Guide to Food and Wine Tours

When you're thinking about exploring Sonoma Wine Country's many wine tasting rooms, think about relaxation, entertainment, education, and safety. It's easy, especially when you venture out with a winery-savvy local guide and/or chauffeur.

There's no need to filter through many hundreds of wineries - your touring company can customize destinations that match your interests. You'll have a blast, riding in a limo, on a bike, in a hot air balloon, or even enjoying your own two feet on a walking tour.

Tour companies also have special access to meeting winemakers, getting behind-the-scenes visits, and allowing you into wineries otherwise closed to the public.

You'll learn more, too, since your driver or guide can answer questions about the sights you see, the wineries you visit, the wines that interest you, and many other points of interest.

And there's no need to worry about sipping as many wines as you like, either, since your guide does the driving. 

By Car/Van/Limo

Pure Luxury Transportation 

With one of California's largest chauffeured fleets - ranging from hybrid sedans, Lincoln Navigators and stretch limos to 56-passenger motor coaches - it's fair to say that Pure Luxury Transportation is a true full-service transportation company. It provides service for everything from airport pickups and wedding celebrations, to large corporate group event needs.

With a concierge on staff, Pure Luxury will put together a private tour to match your requirements. 'Our tours are unusual,' said chief operating office Jennifer Buffo. 'The experiences our guests have range from private meetings with winery owners or winemakers, to visiting a winery that's not open to the public. Guests can have an experience they can't have somewhere else.'

Pure Luxury also offers package trips. On the five-hour Pure FUN! Tour you'll visit three wineries for private wine tasting, bocce, shuffleboard, and a seven-course wine-and-food pairing. The five-hour Pure TASTE! Tour visits three wineries, beginning with a luscious wine-and-food pairing, followed by a divine seven-course wine-and food pairing, and finishing the day with exclusive tastings of Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs.

Artisan Wine Tours

A 'discoveries page' on the website allows independent travelers a peek at some of this touring company's favorite insider destinations. But even better, book a ride for a custom wine tour, where couples and small groups get premium treatment via personalized itineraries and personal-size vehicles.

Beau Wine Tours

With a large fleet of new Mercedes and Cadillac sedans, SUVs, limos, vans, and buses, Beau Wine Tours can handle transportation needs for everything from a couple on their honeymoon, to a corporate conference. Perhaps you want to explore the Russian River wine region, or the Sonoma Valley. Wine knowledge is a particular specialty of the staff here, as guides create wine country experiences that will both educate and entertain their guests, customized to people who are new to wine tasting, intermediate, or connoisseurs.

Platypus Wine Tours

Small-group guided tours include at least four charming, hidden gem winery visits per day, plus a picnic lunch. Each tour is customized for whatever you wish, be that an awesome chateaux and manicured grounds, or tastings at small, family-owned winemaker homes. Larger groups, from wedding parties to corporate retreats, can board the Platypus bus.

Sonoma Sterling Limousines and Party Buses

With its 27-vehicle fleet, from stretch limos to sprinter vans to party buses, this family-owned company specializes in wine tours, sightseeing, and corporate events. The Healdsburg wine tour can be customized to fit your interests, and the Santa Rosa group wine tour (about 3.5 hours long) visits three respected wineries, for visitors who want to sample what the area has to offer in a limited time frame. 

Sonoma Wine Tours 

Pick your region, from Alexander Valley to Sonoma Valley, your emphasis, from barrel tasting to winemaker visits, and it's yours for these private guided tours. Tasting fees are included, as are concierge services for hotel, restaurant and recreation coordination.

Wine Country Chauffeur 

Make it a complete package, with concierge-coordinated wineries, restaurants and accommodations. Your tour is enjoyed in the luxury of a Lincoln Navigator, under the guidance of a wine expert, with opportunity to visit with the winemakers at various stops.

Wine Country Journeys

Small groups are the specialty, with a limit of 8 guests per private or shared tour. The family owned company also focuses on 'non-touristy' wineries, and The Ultimate Journey tour, where you enjoy more in depth wine tastings with food pairings. Hotel pick-up/drop-off and all the tasting fees are included.

Woody's Wine Tours

Ride in a limo, SUV, or charter bus for your boutique winery visit. The family-owned company prepares your itineraries, schedules tastings, makes reservations for restaurants or overnight accommodations, and even helps ship your wine home. 

By Bike

Ace It Bike Tours

On the Sonoma Wine Country Tour, ride leisurely through the beautiful rolling hills of the world famous Russian River Valley vineyards on relatively flat nature trails and quiet country roads. Stop at two to three family-owned and –operated wineries, sit in the vineyards, and possibly take a winery tour. Pack a light lunch to bring with you and eat at a winery's outdoor seating. Distance is about eight miles each way.

Adventures in Cycling

Choose among day tours around Healdsburg ('The Big Red Wine Tour'), the Russian River Valley ('Pinot/Chardonnay Tour'), and Sonoma Valley ('Bike and Wine Tour').  The tours typically visit three or four family-owned wineries, and include a Wine Country lunch. The Pedal to Wellness Tour includes biking to visit three wineries, a healthy Wine Country picnic, and an hour-long massage. Tours are also available on electric bicycles.

Bike Healdsburg

Eat, drink, and pedal your way through the charming town of Healdsburg on a party bike. Looking a bit like a small bus or trolley, and party bike is powered by the pedaling of 10 people, plus four non-pedaling seats. They offer a variety of tours, including a Morning Exercise pedal, a Progressive Lunch, a Wine & Nibbles with food-and-wine tastings, and a Gourmet Progressive Dinner.

Getaway Adventures

Experience wine country on two wheels, with the gentle breezes cooling you under the warm sun. On the Healdsburg Sip 'n' Cycle tour you follow your guide to three or four wineries on a ride of about 10 to 12 miles, with a country picnic lunch. The Velo 'n' Vino Tour is geared toward riders looking to break a sweat on a 20- to 30-mile ride with a few climbs on beautiful, quieter roads, enjoy a gourmet picnic lunch, then reward themselves with exquisite wines when the ride is over. And on Sonoma on a Bike you'll enjoy a luxury, six-day wine country bike tour with stays in the best hotels, dining in the finest restaurants, and tastings at family-owned wineries.

Sonoma Valley Bike Tours

Take a half-day or one-day guided cycling tour of boutique and family-owned wineries in the Sonoma Valley, with a relaxed trip of three to six miles between winery stops, and lunch. Follow your local expert to two wineries on the half-day tour, and three on the full-day trek. Or rent bicycles, and plan your own adventure with a self-guided bike tour, supported by the experienced Sonoma Valley Bike Tours team, plus a box picnic lunch and wine purchase pick-up service.  

Other Vehicles

Sonoma Valley Wine Trolley 

The views can be even more magical through open-air windows, and the journey becomes almost as much fun as the destination. While this trolley car is an authentic, old-fashioned replica of vintage 1890s San Francisco cable car, it has modern appointments like an iPod dock and rockin' sound system, meaning six hour, four-winery tours can become rolling parties. The tour guides tend to be playful, cracking jokes and keeping everyone laughing, all the while pointing out landmarks and sharing Sonoma County stories. Tastings are at boutique retreats like Tin Barn, plus bigger favorites like Imagery Estate Winery, and a French picnic lunch is catered by girl & the fig.

By Balloon

Up & Away Ballooning

Enjoy breathtaking views on a flight of an hour or more, then enjoy a post-flight farm-to-table breakfast.

Wine Country Balloons

You'll be transported to a launch site in Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley, or Sonoma Valley (the choice depends on weather conditions), then sail off on gentle wind currents. Views can include the Pacific Coast. San Francisco's skyline, redwood forests, mountains, the graceful Russian River, or lush rolling vineyards. Afterward, enjoy a made-to-order champagne brunch. 

On Foot

Food Crush Tours

Take a delicious, three-hour, behind-the-scenes exclusive walking tour of the chefs, makers, and artisans of The Barlow Marketplace. Enjoy tastings at six or more locations, including enough food for a meal. 

Gourmet Food & Wine Tours-Sonoma

Learn about the area's history and culture while sampling the finest food and wine the area has to offer on this three-hour guided walking tour of the beautiful and friendly Wine Country town of Sonoma. 

Healdsburg Wine & Food Walking Tours

Choose between a 4-hour daytime tour or the 2-hour evening appetizer tour (the perfect first course for a night in Wine Country), and sip, nibble, stroll, and savor exclusive wine-and-food-pairings on a guided walking tour of charming downtown Healdsburg. 

Let's GO Wine Walk

Experience four of the finest wine tasting rooms in downtown Healdsburg on this three-hour walking tour. All wine tasting fees are included.

Savor Healdsburg Food Tours

Explore Healdsburg's celebrated food and wine scene on a 3.5-hour guided walking tour. It's a progressive dining experience that lets you taste the flavors of Wine country.

Sonoma Food Tour

Visit off-the-beaten-path food tasting locations around the town of Sonoma's historic central plaza on this 2.5- to 3-hour food-and-wine tour guided by a local foodie. 

Written by Sonoma Insider Carey Sweet.