7-10 day outlook.