Grape Juice: Bringing the Kids to Wine Country​  

COST$

    Delight your kids (young children or interested teens) with a wine tour that entertains those in your family not old enough to be served wine…while you the adults still get to sample some wines and see the region's most popular sights. From a pint-sized train to a geyser that regularly spouts over 60 feet high to a ride in a ski-lift like aerial car, the whole family can enjoy this tour. 

    With younger children perhaps we drive down the "Crookedest Street in the World", then out of the city and across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sonoma's Train Town. It features a ride on a pint-sized replica of an 1890s steam/diesel train, through ten landscaped acres of tunnels, bridges and lakes to a mining town populated by llamas and barnyard animals...and ten minutes back.

    Then it's on to a tour by tractor-pulled surrey of Benziger in Sonoma Valley… as we enjoy the panoramic views--one of the few tours that actually take you out into their vineyards. The Benziger guides teach us how the family implements its unique "biodynamic" farming methods. Afterwards, while you taste the kids can enjoy the play structure up the hill. A second version of the day can include a 90-minute drive to the Jelly Belly Factory, en route to Napa Valley. It provides a popular 20-minute tour of their candy-making magic. A casual deli provides our midday meal.

    With teenagers, we can consider stops for tasting artisanal olive oils, chocolates or cheeses. There's also the option of allowing your mature teens to spend the day at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo (usually open Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends, otherwise most weekends), while parents/guardians enjoy wine tasting in the nearby Napa and,or Sonoma Valleys.

    In the afternoon we may visit the "Old Faithful" Geyser (one of only three on the planet); it spouts every 20-minutes or so. If you have always wanted to explore a "real" castle but haven't taken the kids to Europe yet, you won't want to miss the Castello di Amorosa, its Great Room, dungeon and commanding vista. Or nearby Sterling Vineyards invites you to ride its aerial tram to their hilltop tasting rooms with views in all directions. Or if you're ready for a long day there's ​Safari West, a nearby African wildlife refuge, where you may get close to zebras, lemurs, warthogs, flamingoes, cockatoos, giraffes et. al. via a two-hour ride in a customized Land Rover. And there're the remnants of a Petrified Forest en route.

    No itinerary can include all these attractions. But we can certainly focus on the ones that would work best for you and your family.

    Why don't most of the 900 wineries in the wider Bay Area welcome minors (under 21 years of age)?  Primarily because they are working farm environments which present hazards of moving forklifts, slippery floors, dark tunnels, etc.

        ​“Jesse is a treasure trove of information… and is flexible and patient with children and shopping-hungry wives! We had so much fun on our Monterey-Carmel tour that we signed up for his Wine Country tour the next day. We had our 5-year-old son with us and Jesse put together a child-friendly tour of the wine country which our son thoroughly enjoyed—the visit to Traintown is a definite must on that tour! With its warm and friendly service, A Friend in Town certainly lived up to its name!”
– Angela H. (Singapore)

A Private Custom Sightseeing Service  for the San Francisco Bay Area