Everything you need to know to coordinate a personalized wine tour in California’s beautiful Sonoma County.
When planning for our trip to Guerneville, we knew we wanted to explore the area’s vibrant wine scene.
Guerneville, within the Russian River Valley, offers a more intimate wine experience than its high-profile neighbor in Napa Valley. The Russian River specializes in cool-climate wine varietals, including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. This region is closer to the coast than Napa, and these varieties do particularly well because of the region’s morning fog and cooler temperatures. We wanted to explore 2 wineries in the region, but we were unsure of where to begin.
Read on to see how we chose to visit J Vineyards and MacRostie, and how we arranged transportation so we could enjoy our wine without drinking and driving.
Choosing The Vineyards
J Vineyards
When selecting which wineries to visit, it was a balancing act of wine preferences, value, and proximity to our lodging to decide where we would book our tastings. We tend to prefer whites and sparkling wine, so J Vineyards stood out to us. Though there are a number of other wineries in the area that focus on Sparkling, we wanted to ensure that we picked one that was relatively close to the other winery we wanted to do a tasting at. The Russian River Valley is rather spread out, and we didn’t want to spend too much time in the car going from tasting to tasting. We are so glad that we chose J Vineyards for the actual tasting. The Legacy Tasting was a lot of fun, and our server was more than happy to explain the difference between all the wines we would be tasting.
MacRostie Winery
We picked MacRostie for our second stop because of the gorgeous tasting room they offer, as well as the positive reviews of their wine selection. The wine and service were exceptional at MacRostie. Our tasting menu was customized based on our preferences. We sampled mostly whites, but were impressed with the Pinot Noirs, too. Our server provided us with an extensive breakdown of the notes for each varietal, as well as some insider intel about the local wine scene. The panoramic view from the tasting room was stunning, even on a rainy day.
Both MacRostie and J Vineyards were comparatively mid-range, cost-wise, for the average wine tasting in the Russian River Valley. Pricing: average cost of $25-$75 per person per tasting. For both wineries, we booked our tastings in advance through Tock.
Finding Transportation
Because we didn’t want to drink and drive, it was important to us to make sure we coordinated a driver for the day of. Based on some research on the area (thank you tiktok!), we found Bill’s Taxi service. We called to reserve 5 hours with a driver, and were given 3 vehicle options based on our budget. Although there was no way to reserve online, we were able to easily coordinate over the phone. This was the best option for us because we read that ubers are sparse in the region and wait times can be lengthy. Our experience on the day of was mostly positive. The pickup was timely, and our driver was helpful and friendly. Unfortunately, although we selected the premium SUV option for maximum comfort, the car did not smell great, which slightly dampened our experience. Overall though, we are glad we booked a driver in advance because it made our day completely stress free.
To get in touch with Bill’s Taxi Service, call (707) 869-2177.
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