Published on Dec, 2024
For our second tour on our Somoma/Napa trip, we traveled to the town of Sonoma to take the Sonoma Valley Wine Trolley. This was one of the more "touristy" tours we took, but it turned out to be the best. The trolley is a reproduction of a 1906 San Francisco trolley car, mounted on a bus chassis. It accommodates up to 25 people, but we only had 14 on this trip. Our guide, E. Paul, was very friendly, as well as quite knowledgeable about Sonoma history in general, and the wine industry in particular.. He's also a great storyteller. Our first two stops, Ravenswood and Buena Vista, were actually full tours of the grounds, as opposed to just tasting stops. They were also really good examples of historic and modern wine production on the Carneros side of Sonoma. The tour also provided lunch (from the Girl & the Fig), which we ate at Buena Vista. It was excellent. After lunch, we went to the Sonoma Valley side of Sonoma, to Valley of the Moon Winery (Madrone), and finishing up at Mayo Family Winery in Glen Ellen. Again, there was a good contrast among the wineries chosen. E Paul took very good care of everyone on the tour, and he made sure it was a good experience. Going into the tour, , I wasn't expecting a lot considering the price and the trolley aspect of the tour, but the Sonoma Wine Trolley exceeded my expectations. Although it may be a different experience on a busier day, this was our best tour experience, and a great value for the price.