Winery itinerary...thoughts?

Hi, we leave on Wed for California and will be spending 3 nights in Sonoma at the Cottage B%26amp;B right near the plaza. I%26#39;ve spent a ton of time reading posts about the wineries and have a general idea of how this all works (thanks Forestvillian for your other reply). Here%26#39;s what I%26#39;m thinking we%26#39;ll try to do, with additional questions thrown in:

Arrive at SFO on Wed at 12:45. Assuming we don%26#39;t have issues with the flight, I%26#39;d like to try and see maybe two wineries this day:

Gloria Ferrer: this is on the way and I%26#39;ve read great things. We%26#39;re not big fans of sparkling wine though. Is it worth it for the nice surroundings? How are their other wines?

Gundlach Bundschu

Check into cottage anytime after 4 and have dinner at the Girl and the Fig at 7.

Thursday:

Wander the plaza in the morning and buy lunch at the cheese shop to have at one of the wineries (of the 4 below, is there a winner for picnic grounds?) Head north to the Kenwood area:

Ledson

Landmark

Chateau St. Jean

Kunde

Dinner at General%26#39;s Daughter at 7:15

Friday:

Head to Glen Ellen area: (any lunch suggestions for this day or should we go to the cheese shop again?)

Imagery

B.R. Cohn

Benziger: I keep hearing about the great tour but is this really commercial or definitely a must see??

Head over to Jack London State Park and hike around. Are these basic walking trails or is there any opportunity for more significant hiking?

Head south and stop by Ravenswood. Is this walkable from the town or do you need to drive?

Dinner at El Dorado Kitchen at 6:45.

Are either of these days feasible on bikes? Keep in mind that my husband and I are very active and we%26#39;re both avid bikers...a 25 mile road ride after work is something we do often. Just trying to figure out if this might be nice to do one of the days or will there be too much traffic and nowhere to lock bikes up?

Overall, what do you think? I know I asked a ton of questions but I%26#39;m hoping to tie up the loose ends in these next few days. Thanks in advance for your help.

Winery itinerary...thoughts?

One other thing I forgot to ask...is Cline a good option on our way there? I haven%26#39;t read a lot about this winery. I%26#39;ve had their wines out here on the east coast so I%26#39;m guessing they%26#39;re one of the bigger ones. Just wondering if that%26#39;s a good option as well.

Winery itinerary...thoughts?

If you want a very commercial place with high prices, Ledson definitely fits that bill. Its expensive to taste, arrogant, and overpriced wines. If you like San Francisco 49ers however you can overlook that, and still have a good time.

Benzinger on the other hand is not too commercial - is a very fun family winery and is one of the best tours in the Sonoma Area. I would definitely put it as a must see and if you need to make room, forego Ledson.

Do a search for comments on Gloria Ferrer to see if it may be to your taste. Since you don%26#39;t care for sparkling wine, you might select another place since that%26#39;s really what they excel in. Right across the hwy. is Cornerstone Place/Gardens which has a tasting room, unique shops (inc. a architectural salvage place) and modern art/design gardens. They also have a cafe there.

As I recall, all 4 of the wineries you mentioned have a picnic or patio area where you can bring a lunch and (hopefully) enjoy a bottle of wine purch%26#39;d at their tasting room. I like Chateau St. Jean%26#39;s for a quick picnic because they have a variety of sitting areas to choose from around their lovely grounds and you%26#39;re not crammed into just one spot with everyone else--but get there early. Ravenswood would be a fairly long walk from the Plaza, but a short drive or bike ride northeast. You can check Mapquest for a better idea. Jack London State Historic Park has miles of trails inc. the one that goes up to Sonoma Mtn. for pano views--it%26#39;s a good 10 mi. roundtrip I believe, so that should give you a good workout. For lunch in Glen Ellen, go to Wolf House Cafe or Glen Ellen Inn. There was also a nice little wine bar and lunch spot called Jack%26#39;s Bistro just south from the village along Arnold--but I haven%26#39;t heard anything about it recently, so it may have closed. It had a very nice creekside setting. Also, in the Kenwood area is Cafe Citti, a GREAT spot to have a casual lunch or pick up gourmet deli items. I think that Benziger offers one of the least commercial tours. People are impressed by the amount of educational info. they garner about biodynamic agriculture, natural history and wildlife habitat.

Mini--ouch, ouch re: Ledson! When we%26#39;ve tasted there the pourers were friendly and helpful, volunteering info. about the castle%26#39;s construction (I love its architectural features). But the tasting room can get pretty crowded at times and there%26#39;s a wait for service then. I usually focus in on Ledson%26#39;s Chard as I really enjoy it and don%26#39;t find it to be overpriced. So for Minnowhead, I%26#39;d say go if you like the idea of seeing a Gothic-style castle, but there are many wines on par with Ledson%26#39;s, so it wouldn%26#39;t warrant a special stop.

Thank you both for your thoughts. Ok, I have one crazy question, especially since we%26#39;re leaving in three days and this would change our plans significantly. Every time I tell someone we%26#39;re going to Sonoma they start listing wineries that we have to visit...and they all seem to be in the Healdsburg area: Ferrari Carano, J, Artesa, Dry Creek, Belvedere. Is it worth a drive up to this area instead of keeping both of our days closer to the town of Sonoma? Or are the wineries just as good where we originally planned to go? If we did this, how long is the drive? Sorry I%26#39;m being so scattered!

The ';best wine region'; is purely subjective. Unless you%26#39;re a wine lover with very discerning and well defined tastes, either area will provide fine wine tasting experiences. If you really wanted to, you could see Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood areas on Thurs., limiting the number of places you visit. Then on Fri. spend the better part of the day visiting the wineries in the Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys (near Healdsburg). From the Sonoma area, it%26#39;s about a 45 min. to an hr.+ drive one way to the Healdsburg/Geyserville wineries (J is the closest and Ferrari-Carano is the furthest away). You essentially have less than 2-1/2 days and it would be a real push to do justice to these 2 regions. I%26#39;d really recommend sticking to your original plan and then on your next trip, stay in Healdsburg (or Santa Rosa) and focus on Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys at that time. BTW, Artesa is in the Carneros region and actually resides in Napa County, altho%26#39; it%26#39;s close to the Sonoma border, at the so. end of the valley.

Thanks Forestvillian, that%26#39;s all I needed to hear. I%26#39;ll stick with the original plan, I just wanted to make sure. I love wine but am not highly educated about it so I%26#39;m sure I%26#39;ll like all of the places where we go in the original itinerary. I think I%26#39;m going to leave my plans just as they are and go with the flow. I%26#39;m going to play it by ear about Ledson and maybe head back earlier and check out Buena Vista instead...we%26#39;ll see. I%26#39;ll definitely post a trip report after our return.

Oh and sorry about the Artesa mix up. Several people have told us about Napa places as well but I%26#39;m not really interested in heading over there.

minnowhead, have a great time on your trip. Wine tasting in California can take a life time. I should know, I%26#39;ve been doing it for over 10 years and still have a too many that I still want to discover.

For your picnic, I recommend Landmark. The have several options. There is a courtyard with some shady trees and a nice view of the fountain with Sugarloaf Mountain off in the distance. The also have some tables near the pond and a bocce ball court.

Re: Ledson. I have to says that I have felt that the staff were on the cool side when I have visited and it was not crowded. The building is interesting, but I%26#39;d love to be have a tour of it instead just seeing the couple of rooms they have open.

I love Ravenswood, but it can get quite crazy at times. If they are doing the reserve tasting, that is a definite must do if like big extracted wines.

Thanks, I%26#39;m glad I checked in one more time, I made a note about Landmark! I%26#39;m thinking we%26#39;ll try to get to Ravenswood maybe even tomorrow and hope that a Wed won%26#39;t be too bad??? I%26#39;ll let you know...cant%26#39; wait!

Ledson has $30.00 per person tasting, its wine is overpriced, and it is more like a high pressure time share winery. Ugh! People -Get out and enjoy the other 900 wineries in the area and save yourself a major headache on this one.

For Gothic Style castles - Ledson is not a very good Gothic style winery its pretty much prefab construction. Go to Chateau de Montelena or Castello di Amaraso in Napa - the short drive is worth it by all means!