Best Winery Tour (2016)

Wine lovers touring Chappellet in beautiful St. Helena get to go behind the scenes inside the winery's historic Pritchard Hill facility, walk through the vineyards and sample limited-production wines crafted for the winery's private club members. These adults-only tours are by appointment.
Photo courtesy of Chappellet

Lucky visitors who snag one of a limited number of tastings at Napa's Caldwell Vineyard descend 90 feet underground into a 20,000-square-foot volcanic ash cave, which maintains a temperature of a cool 59 degrees even on hot summer days. These 90-minute guided tastings often include the witty and entertaining stories of the winery told by John Caldwell himself.
Photo courtesy of Caldwell Vineyard

Located on Sundance Ranch in Calistoga, Tamber Bey Vineyards offers a unique tour of its crush winery as well as the state-of-the-art equestrian facilities where performance horses are trained. Guests can choose between two different tastings with an optional cookie pairing by Michelle Romaine.
Photo courtesy of Tamber Bey Vineyards

By-appointment tours of the O'Brien Estate in Napa are an immersive wine-in-hand experience where visitors get to walk through the vineyards, touch the wine barrels, watch the bottling line and relax outside on a quiet lawn with a glass of wine. Each visit includes a seated wine tasting.
Photo courtesy of Thinkstock

Regularly scheduled tours at Galena Cellars Vineyard & Winery, located just outside of the town of Galena, take guests into the scenic country vineyards to learn about how these award-winning wines are made. Tours an be stand-alone or combined with a tasting of six different wines from a menu of more than 40.
Photo courtesy of Richie Diesterheft / Flickr

Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard demonstrates its commitment to educating novices and aficionados alike through its wide assortment of tours. Options range from processing facility and barrel cellar tours to the more comprehensive Vine to Wine Tour through the vineyards and facilities. Guests can also opt to be a winemaker for the day by signing up for a VIP Blending Class.
Photo courtesy of Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard

Vineyard and Winery Tours at Virginia's King Family Vineyards include a history of the family and farm, a visit to one of the estate vineyards to learn about viticulture in Virginia, a walk through the tank and barrel rooms and a guided tasting of six different wines.
Photo courtesy of King Family Vineyards / Aaron Watson Photography

A winery tour at Wollersheim Winery in Wisconsin begins with a video giving a brief overview of the estate's 160-year winemaking history. Visitors get to see the vineyards before entering the production facilities, where a glassed-in viewing area looks in on the fermentation room. After a visit to the underground limestone aging cellars, tour participants enjoy a short guided tasting.
Photo courtesy of Wollersheim Winery

Visitors go beyond a simple tasting when they make an appointment for an Estate Tour at Ladera Vineyards in Napa Valley. This intimate experience gives a brief history of Ladera – a winery dating back more than a hundred years – and the gravity flow process used to craft the wines. The tour includes a walk through the vineyards, wine cave and a tasting of exclusive and limited release wines in the private Estate Room.
Photo courtesy of Ladera Vineyards

Visitors to Hendry Ranch Wines in Napa can choose from two different tour options. The more in-depth Seminar Tour is led by owner George Hendry and includes background on the property, farming philosophy and the economics of grape growing, followed by an intensive guided tasting of seven current release wines. A shorter Afternoon Tour gives a brief overview of what's happening on the vineyard with a tasting of six wines.
Photo courtesy of Hendry Ranch Wines