Hi All,
Our youngest is leaving for college this September and my wife and I will be left to ourselves. We want to go to one of California wine regions in second half of October for 2-4 weeks. We can both work remotely so our idea was to rent an apartment / house, work and visit wineries. Have anyone done this? Any suggestions where to go so wether is still good. Any suggestions on what type of accommodations and where should we look for?
Thank you
I’m native to SoCal so I’d vote for Santa Barbara if you are concerned about the weather still being amenable to outdoor visits/activities with some light layers. The weather will cool down and there isn’t much rain around that time. There’s a myriad of Airbnbs and Hotels around the area so you should be able to pick the best one for you. SB has good Pinot and Chards if that matters and I’m sure you can find a thread with winery recommendations for SB.
For Sonoma and Napa it shouldn’t be too bad either but I’d check the historical weather records for rainfall, temp, etc. if it matters to you in the area you’re interested in. If I had to pick between the two I’d go for Sonoma purely on price per tastings.
I think Sonoma is full of affordable visit options and has a better vibe than Napa.
Brian Tuite’s Sonoma thread is killer.
Plus you can day trip over to Napa for some easy exploration.
So, a vote for Sonoma.
You are gonna have a great time.
That time of year is beautiful in Sonoma.
Congrats to your family! sad that they go, joyous to watch them get their wings. Bittersweet, for sure. I still cry a little after the kids visit and then leave.
Yountville is a great location for an extended stay. If you are interested, I have a contact for a really nice 2 bed fully equipped home available for minimum 30-day stays.
Thank you All. It’s really helpful.
@Karen_Troisi - I will consider it, thank you. At this point it’s just an idea, no date or duration set yet.
Yeah, if you can swing a 30 day stay then your options open up and there are homes that only rent for a minimum of 30 days (and there’s no hotel taxes on 30 day rental so that saves 15%+ right off the top). Yountville is kind of mid Napa Valley in so not a bad place if you are going to be visiting Napa wineries. We stayed in Healdsburg for six weeks a couple years ago and it was nice. We didn’t do wine visits every day and it wasn’t too far from 128 to cut across to Calistoga.
Typically the end of October signals the start of the rainy season in Northern California but weather has been anything but typical the last 10 years.
Sonoma, Napa, Santa Cruz Mountains and even Sierra Foothills are options from a NorCal starting point. All depends in what you tastes are.
You’ll also be encountering harvest at that time, so you may want to explore whether tastings are an option at your desired wineries
Depends on what you like. Almost all of California has spectacular weather that time of year. It may even be on the warm side in the daytime. IMO the Russian River or Anderson Valley are really hard to beat for natural beauty that time of the year. Both have easy access to the coast as well as forested areas.
Generally speaking, Napa is not for me these days.
Santa Barbara and SLO are also incredibly nice.
Ditto for Santa Cruz although, relatively speaking, it’s not broad wine country.
Hard to answer in more detail without knowing what you want in terms of accommodations and dining.
My thoughts are based on appreciating certain Napa cabs but really being turned off by so much of Napa having a focus beyond what’s in the bottle (ie lifestyle). My pick would be Sonoma (Healdsburg) or Santa Barbara.
It helps that I like the wines from both. One consideration is that Santa Barbara is right on the coast, if that’s your thing. And there’s a bit more variety to everything in Santa Barbara since it’s a city that just happens to be in a wine region, whereas Healdsburg is (in my opinion, others may not feel this way) a little bit more wine-and-tourism-centric. Still Healdsburg is vibrant and beautiful and if someone told me I had to stay there 30 days I wouldn’t complain!
I think staying in the town of Sonoma would be great for you. If you’re staying a few weeks it will allow you to visit Sonoma, Dry Creek, Napa, Healdsburg as well as head into the Bay Area if you want.
It’s going to be cold and rainy. Not a great time to be in NorCal.
Thank you all. Very useful info. Trying to clarify our preferences and answer few questions that people asked. We have never been to California wine regions. My favorite wines are Italians Nebbiolo based, Super Tuscans and BDX. Cali Cabs usually turn me off by too much oak, vanilla , too much body. Cali Chardonnay usually is buttery and oaky too to my taste. But of course there are exceptions that I had and loved. I don’t have much experience with Pinots. Cannot afford high quality Burgundies. But above all I’m open to anything new. Access to nature, hiking and ocean is important. My wife is not as much wine lover as I am, so I need to balance tasting with other activities. In terms of dining preferences I don’t really have any for this visit besides that food has to be good 
Another idea since you haven’t visited these regions before is to visit someplace up north like Sonoma County for half the time and the other half down south around Santa Barbara. Even though it could be done in a single day, I would split the drive over two or three days and stay overnight somewhere around Santa Cruz or Monterey. You’ll have access to nature, the coast, and hiking in all these areas.
It’s a good idea. Will think about this. I also was thinking about Washington state but I guess it will be cold over there in October/ November. Any idea what’s tasting cost on average at Sonoma / Santa Barbara wineries ?
Yeah. We cannot imagine what the life is going to be when our youngest leaves. Will be traveling more, that’s for sure. He is going to be on East Coast so hopefully we’ll still see him often. He loves coming with us to Europe. We let him tasting wine there from age 16 and no one cares.
Other than wineries I visited for work, I haven’t visited any in California since the early 90s so I can’t help you on that front. My guess is that there are plenty still out there that don’t charge, especially outside of Napa. To pay to talk to someone who does little more than pour at the tasting room and not get to see much beyond that isn’t something that appeals to me at all. There used to be several places around the Russian River that would just post a “wine tasting” sign and wouldn’t charge anything. Not the Williams Seylem’s of the wine world, but plenty good. Places where you met with the owner/wine maker and possibly the farmer, too. I imagine that has changed with the notoriety the region has received since the early 2000s.
I am not familiar with the WA growing region but since you aren’t really familiar with CA, I would highly recommend that. I can’t imagine WA being a nicer place. Both Santa Barbara and parts of Sonoma and Mendocino are among my favorite places in the world. The reason I suggest considering visiting both is that they are quite different geologically. NorCal has a much greener landscape with redwood forests. October can be magically wonderful in terms of weather there. Santa Barbara is no less beautiful but it’s very different. It’s a unique set-up the way the mountains are so close to the coast. SB also has more refined beaches if that’s of interest. SB is pricey, though.
Why Washington state and not Oregon?
One of the reasons is that I like Cabs from WA and they more affordable for the same quality than from Napa or Sonoma. But I could be wrong.
Cabs make sense. You mentioned Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, thus Oregon.