My wife and I are hoping to do a short 3-4 day wine trip to the west coast. We are interested in wines from Willamette Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, Anderson Valley, and the Sonoma Coast. Those regions made the list because we prefer restrained, cool-climate wines with lower alcohol and higher acidity. We also want a quiet, romantic trip free from too much touristy hoopla. My question is, which of the three regions would work well for a short trip? Long driving distances between wineries, restaurants, accomodations, airports, & scenic attractions could make it difficult for a short trip. (Though if it’s a beautiful drive with fun stops, maybe not so much.) We have been to the Willamette Valley, and everything is clustered together nicely for a short visit there. And now that I’m much more familiar with WV pinot noir, there are a number of producers there that I am dying to visit. It would also make sense to explore someplace new. I’m far less familiar with the wines from the other regions, but interested in all of them. Any recommendations from those who have been to these areas?
I would recommend flying into SFO, hitting up Ridge and Big Basin and then driving up through San Francisco to Healdsburg, Dry Creek, and over to the Sonoma Coast. You could then drive back down along the coastline to Sonoma or San Francisco. It’s all a beautiful drive.
I think 3-4 days is probably too long to spend in the Santa Cruz Mountains alone. From what I understand, many of the better wineries (Mt. Eden and Rhys, for example) don’t operate tasting rooms. It’s worth making the trek up to Ridge Monte Bello (great experience and view) and Big Basin’s tasting room is easily accessible before or after that drive up the hill.
I think you could also make a fine trip just in Napa for that period if you flew into Oakland and drove straight up.
I think the Willamette Valley sounds tailor made for your wonderful trip. The wines you prefer are the specialty of the WV and there are quite a number of easily accessible AVA’s to explore. The Anderson Valley is also quite nice with quite a number of wonderful wineries in a non-touristy venue.
I’d say that of all of those listed the only region I’ve returned to multiple times is the Willamette Valley. I love it there, people are amazing, tastings are fun and personal, an there are some world class operations there. Tasting through wines at Patricia Green with Jim Anderson is without a doubt the best memory I have of the time I spent there. I’m not sure if it was my Bowdoin sweatshirt I was wearing or not…but I tend to think he’s just that way with everyone. It’s been far too long since I was there. I think it’s high time I try to make it back there again!
Ok, so back to your question…the WV is an unforgettable place. I think a trip there woruld only fuel your passion for the cool places there that are small and welcoming.
I’ve been to all of them in the last 5 years and they all have different appeals. For driving fun and beauty, you can’t beat the Sonoma Coast/Mendocino area. Driving the coast, through the redwoods, etc. is a blast. There are some very good and accessible wineries there. We really enjoyed our trip last fall. You can do the Coast and Anderson Valley fairly well in the time frame you are looking at. I’m not sure what your budget is, but there are some absolutely fantastic B&Bs or small hotels in the area that are quite romantic, if somewhat dear. BTW, there is a very nice garden in Mendocino that is worth the visit.
As others have noted, Santa Cruz Mountains will not take up 3-4 days. Willamette Valley is, as you noted, fairly compact and easy to navigate. We had some great visits, Jim Anderson at Patricia Greene definitely treated us right, but make sure you have lots of time there, they pour an amazing amount of wines. If you can make an appointment with Tom Mortimer of Le Cadeau, it is well worth the visit.
We loved our trip to willamette and may repeat it. Ridge and big basin are on my list if we go to SCM. Is it reasonable to do Sonoma Coast & either Anderson valley or SCM while lodging in one place? Or would we need to change hotels? It would be nice to stay in one hotel, but not if it requires excessive driving.
I think if you got in early enough you could hit Big Basin and Ridge directly from the airport on your way up to the Sonoma area. Big Basin is just a tasting room in Saratoga (there’s a great Middle Eastern market/cafeteria down the road if you’re hungry), and the whole Ridge experience is no more than 2.5 hours, including the drives up and down the hill.
Whenever we’ve gone to SCM wineries, it’s been on our way between Sonoma/Napa and Monterey. I don’t see why you’d need to spend a night there (depending on how many wineries you’re going to, of course). But to answer your question directly, it’s probably too far of a trip to keep going back and forth between the SCM area and the Sonoma Coast.
Even though you don’t mention it, the Russian River Valley would be a great option for you. Many great producers of Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley wines are based there (Littorai, Copain, Williams Selyem, Anthill Farms, Arnot Roberts, Wind Gap etc.) not to mention some terrific RRV focused producers (Wesmar, Rochioli, Joseph Swan, Dehlinger). It’s also not unreasonable to head up to the true Sonoma coast and visit the likes of Flowers and Hirsch. It’s a really beautiful area, with great accommodation options and restaurants, and very easy to get to and around. You can also do some outdoors activities (kayak the RRV, hike through redwoods, go to the coast etc). Tailor made for a great 3-4 day wine trip.
That’s a good though Clayton. I’m interested in all of those producers, but didn’t realize they were all located in RRV.
Yea. I don’t really think you’re going to go wrong. This probably runs into time constraints, but if you can eke out a few more days you might consider flying into Portland and flying out of San Francisco. That’s what my wife and I did for our honeymoon, and WV, Anderson Valley and the Dry Creek were all stunning in their own way. We’ve returned to all since, as they now mean a lot to us and the wine is almost universally stellar.
You’ll love wherever you go and get to the next spot on your return trip!
I’ve been to Willamette Valley once and to Sonoma County three times and loved both. (Also enjoyed my one trip to Mendocino and one trip to Santa Barbara County and trips to Napa when I lived in Monterey County.) I’m returning to Sonoma County again this year for the West of West Festival in early August. I twice stayed at Sonoma Orchid Inn on River Road between Forestville and Guerneville. It is a romantic place with rooms in the older house or in the newer cottage and a range of prices from tiny rooms to more spacious accommodations. Traveling alone, I saved money by staying in one of the smaller rooms, but you would probably prefer the cottage or one of the larger rooms in the house. We had great breakfasts in a communal setting and the innkeepers were helpful with arrangements for dinners, kayaking or winery visits, etc. http://www.sonomaorchidinn.com/ There are also more luxurious accommodations such as Farmhouse Inn or Applewood Inn.
There probably wouldn’t be any need to change hotels to do both the coast and anderson valley, but there would be a bit of driving. We stayed in a B&B in Occidental for three days and then one on the coast just below Mendocino for three days. Both allowed us to travel along the Sonoma coast with ease but I’d suggest finding a place on the coast, maybe in Mendocino for such a short trip to do both.
Btw, Ridge has it’s Lytton Springs facility, which would be easier to fit in a concise north coast trip. There’s so much to do in Sonoma and Mendo already, why waste all that traveling time?
That could save us some time.
I like the Santa Cruz and RRV idea. We did this last month. Brandon, you could fly into San Jose and from there, you are about 45 mins from Ridge. Do them (although I have yet to but I hear it is a great visit), then head over to see Bradley at the Big Basin winery–beautiful up there. You could contact him for an appt or simply do their tasting room in Saratoga, I suppose. You could end your day in Santa Cruz and eat in downtown, spend the night there. You could get a nice start the next day and head up Hwy 1 and into the RRV area, where I’d make it 2 days–Copain, Anthill, Wind Gap, Siduri/Novy, lots of stuff up that way. You have Sojourn and Jemrose on the other side of RRV as an option, too. Lots of good food in Healdsburg and Santa Rosa (Rosso for sure!), too. You could then loop back I suppose on the last day down through Napa. If you like Rivers-Marie, you could perhaps seem them in Calistoga. Plus, you have Matthiasson in southern Napa as you could work back to the airport. Some ideas.
Very sound recs by Frank. I don’t do Napa anymore as the focus of my interest has shifted to Sonoma/Anderson/SCM (although I will be up in St. Helena for three days for a wedding at the end of the month). That said, I’m very interested in hitting Matthiasson (humm … there may be a fit here)!
Sonoma (all appellations) and SCM in particular are a constant adventure for me.
What Frank said.
SCM isn’t really enough for 3-4 days and you wouldn’t want to try to hit SCM and Sonoma from a single hotel, but hit SCM on arrival then head up to Healdsburg or Santa Rosa. We did Rhys a couple months ago around noon, and made it up to Santa Rosa in time for a stop at RRV brewery before dinner at Rosso’s.
“Sonoma Coast” is a pretty far-flung and wild area. Better to map which wineries you want to hit because you’ll find many of them aren’t actually on “the true” coast but instead in the RRV area.
If you’re not wearing a Bowdoin sweatshirt the tasting is twice as long and we open Grand crus Burgs blind with older PGC wines. And have a seven course meal prepared by Michelin starred chefs. You lost out.
Almost sounds a little like last year. Let’s do it again…maybe skipping the part where Patty gets her ribs crushed by an exuberant bear hugger.
RT
Note that the Ridge Monte Bello tasting room is open to the public on weekends. Weekdays they have limited sit down appointments. These are fun, but require planning ahead.
An appointment at the Big Basin winery near Boulder Creek is special. Very scenic and Bradley is a great host. Of course this would be subject to his schedule.
An alternative to going down to Santa Cruz for the night would be to stay in one of the mountain towns. Can’t give you a rec personally, but a friend will sometimes plan a weekend around a concert in Felton and stay at a cabin that sounds a bit romantic.