Savannah → Atlanta → San Francisco → Napa → Sonoma
Like most good ideas, this one was born over a wine tasting at Wine Time, a restaurant right here in Bluffton. It was just the four of us that night: Tim and me, plus our neighbors Kim and Jay, who really know their wine. We worked our way through tastings, and somewhere in there the whole trip took shape. We threw out a loose date, and because Bob and Barb had been talking about doing something like this “one day,” we pulled them in too. Just like that, six of us were headed to wine country.
Kim and Jay knew Napa, but they’d never really spent time in Healdsburg, the corner of Sonoma I’ve come to know and love. Bob and Barb were new to the whole wine country area. So the mission was simple: show all of them why Sonoma County is the place to be. Tim and I built the plan from our own experience, folded in Kim’s suggestions, and lined up some amazing reservations. We’d done a trip like this back in 2023 with our friends from Florence, so we already knew how to do Sonoma as a party of six.
Which brings us to the day that began at an hour no vacation should ever begin.
5:30 a.m. Brutal.
The flight out of Savannah was early enough to feel like a punishment.
At the airport, the regular, Precheck, and Clear lines were all empty, right up until our group of six lined up for Precheck. I laughed and told Barb I have Clear but have never actually used it. Our six slowly trickled through TSA Pre-check until it was just me and Barb. Clear suddenly had sent a surge of people and we learned Clear>TSA Pre-check! I told the agent, cheerfully, that I have Clear too. She was not amused making me wait. When it was finally my turn, my bag got flagged for further inspection. A perfect start. Tim later reminded me this often happens to me while he sails through.
The plane was new and upgraded seats bit I am still trying to make “friends with them”, they don’t recline that much, so my neck still aches every time I tried to nap.
After a pit stop in Atlanta, we landed in San Francisco. Time to grab the Suburban and point it toward wine country.
A quick word on Napa (because everyone asks)
We aren’t spending our time in Napa, but we plan to stop in on the way to Sonoma. Everyone hears “wine country” and immediately pictures Napa.
Honestly, my whole wine-country education traces back to 2010, when Uncle Jim and Auntie Candy first started showing us the ropes. Uncle Jim is our family’s resident wine expert, and over the years he has steadily pushed our palates toward bigger, more challenging wines. As we’ve matured, we’ve learned to trust and truly appreciate their guidance. So when they steer us toward Sonoma, we go.
Sonoma County is nearly twice the size of Napa, with hundreds of wineries spread across more than a dozen distinct growing regions and something like 60 different grape varieties. We plan to focus on Dry Creek, Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley.
Napa, by contrast, is laser-focused on Cabernet and other Bordeaux reds, and that narrow focus doesn’t automatically make the wine better. It also comes with more of a tourist machine: bigger, high-volume wineries geared to visitors, more crowds, and traffic that backs up on its two main roads, with the popular tastings booking out well ahead. The standout spots are absolutely there, but they’re sprinkled in among a lot of touristy, built-for-crowds places you have to work around. Sonoma just feels more low-key, and more like the real thing.
Lunch: V. Sattui
First stop was V. Sattui, in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena. Our friend Steve told us it was his favorite spot, and when we looked into it, we realized it was close to our afternoon tasting, so we could stop for lunch.
We came specifically for the food, with the option to do a tasting too, but to our surprise the winery wouldn’t let us taste alongside our meal. So we followed their suggestion and bought lunch from their big market instead. We found a picnic table outside and shared a bottle of white and a bottle of red with our food. The weather was perfect and it all hit the spot.
At one point the Napa Wine Train rolled by, which sent us right back to 2010, when we actually rode it. Kim & Jay had a similar story. Here’s what people should know: it is not a charming little train that stops at wineries for tastings and pairings while you soak up the history of the winery & the valley. It’s a train with a lunch that happens to drive through Napa. At least that’s how it was when we went, so no, we don’t recommend it. I felt so strongly about the missed opportunity that I actually wrote the company an email about it. My Aunt and Uncle had warned us, naturally. We did it anyway. They were right. (A theme, it turns out.)
Afternoon: CADE, up on Howell Mountain
After lunch we wound our way up Howell Mountain to CADE Estate for a scheduled high end tasting with Kevin, who had a fantastic personality and walked us through the whole lineup like a pro.
CADE sits around 1,800 feet up, above the valley floor and above the fog line, and it’s one of the more environmentally minded estates in Napa: organically farmed, and the first LEED Gold certified winery in the valley.
We started with the whites. The Sauvignon Blancs come off the valley floor, a Napa Valley bottling and an Oakville one, both crisp and refreshing, and Kevin paired the white with a chocolate stuffed with passion fruit. We all liked the Napa Valley version more.
Then we moved to the reds, poured alongside a charcuterie board of cheeses, nuts, and dried fruit.
This is where CADE really shows off. The Cabernets are grown up on the mountain in volcanic soil, where cool days and warmer evenings give the grapes extra time on the vine, and that’s what builds their density, structure, and dark, concentrated fruit.
Here’s the fun detail we were told: you can read where the grapes were grown right off the bottle. The valley-floor Cabernet is written in lowercase, cade, while the Howell Mountain estate Cabernet is in capitals, CADE. Same name, different lettering, telling you exactly where the fruit came from.
Kevin also walked us through a couple of label tricks worth knowing. The word “estate” on the front of a bottle doesn’t actually guarantee anything, because a winery can just fold it into its name. The phrase you want is “estate bottled,” which is a regulated term: it means all the grapes were grown on land the winery owns or controls within the same region printed on the bottle, and the wine was made and bottled right there. It’s often tucked on the back label. And “reserve”? In the U.S. that word carries no legal meaning at all. It sounds impressive, but it’s really just marketing, and anyone can put it on a bottle.
I also loved Kevin’s own story. He spent his career in banking in NYC, was affected by 9-11 so when his daughter wanted to become a chef, the whole family moved out to California so she could chase it. She did, and somewhere along the way Kevin found his way into this, pouring wine up on the mountain as a kind of second-act retirement job. He clearly loves every minute of it, and it showed.
Kevin’s wife’s favorite wine quietly became ours, too. It’s the lowercase cade, the bottling from the valley floor rather than up on the mountain. You can’t find it anywhere else but at the Winery. Jay bought two bottles for us to enjoy later.
And because CADE and PlumpJack are family, Kim’s all-time favorite. Kim and Jay had been members before and signed right back up. We talked through the logistics of shipping in this heat and holding wine back until things cool off, and we learned you really can’t just walk into most places anymore. You need an appointment now. The views up there were stunning. A genuinely lovely afternoon.
Our favorites were the CADE Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley and the cade Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. We give this a two thumbs up. High end wine but so worth it!
On to Healdsburg
From there we pointed the Suburban toward Healdsburg, home base for the next five nights, down off Howell Mountain and over the winding back roads that connect Napa and Sonoma, curve after curve.
We checked into The Lodge at Healdsburg, a tried-and-true spot we’ve stayed at before that’s since been converted to a Hilton, and thankfully kept every bit of its charm.
Then a surprise: Auntie Candy and Uncle Jim drove out to spend the night with us, and promptly made the same mistake we made back in 2023, booking the Dry Creek Inn next door, which is just not quite the Lodge.
Dinner: Bravas Bar de Tapas
We ended the day at Bravas Bar de Tapas on the Healdsburg plaza, and had fun working through the small plates. It was a reminder of our trip to Spain last year. The gazpacho was great, the chicken croquettes were enjoyed as well as the shishito peppers with chorizo sausage were a standout too. The cool, dry night caught us all off guard after the heat of the day. Everyone ordered a variety of drinks, I ordered Cava sangria because you really can’t skip it at a Spanish restaurant.
Candy and Jim mentioned they’d tried to pop into Ridge for a tasting and were turned away. No more walk-ins there either. A lot has changed in just a few years.
One day down. Nine to go. 🍷
Happiness is Possible 