California Wine Club

The vineyards of Napa Valley and Sonoma gave rise to all California Wine Clubs.

There are more than ten of these California Wine Clubs. They offer to their members: news letters, a monthly shipment of special edition wines, the chance to buy wines that maybe they couldn’t get by their own: they visit vineyards and taste different wines and also award the wine of the month and the winery that produces it.

There are also online California Wine Clubs and everything is home delivered. To belong one of this clubs some will ask you a small fee but other are free.

Some universities and enterprises have their California Wine Clubs and they visit different vineyards too; but as they don’t belong to any vineyard they do not receive the benefits mentioned above

Most of these California Wine Clubs are focused in white and red wines but some of them also try French wines like Charddonay and Carbernnet Souvignon.

Napa Valley

One of the most known vineyard areas is Napa Valley. It is located at San Francisco Bay area in California U. S. A. Due to it’s warm weather in is appropriate to grow grapes for different wines.

Grapes have been grown in Napa since IXX century, but Robert Mondavi founded the first winery in the middle sixties. By now there are more than 300 vineyards in Napa. Many of them are open to the public. You can go there by your own even if you don’t belong to any California Wine Club.

They have a welcome center where you can taste the wine by paying a fee from $5.00 to $7.00. They also sell books postcards and wine. There are also food marts that sell wine and food produced in the area. Some of them also allow visitors to use their camping areas when buying some of their products. Visitors can take their children but they are not allowed to drink wine.

Another option could be the Wine Train. It was founded in 1987. It was adapted from and older train and some modern installations were added. Just register at the Napa train station front desk. Guest can try many different boutique and special edition wines and food on board the train. You can also visit the station and the store.

The Napa museum is also available. It is a cultural environmental museum.

If tourists are planning to spend the night in Napa, there are many restaurants, hotels, resorts and spas for different budgets.

Sonoma

Sonoma, sometimes called Valley of the Moon is on the northern coast of California in the wine region which also includes Napa

It produces grapes, apples, prunes and dairy products. Grapes vintage and winery are the main economy of Sonoma. There are more than 250 wineries in all Sonoma Valley.

The main attraction of the wine region of California is the wine tasting, but tourists can also go hiking, biking and flying in hot air balloons. Tourists can also visit:

The Quarryhill Botanic Garden: It’s located near Glen Ellen in Sonoma Valley and has an Asian plants exhibition. It also accepts seeds donations and it’s open to general public.

Jack London Historic Park: It is located in Glen Ellen Sonoma. This property was purchased by Jack London and now there are some houses there.

Happy Wall house: This is a smaller version of the Wolf House and was built after Jack’s death.

Wolf House: This house was completed in 1913. It includes native furniture of the area and a swimming pool but it burnt down before Jack London could move there. It’s ruins remain still there.

Jack London’s grave and Beauty Ranch Museum are also at this park.

Sonoma State Historic Park It is open daily and has tours for general public and students. Here you will find Mission San Francisco, Sonoma’s Mission, General Vallejo’s Home, Sonoma Barracks and some other points of interest.

Mission San Francisco Solano. It was founded in the early 1820s and it was named after a missionary of the Indians of Peru. It is located in the Sonoma State Historic Park. It is a small museum right now. It is open daily and only closes on holidays.