Winery with runway in CA?

jd21476

jd21476

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jd21476
I have been searching around but cant seem ti find anything. Does anyone know of a winery in California with a runway? Id like to fly in, stay the weekend, and fly home.
 
I have used Santa Inez (IZA). Uber around town, some places will pick you up at the airport too. Paso Robles is pretty easy to get around. Then there are the Napa\Sonoma\Petaluma airports which are easy to access wineries and hotels.
 
jd21476 said:
I have been searching around but cant seem ti find anything. Does anyone know of a winery in California with a runway? Id like to fly in, stay the weekend, and fly home.
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Lodi 1O3 and Livermore LVK are surrounded by wineries. Paso Robles is more upmarket.
 
IZA would be a good pick, but Lodi? With all the pattern and radio nazis I think many here would stroke out if they tried to wrangle that pattern lol
 
clear_prop said:
I spotted this runway at a winery east of Healdsburg on Sunday, but can't find any info on it. https://goo.gl/maps/qCQ8ekYXySoUCtCM6

Healdsburg Airport is also surrounded by wineries.
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That strip is private and very short.

Healdsburg is surrounded by wineries and town with hotels is Uber/Lyft close. Santa Rosa has better services for rental cars, etc.
 
stsflyer said:
That strip is private and very short.

Healdsburg is surrounded by wineries and town with hotels is Uber/Lyft close. Santa Rosa has better services for rental cars, etc.
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That link takes me to a tree

But there is a riverbed that might work if you are qualified and equipped, that and the CA overlords are ok with it and the bums don’t get to your plane.
 
Paso Robles is perhaps my favorite wine region in the US. Nice airport as well. You're not going to be "on site" with the wineries, but it's a short hop to over 40 great wineries. Spent 11 days there for an Navion convention and wine tastings a few years back. Also got a nice tour of Javier Arango's collection (may he rest in peace).
 
What about Temecula as opposed to the Central Coast? Anything down that way?
 
jd21476 said:
What about Temecula as opposed to the Central Coast? Anything down that way?
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Temecula is a...vibrant community.

Central coast is still CA, but at least it’s beautiful and has much more good stuff to see to offset the bad stuff.
 
Santa Ynez (IZA) is a great little airport in a nice part of the state. Also, there is a hotel/casino just a half mile from the airport. There are also free shuttles into various areas from the casino or Uber to the wineries. My wife and I fly up there so she can do some tasting or pick up shipments.
 
Rgbeard said:
"vibrant community" is about the nicest thing I've heard about that place.

Used to live near there. Glad to not.
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Reminds me of all the hipsters with the cochella fest shirts on, I’d love to see them hang out in cochella outside of the fenced off music fest with security lol

“Sup homes, that’s a nice iPhone” and lights out
 
stsflyer said:
That strip is private and very short.

Healdsburg is surrounded by wineries and town with hotels is Uber/Lyft close. Santa Rosa has better services for rental cars, etc.
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1250ft. Doable, but definitely a squeeze
 
Healdsburg. I flew in there with my wife a few months ago. There is literally a path from the middle of the airfield to the adjacent winery/vineyard. The airport prefers you go out to the street and walk, since they get gawkers stumbling over after polishing a bottle or two, and just lurch onto the runway since there is no fence. Problem with that is, it’s a country road without sidewalks, but not a big deal.

https://www.mazzocco.com/

If you google map it you will see the runway right next to it. Also, the Dry Creek area down the hill on Dry Creek Road, naturally, is FANTASTIC. Just gorgeous in late fall, and great wines. Quivera is a favorite of ours, and they have a creek on the property with an active steelhead run and you may spot on or two along the path. You can fly in, airbnb somewhere and enjoy. There is a little FBO there so you may be able to arrange a rental, but I’m sure Uber/Lyft is active there. We live in the Bay Area so we just flew in and out in an hour after watching my wife enjoy the libations.

Warning: that area is literally on fire right now, so you may want to wait a couple weeks to verify if they are still operating. If they are, please go. They encourage people to come after fires, since most people assume the area is leveled and don’t go. IF you pull of ForeFlight now you will see the massive TFR directly north of HES.

Another one is Sonoma Valley 0Q3 at the beginning of wine country. Cline Vinyards is close to there, about a 5 min walk down the road, again, no sidewalks.
 
Oh I just remembered San Luis Obispo(SBP)has a winery that overlooks the approach end to the runway. It’s probably half mile walk from the airport but it was great. You can stay in town and hit the local wineries there. They are fiercely proud of their wine country and SLO is a cute little college town.
 
SMX - Santa Maria is also a good destination.
You can taxi and park in front of Radisson Hotel on the airport. Then take the Santa Maria Wine Trolley to the near by wineries.
The wine trolley ticket is $10 per person. You can get on and off at each stop and it's good for 1 day. Although it said $18 at the door but it was $10 when I purchase it from the hotel concierge counter.
The season has ended this year (May to Oct). And for some reason the wine trolley did not depict the Radisson stop on this year's map ( I visited twice last year). I think you can give Radisson a call before you go. Most likely the trolley will stop at the Radisson as it's one of the largest hotels at SMX.

Here is the link to the SMX Wine Trolley.
https://santamariavalley.com/wine-country/winetrolley/

BTW, I also flew to the following airports for wine. All were good experience.
. HES Healdsburg (walking day trips)
. 0Q3 Sonoma Valley (taxi/Uber day trips)
. STS Santa Rosa (AirBnB multiple days trips, Sonoma Wine Road - Barrel Tasting)
. APC Napa (rental car/Uber, multiple day trips, stay at downtown Napa hotels)
. LVK Livermore (friend's car, day trips, stay at Fremont)
. IZA Santa Ynez (AirBnB, and Solvent City wine tasting rooms)
Note: In the (...) was what I did in my trip or trips. There may be more transportation and lodge options that what I described.

The next wine destination I like to go is MMES Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. I heard all the good thing about the wine country called Guadalupe Valley next to Ensenada. My friend just visited there last weekends in his PA-46.
 
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jpskies said:
The next wine destination I like to go is MMES Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. I heard all the good thing about the wine country called Guadalupe Valley next to Ensenada. My friend just visited there last weekends in his PA-46.
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Valle de Guadalupe has an excellent wine/food scene. I’ve been there several times. Now that basicmed will be soon accepted in Mexico , I’m psyched I can fly to Ensenada instead of driving. The region has a different vibe from most of the California wineries.

As far as wineries here in California, fingers crossed this weekends fires don’t take out more than they already have. Healdsburg is currently evacuated. I believe Santa Rosa is partially evacuated.
 
jpskies said:
HES Healdsburg (walking day trips, stay near Palo Alto airport)
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I'm assuming that staying near Palo Alto Airport fit your plans for some reason, since it's not particularly close to Healdsburg.
 
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Temecula area is also gaining popularity. French Valley (F70) is supposed to be a good wine and fly location.
 
Palmpilot said:
I'm assuming that staying near Palo Alto Airport fit your plans for some reason, since it's not particularly close to Healdsburg.
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I meant that was a day trip when I visited a friend who lived in Palos Alto one weekend. We did a day trip to Healdsburg. Therefore, I have no information about the near by lodge at Healdsburg. Sorry for the confusions.
 
IZA is very well located for the wineries in that valley, and the VFR departure from there is lots of fun in a good handling airplane.

SMX has a long runway and good approaches (except that stupid BC LOC) and is near one of my favorites (Presqu'ile).

jd21476 said:
What about Temecula as opposed to the Central Coast? Anything down that way?
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Rgbeard said:
Temecula has French Valley Airport (F70), and terrible wine.
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Yeah, Temecula Valley wine is awful and F70 is a zoo so infamous that I know several San Diego area pilots who refuse to fly there - even with the good food restaurant. If an airport ever needed a tower thanks to the behavior of some of the pilots, it is that one.
 
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