Visit Napa Valley Wineries

The beauty of California's wine country is that there are over a hundred wineries in the area, most offering tours for a price and often free tastes of their wines. Yeah, baby, free. What a wonderful way to learn more about wine, how it's made and to discover outstanding brands and vintages. It's also an awesome way to spend an aftenoon. Or two. Or three.

The Napa Valley town of St. Helena is a good place to start your winery visits. Several easily recognizable brands call St. Helena home, as well as many smaller, lesser known but fabulous labels. When you're not tasting wines, you can hang out in St. Helena's cute downtown area. Many of the wineries are located along Highway 29, which turns into Main Street as it passes through St. Helena.  A few popular St. Helena wineries are Beringer, Sutter Home and Charles Krug, which is the oldest winery in all of Napa Valley.

In addition to its wineries, Calistoga is known for its natural hot springs and its many health spas, so you can take a break from wine tasting for a nice mud bath and massage! Don't miss Sterling Vineyards, which has an aerial tramway offering outstanding views of the picturesque countryside. The charming Vincent Arroyo Winery is known for its petite sirah and welcoming staff. Another great Calistoga winery to try is the August Briggs Winery.

Oakville is home to one of the biggest and most popular wineries in Napa Valley, Robert Mondavi Wineries.  In addition to tours of the facility and tastings, Mondavi offers lunch tours and even concerts.  Far Niente Winery, Saddleback Cellars and Paradigm Winery are three others to try.

If nobody wants to be the designated driver (and who could blame them?), you might opt to go with an organized tour of the wine country.  Napa Wine Tours, for example, will take you to the different wineries- or just around the countryside to enjoy the picturesque views- by bus, carriage, train, limo or even hot air balloon!