The business of pleasure

Could it be the endless sipping of wine? The nine-course meals? Or is it the four-star view from your private cottage? There’s something about Northern California wine country that leaves even the toughest road warrior charmed and completely rejuvenated.

If you’ve ever been out to dinner with someone who confidently takes control of the evening’s wine selection, you know that person does more than help the table to enjoy a good bottle of wine. He or she also exudes an air of worldliness, sophistication and capability. This ability is not only a great business tool. It’s also a fantastic reason to make Northern California wine country your next leisure destination. Home to some of the nation’s most luxurious resorts and legendary restaurants, the vineyard-draped regions of Napa Valley and northern Sonoma are optimal places to sip your way to a fantastic vacation, with educational perks that will last long after you’ve emptied your last souvenir bottle.

Exclusive Napa Valley

Though merely an hour’s drive north from cosmopolitan San Francisco, Napa Valley is about as far as you can get from a suit-and-briefcase existence, which may be one reason famous last names like Disney, Coppola and Redford call the region home. More than 250 wineries are tucked into pristine hillsides and the vine-trellised valley flanked by the two major thoroughfares, Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. Still, with 4.7 million visitors annually to the rural 25-mile-long region, tasting rooms can be as crowded as an airport terminal during commuter rush hour. But if you’ve got an appointment-only wine-tasting itinerary highlighting limited-access wineries, you can be one of 12 guests who get VIP treatment and a real wine education.

With throngs of visitors corralled in and around its mission-style shrine to wine, Robert Mondavi Winery doesn’t seem like an intimate, focused environment for learning. However, with an appointment, you can join one of the most comprehensive educational programs in the valley. More incognito is Joseph Phelps Vineyards, home of the famed cabernet sauvignon blend Insignia and a great wine basics seminar. In nearby Rutherford, Staglin Family Vineyard, which pulled in the top bid—$1.05 million—for its wine-and-travel lot at the 2006 Napa Valley Wine Auction, receives only 10 guests each weekday for its cave tour and sit-down tasting. Another big ticket at the wine auction, hidden Shafer Vineyards, is the place to savor cabernet sauvignon with the award-winning flavor of the Stags’ Leap district. At Schramsberg, a captivating 217-acre champagne estate once frequented by Robert Louis Stevenson, hand-dug caves carved by Chinese laborers in the 1800s are the stunning setting for a sparkling wine schooling.

Visit these venues, and you will get more than a taste of the good life. You will get one-on-one attention and information that will enhance your knowledge and vocabulary in a way that enables you to discuss wine intelligently with peers and wine professionals.

Inside the Napa Valley Guide

• Napa Valley's best restaurants
  
• Napa Valley's best wineries
• Where to stay in Napa Valley
  

Sonoma

The next great wine destination

If Napa is the most famous region in Northern California wine county, northern Sonoma County has been its best-kept secret. The region is characterized by family-owned wineries stretching from the Napa border to the ocean. With casual, lesser-known wineries hidden along rustic, winding two-lane roads, quaint country towns and award-winning wines, it’s long been in the shadow of its glitzier sister county to the east. However, the recent arrival of luxury hotels and destination restaurants have put these charming country communities onto the must-visit map. Fortunately, the region still manages to maintain the friendly, low-key existence that makes it possible to stumble into a winery and taste its wares with the person who made them—and garner a far less formal and structured education than you’ll find in Napa.

The area’s wine appellations—including such well-known names as Dry Creek, Russian River and Alexander Valley—surround the beautiful Victorian town of Healdsburg. Though its boutique shops, restaurants and historic centerpiece square command attention, the region is a spectacular place to become familiar with one of their most famous products—luscious, jammy zinfandel. Drop by Bella Winery to sample award-winners within chicly decorated caves, or make reservations for a sit-down tasting at Rafanelli.

But there’s a lot more to Sonoma than great wines that pair perfectly with barbecue. Martinelli’s newly remodeled red barn pours fantastic zinfandel, but the rest of its lineup garners equal merit. Crafted by superstar winemaker Helen Turley, some selections have a 10-year waitlist. At benchmark winery Rochioli, the sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir are popular enough that the winery has to limit the number of bottles that can be purchased per visit.

Not to be outdone by Napa, laid-back Sonoma also has its share of grand estates, and Jordan Winery is one of the grandest. Make an appointment to explore the 18th-century château-inspired structures and grounds, and participate in a formal sit-down tasting of their well-regarded chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. A more casual place to acclimate your palate to the region’s chards and cabs is in the friendly tasting room at Stryker Sonoma.

Inside the Sonoma Guide

• Sonoma's best restaurants
  
• Sonoma's best wineries
• Where to stay in Sonoma
  

Required reading

• Is your client a riesling or a cab? by Erika Lenkert

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erika lenkert is a freelance writer based in San Rafael, Calif. Email Erika at editor@executivetravelmag.com.