Last October on a trip to California we managed to visit the wine country. It was one of the best times to visit Napa Valley and Sonoma County  since during the Fall season crowds are lighter, reservations easier to come by and tasting room staff more relaxed. It took us almost 2 hours to drive to Napa Valley from downtown San Francisco.

Entering the newly furbished Welcome Center  in downtown Napa, one can see the decoration is inspired by everything wine. There are wine barrels, pictures of the valley and a small miniature of Napa Valley. An interactive digital information center featuring an iPad station has information on things to do, places to stay, eat and enjoy wine.

Volunteers, who are wine lovers and residents of Napa Valley serve the information counter. They are very knowledgeable about the area especially regarding most of the vineyards. Even for those who do not drink wine, their advice is to go on a wine tour as visitors will learn interesting knowledge.

The Napa Valley is home to more than 125 eateries, including Japanese and European. One of the most famous restaurants is French Laundry, by renowned Chef Thomas Keller who also owns Per Se in New York.

The Michelin Guide to San Francisco Restaurants annually ranks selected eateries on a scale of one to three stars.  There are only two three-­star restaurants in the 2013 San Francisco guide: The French Laundry and The Restaurant at Meadowood, both in Napa  Valley.

Last month the area held its second annual Flavor Napa Valley food festival with an opening night at Copia that featured just about every chef with a restaurant in downtown Napa.

The Welcome Centre advised us to visit a number of vineyards, but when we singled out Robert Mondavi vineyard due to its tie to the University of California Davis, he highly recommended the place since  “it is big enough to hold a tour on the hour.”

In 2001, Robert Mondavi made a personal gift of $25 million to establish the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science  within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences where Omar Niode went to school.

The Signature Tour and Tasting at the Robert Mondavi Vineyard is “a 45 minute “grape to glass” walking tour with a 30 minute sit-down tasting”.   Our tour, escorted by a wine expert, started with a historical talk about Robert Mondavi, his family and how he built the vineyard from scratch. The escort then brought us to a garden where the Mondavis often held events for charity, inviting celebrity singers.

Under the California sun we followed the path of the grape from the vineyard to the wine making cellar to the finished wine. Included in the tour is the popular seated educational tasting of three wines guided by a wine education specialist.

We did not visit Sonoma County but asked our good friend Taya Levine, a global consultant who lives there, how she likes the wine country. Taya emailed us:

First of all, I live in Sonoma County ­­ which is just to the west of Napa Valley. Napa was developed as a wine making area earlier than Sonoma, and hence has many longstanding and well established wineries. It also has many more corporate and "destination" wineries as well ­ all of which translates into it costs more to go wine tasting there and the price points for the wines tend to be higher as well.

I live in Healdsburg, a beautiful town with a traditional town square and many great shops and restaurants to enjoy. Healdsburg sits at the junction of three wine growing areas, or appellations: Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley. The bottom line is, there are over 225 wineries within 5 miles of my house. Most offer tastings for free or a nominal charge that is waived if you buy wine. This area is best known for Zinfandel, and many other great varietals are found here as well ­­ Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Dolcetto, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, I could go on and on!

In this area, you can enjoy vineyards, California Coastal Redwoods, Lake Sonoma and the Russian River. It's a cyclists' paradise and there's hiking, canoeing and kayaking as well ­­ plenty to do if wine is not at the top of your recreation list.  The Pacific Ocean is a mere 30 minutes away as well.

I love living here ­­ I'm in a small town, and the community is very supportive and welcoming. People often say "everyone is so nice here!" There are an unbelievable number of fantastic restaurants in town, many with "celebrity" chefs.

Most of the food here is "farm to table" meaning I can live most of the time on locally produced, organic and nutritious foods. Pairing food with wine is a fun and routine thing to do, and my friends and I gather for everything from picnics at wineries to full blown feasts in one of our backyards. I feel extremely fortunate to live here and hope to be here for a very long time.

 ---------------------------------------

Images: Michelin Travel, Healdsburg, atm2003, Billy Carmen/Shutterstock, Omar Niode Foundation.