Wine Country (California) tour

Daniel L

Daniel L

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I'm thinking of a nice route to consider when taking friends on a wine country tour.

Anyone have a route and suggested altitudes they're willing to share for me to start with?

I'd like to include the napa, sonoma, russian river/mendocino-esque region.

kthx
 

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Where do I start....

KAPC is of course your base for a wine tour. Wine Tour. The problem with hopping among Napa/Sonoma valley airports for a wine tour is the ground logistics get a bit messy.

I might suggest that -my- former flight school and now charter only FBO offers Napa Valley flights where you (your pax) can have wine and cheese in the air, as you fly over the various places of interest. Oh, and the selling point? "You do not even have to offer to share with the pilot."
 
I suggest park your plane at a local airport, perhaps Santa Rosa, and tour at 0.0000 AGL. You'll have to wait 8 hours after your last wine tasting to depart. Truly 8 hours from (wine) bottle to throttle!
 
Going to IZA Thu / Fri the 20th of June. For a couple of days.

I'd recommend the highway 29 tour, cross over, a little of Sonoma, and then, fog-permitting, the coast.
 
Rgbeard said:
Going to IZA Thu / Fri the 20th of June. For a couple of days.

I'd recommend the highway 29 tour, cross over, a little of Sonoma, and then, fog-permitting, the coast.
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This is what you said in the chat room but it was after I posted this thread.

Guys this is really what I'm talking about. not talking about getting wasted on vino and overpaying for three ounces of cheese a two slices of stale baguette. I've done that enough.

What I'd like to do is similar to this, start in the napa airport region, fly low/slow around the regions, land at Mendocino for lunch. Fly home..

That kind of thing.

The highway 29 tour. Does that mean just following the line? At what point would you fly west?

Once on the ground at little river I know where to go. I don't drink wine but that doesn't prevent my pax from doing so. I really enjoyed my flight over the area on saturday and really want to share that experience with my friends/family.

So, what I'm hoping for is something a bit more descriptive than follow a highway, and a bit of this and a bit of that. I'm hoping for waypoints, or points of references to aid in my planning. Mkay? Thanks.

If no one has any idea, I'll have to do it solo in a trial&error way but was hoping someone has a routine they can share.

I know someone who routinely flies Bay area tours and it's almost like second nature to him. I want to get to that point with a wine country air tour.

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I would:

Leave Napa Co Airport

Fly Hwy 29 Low & Slow, West of the highway allowing all the picture taking you can.

Cruise over to lake B. Many people don't even know it exists. Be sure to point out the hole in the lake.

Cross over to Sonoma- point out the famous Raceway (one of my favorite to ride), then cruise nice and easy to Santa Rosa. Lunch at the Sky Lounge.

Or anywhere else? http://www.fly2lunch.com/restaurant.php?rest_id=4562&home=STS
 
Rgbeard said:
I would:

Leave Napa Co Airport

Fly Hwy 29 Low & Slow, West of the highway allowing all the picture taking you can.

Cruise over to lake B. Many people don't even know it exists. Be sure to point out the hole in the lake.

Cross over to Sonoma- point out the famous Raceway (one of my favorite to ride), then cruise nice and easy to Santa Rosa. Lunch at the Sky Lounge.

Or anywhere else? http://www.fly2lunch.com/restaurant.php?rest_id=4562&home=STS
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That's more like it. I'll use this as a start. When I went to santa rosa the other day the sky lounge looked deserted.

I'm looking to lunch at mendocino. Maybe spend a few hours in fort bragg.

Thanks though, this is exactly what I was asking for. Of course, I'm open to more input as well. I really really enjoyed my flyover the other day. Changed my perspective since I've been in the region countless times by road.

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You know, the other thing you could do fly over the valley a bit, up and down the corridor between the 29 and Silverado Trail, and then shoot over to Half Moon Bay for lunch. The food is really great over there and it is a short walk from the airport. If you're coming from KSAC, then just fly up Covell Boulevard/the 113 at Davis, which will take you to the Berryessa dam (watch out for the low flying Icons) and the hole in the water spillway, shoot over on the other side in to the Napa Valley, follow Silverado to Calistoga, loop over to the 29, take it out to the Bay then shoot over to KHAF. Then go home. That's what I would do anyway.
 
Sac Arrow said:
You know, the other thing you could do fly over the valley a bit, up and down the corridor between the 29 and Silverado Trail, and then shoot over to Half Moon Bay for lunch. The food is really great over there and it is a short walk from the airport. If you're coming from KSAC, then just fly up Covell Boulevard/the 113 at Davis, which will take you to the Berryessa dam (watch out for the low flying Icons) and the hole in the water spillway, shoot over on the other side in to the Napa Valley, follow Silverado to Calistoga, loop over to the 29, take it out to the Bay then shoot over to KHAF. Then go home. That's what I would do anyway.
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Dittos on the 1 9er diner!
 
Have you thought about Paso Robles wine tour....
 
I was going to suggest Paso as well. Paso has lots of great wineries without 20 minutes of the airport. The airport is nice. Anybody know what happened to Javier Arango's stuff there (and nearby at his ranch). Beautiful collection of aircraft.
 
We lived in Napa back in the late 1970s (worked for the Navy at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and a tenant activity on the yard). Got to know the wineries in the valley quite well. Went back last year for a few days. It has changed. They now charge for tasting at the wineries (didn't when we lived there, or in the mid 1990s). Still worth getting a car at the airport and visiting. As noted above, don't forget the 8 hours bottle to throttle rule. Lots of places to visit, you have to choose what makes the most sense to you.
 
Ghery said:
We lived in Napa back in the late 1970s (worked for the Navy at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and a tenant activity on the yard). Got to know the wineries in the valley quite well. Went back last year for a few days. It has changed. They now charge for tasting at the wineries (didn't when we lived there, or in the mid 1990s). Still worth getting a car at the airport and visiting. As noted above, don't forget the 8 hours bottle to throttle rule. Lots of places to visit, you have to choose what makes the most sense to you.
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I don't do the wine crawl anymore. I think V. Sattui still does free tastings, regardless, it's a fun place to hang out with a bottle and a sausage and cheese plate on a warm afternoon.
 
Ghery said:
They now charge for tasting at the wineries (didn't when we lived there, or in the mid 1990s).
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I went to Opus One a few years ago and the tasting fee there for their higher end wine is more than some whole bottles. And I have to justify buying a bottle of Opus One as "an investment" (yeah right LOL) so I don't feel as bad.

I have one bottle I'm keeping for a special occasion. Probably passing my checkride.
 
So yeah. I am building a decent itinerary of poi's for the tour. I love how the topic went away from flying the region to drinking the region.

Anyway I got what i asked for so thanks.

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I'm sorry, but thread drift is a normal thing here.

It's also normal for us to keep talking about it long after you're satisfied with your answer.

That's just another day at POA.

I think this thread is worthy of 4 pages? :D
 
Local? Wine?

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Daniel L said:
I love how the topic went away from flying the region to drinking the region.
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Oh, trust me, we could be talking about a topic(s) much worse than ‘drinking the region’.
 
Rgbeard said:
I'm sorry, but thread drift is a normal thing here.

It's also normal for us to keep talking about it long after you're satisfied with your answer.

That's just another day at POA.

I think this thread is worthy of 4 pages? :D
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i don't mind the topic creep. this isn't my first forum. it's just that people are starting to remind me of the bottle to throttle rule as if they never read my post. the last thing i want is an unearned bad reputation. i certainly don't want to be thought as a person flies uder the influence.

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Ryanb said:
Oh, trust me, we could be talking about a topic(s) much worse than ‘drinking the region’.
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oh i'm sure. i just don't want to be thought as a person i'm not, namely, one who flies intoxicated.

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Daniel L said:
i don't mind the topic creep. this isn't my first forum. it's just that people are starting to remind me of the bottle to throttle rule as if they never read my post. the last thing i want is an unearned bad reputation. i certainly don't want to be thought as a person flies uder the influence.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
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<---- Has never found need to remind anyone of bottle/throttle rules.
 
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