Explore two bucket-list wine regions on this road trip in the US.
From renowned wineries and quirky towns to thermal springs and even a medieval castle, Highway 128 is the dream road trip through California's leading wine regions. Starting about two hours' drive north of San Francisco, the "Wine Road" hits the highlights of the Napa and Sonoma valleys before a final stretch following wild coastline to Mendocino village perched high on ocean bluffs. Here's how to make the most of this hidden gem among California's highways.
NESTLE INTO NAPA
The next day Corinne's words ring in my ears when the waiter at Napa institution Mustards Grill hands me the longest wine list I've ever seen - well over 100 varietals mostly from Napa and Sonoma printed on a single laminated poster-sized sheet aptly entitled "Way Too Many Wines". The Napa Valley is best known for high quality cabernet sauvignon. But the terroir supports so many other equally stunning wines, like the premium white we're handed on arrival at Beringer Vineyards. Founded in 1876, Beringer is Napa's longest continuously operating winery, producing more than 30 different wines. "If cabernet is the king of Napa's grapes, then chardonnay is the queen," quips our guide as we follow him past flowering gardens and into the estate's Victorian-era "Rhine House" mansion to be treated to Beringer's best drops. Later, in the quaint rural town of Calistoga, we stop sipping and start soaking in Napa's other famous liquid: the warm waters of its numerous natural thermal springs, which fill all three swimming pools at our retro boutique motel Dr Wilkinson's Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs.