Ride a Vintage VW Bus to a Sonoma Wine Cave
A restored VW bus runs out to three Sonoma wineries, one pouring inside a wine cave. Tasting fees stay on your tab.
Painted Ladies Tour Company keeps a fleet of restored Volkswagen buses in San Francisco, and the Sonoma run is the longest day it sends them out on. Seven to eight hours door to door, with three tastings in the middle. Each bus seats seven people in total, and larger parties ride in separate buses on the same run.
The buses do a lot of the work here. They are slow on the climb out of the city, one of them has a headliner printed with poppies, and nobody arrives at a winery unnoticed in one.
The ticket covers the ride, a professional guide, a mimosa at the Golden Gate Bridge, bottled water and a light snack. Three ways to get on it sit on the same booking page. 427 Post Street in Union Square leaves at 9:00 AM. 1300 Columbus Avenue in Fisherman's Wharf leaves at 9:15 AM. The third is a hotel pickup, which the operator runs only for hotels inside those two areas, asks twenty-four hours of notice for, and warns may pull your departure earlier.
Tasting fees and lunch sit outside the ticket price. The numbers for both are further down this page.
Painted Ladies Wine Country TourSonoma Valley by restored VW bus. Seven to eight hours from San Francisco, 21 and over. 4.9 from 380 reviews.www.viator.comThe Bridge Stop Comes With a Mimosa
Ten minutes at the Golden Gate Bridge opens the day, and the mimosas are poured there. They are the only alcohol the ticket covers.
Getting to the bus matters more than it sounds. Both curbside pickups want you standing there ten minutes before the posted departure, which the operator writes out as 8:50 AM at 427 Post Street and 9:05 AM at 1300 Columbus Avenue. Show up later than that and the instruction on the booking is that you will be asked to meet the bus at the first point of interest. The Union Square curb is on Post Street between Powell and Mason, across from Morton's at 400 Post Street. The Wharf curb is the white loading zone in front of the Hotel Caza.
Three Tastings, One of Them Underground
The published itinerary for this departure names Roche Winery first, pouring estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Carneros, then VJB Cellars, the Italian house in Kenwood where lunch happens, then Deerfield Ranch Winery. All three tastings are seated, and each is scheduled for about an hour.
Deerfield is the one to know about in advance. Its tastings are poured inside a wine cave that the winery itself measures at 23,000 square feet, dug into the hill off Highway 12.
The operator reserves the right to change the route for weather, traffic or road conditions, and its own page describes the three stops by character, without naming them.
What You Still Pay After Booking
Three separate costs land on the day.
- Tasting fees at each winery. The operator says you get its discounted pricing and puts that at typically USD 25 per winery, one payment at each of the three stops. The booking page adds that some fees can be waived if you buy a bottle.
- Lunch at the Italian winery. The booking page puts it at roughly USD 10 to 20.
- A tip for the guide, who is also the driver. The operator's terms state that listed prices do not include a gratuity, and its FAQ puts the customary amount at 15 to 20 percent of the tour cost.
None of this is hidden. All of it is easy to leave out of the budget.
Who Gets On, and What to Wear
This is a 21 and over day. The operator states that directly for the wine tasting, and the booking form sells adult places only.
Two rules catch people out. Closed-toe shoes are required, with no high heels, clogs or sandals, and luggage stays behind. A small backpack or handbag is fine as long as it fits on your lap or under your legs.
The shared departure needs four people to run. If a date falls short of that, the operator can cancel after confirming and will offer an alternative or a full refund. Confirmation is manual, and a booking is not live the second you pay. Everyone on board completes a digital waiver before the day. Guide languages listed on the booking page are English and Traditional Chinese.
Cancellation on this booking is straightforward. Cancel at least twenty-four hours before the scheduled departure and the refund is full.
The bus returns to the same curb it left from, Union Square or Fisherman's Wharf. Both of those corners put you inside walking distance of dinner.