Platypus Wine Tours
Historic winery directory
Historic wineries of the sonoma valley
The beautiful and historic Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of California’s wine industry. In this unique tour, an expert local historian will accompany your group as we taste delicious wine at two or three Historic Wineries. We will also tour the Historic Sonoma Plaza, the San Francisco Solano Mission and the Sonoma Barracks. Your local historian guide will provide a comprehensive overview of local history, and tell amazing stories of wine families and viticulture, along with tales of General Vallejo and the Mission era.
Lunch included; tasting/touring fees and gratuitites extra.
Buena Vista Winery
Founded by Count Agosthon Haraszthy in 1857, Buena Vista is the oldest premium winery in California. The original stone winery is now a California Historic Landmark, and home to the Tasting Room and Visitor’s Center. You will hear the amazing story of Count Haraszthy, the first Hungarian to emigrate to the United States. In 1861 the Count journeyed to Europe and returned to California with over 100,000 cuttings of fine European varietals. Buena Vista now uses exclusively Carneros district fruit, and is the largest vineyard owner in this chosen “cool-climate” region; perfect for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Extraordinary wine.
Gundlach-Bundschu Winery
2008 marks the Gundlach Bundschu Sesquicentennial – the 150th Anniversary of the oldest family-owned winery in California. The founder: Jacob Gundlach, was a well-known author and poet, whose letters about the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire are regarded as the finest original accounts of this disaster. You will hear his story, and taste delicious estate grown wine in a glorious winery setting, nestled up against the Mayacamas Mountains.
Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery
The history of Sebastiani Vineyards extends all the way back to 1825, when its Mission Vineyard was founded by Franciscan fathers of the nearby San Francisco Solano Mission. It is the oldest vineyard north of San Francisco. Still family owned and operated today, Sebastiani Winery was founded by Samuele Sebastiani in 1904. We will visit the original stone winery building, taste wonderful wine, and view the largest redwood barrel in the world!
Bartholemew Park Winery
Currently owned by Gundlach-Bundschu, Bartholemew Park was part of Count Haraszthy’s wine empire. We will tour the comprehensive history museum, taste delicious vineyard-specific wine, and enjoy the extensive gardens surrounding the tasting room.
Sonoma Plaza and San Francisco Solano Mission
No history tour would be complete without a stop at the beautiful and historic Sonoma Plaza, and a tour of the 21st Mission. Many original adobe buildings still line the Plaza, the largest in California. Renowned as the “Bear Flag City,” you will hear the true story of the Bear Flag Revolt. We will also tour Sonoma State Historic Park, which includes the San Francisco Solano Mission and Sonoma Barracks.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
More information about our custom tours can be found on our Private Wine Tours FAQ page.
Platypus Tours also offers Hispanic Winery Tours.
Noble Vines
George and Patricia Noble, and winemaker David Lattin, are dedicated to producing the best Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah from ultra-premium vineyards. By sourcing from different Napa Valley appellations—St. Helena, Rutherford Bench, Atlas Peak, and other Napa Valley hillside vineyards, including the Pritchard Hill area—they are able to hand-select lots that they know will deliver high quality and perfect ripeness for each vintage.
Notre Vue
Notre Vue Estate & Winery is a stunning 710-acre property located just south of Healdsburg, bordering the town of Windsor. They’re proud to be a certified Sustainable Vineyard and Winery, crafting top-quality wines from their estate vineyards, which sit across two renowned viticultural appellations: Russian River Valley and Chalk Hill in Sonoma County.
O’Brien Family Estate
The O’Brien’s purchased this property in 2000 which was an existing winery dating back to 1978. A small boutique winery of 40 acres located in the Oak Knoll District of North Napa, known for their romantic, poetic themed wines. It is a pleasant driveway leading to the winery where olive trees line up and their vineyards are in full view. Tastings are held either outdoors on the lawn overlooking the vineyards or in their indoor tasting room where you can get a full history on these romantic wines!
O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery
In Napa, Betty fell in love with the beauty of the land, the vineyards, and the climate. In 1990, she landed in Oakville with a parcel of land, including vineyards and a home site. Betty reconnected with her deep-rooted appreciation of the soil and the bounties it brings. Over the next few years, additional vineyards on Howell Mountain and Mount Veeder added to the source available for varieties of grapes. The new century brought a cave, grapes crushed into wine and a design for a winery structure. The project completed in time for the harvest of 2003.
Odette Estate
The Odette Estate was founded by three individual partners, Gordon Getty, Gavin Newsom, and John Conover, part of the PlumpJack Group which purchased it in 2012. Odette is located in the Stag’s Leap district just east of the Silverado Trail. The property has been renovated to display a chic and modern design in their hospitality center and is one of only a few wineries to boast a living green roof planted to grasses and plants as well as solar panels. They are known for their red wines, they boast 18,000 feet of caves, and a beautiful lounge which encompasses their stellar views. This is a winery not to be missed!
Opus One
Hand-crafted wines from the Harris Family Vineyards in the heart of the Oakville appellation in Napa Valley. Tireless advocates of eco-friendly farming and enviormental stewarship. Famed winemaker Heidi Barrett has been producing the wines since 1991.The essence of time is expressed in Opus One by the character of each vintage. Place, often defined as terroir, represents the geography, the climate and the essential human element which is captured in the wine’s balance between power and finesse, structure and texture.
Orin Swift Cellars
The history of Orin Swift Cellars dates back to 1995 when on a lark, David Swift Phinney took a friend up on an offer and went to Florence, Italy to spend a semester “studying”. During that time, he was introduced to wine, how it was made, and got hooked. A few more years of university led to graduation and eventually a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. Deciding that if he was going to work this hard, it would eventually have to be for himself, he founded Orin Swift Cellars in 1998; Orin is his father’s middle name and Swift is his mother’s maiden name. With two tons of zinfandel and not much else, he spent the next decade making wine for others as well as himself and grew the brand to what it is today.
Outpost Wines
Outpost was established in 1998 with the vision of producing wines that are a living, breathing embodiment of this magical place. Truly one of the world’s great Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel growing regions, the unique terroir of the Outpost vineyards – the hard, rocky red soil, high altitude, gentle cooling breezes and sunny western exposure – produces fruit of incredible intensity and richness, with a distinctive spice you simply cannot find anywhere else.
Palmaz Vineyards
Palmaz Vineyards is a family-owned and -operated gravity-flow, gravity-finish winery and historic estate at the southern end of Napa Valley. The estates centerpiece is the Cave, an 18-story, 100,000-square-foot subterranean winery that required seven years to complete. There, the family combines the latest technology with time-honored craftsmanship to make, among much else, their signature Palmaz Cabernet Sauvignon.
Paloma Vineyard
The property is located five miles northwest of St. Helena at the top of Spring Mountain. In the last half of the 19th century it was a vineyard, but was allowed to return to forest around the turn of the century. The purchase of this raw land was the beginning of an odyssey that is ongoing, ever changing, but with one goal—to grow the best grapes possible and make a wine that reflects the terroir of Paloma Vineyard, Spring Mountain and Napa. They were rewarded for strength and determination, receiving the Wine Spectaor’s 2003 TOP PICK over 15,000 other wines from around the world.
Paoletti
All the grapes used for producing premium Bordeaux blends and Super Tuscan wines are grown on the 36 acre estate. Built in 1989, the caves contain a unique collection of Carrera marble statues.
Paradigm
Hand-crafted wines from the Harris Family Vineyards in the heart of the Oakville appellation in Napa Valley. Tireless advocates of eco-friendly farming and enviormental stewarship. Famed winermaker Heidi Barrett has been producing the wines since 1991
