Not all California wineries charge for their tours and tastings. Famous names like Frog's Leap, Caymus and Frank Family Vineyards make no charge to visiting wine-lovers

Visiting California's wine country can be expensive, especially popular areas like Napa Valley and Sonoma County. There are many good hotels and gourmet restaurants, and quality doesn't come cheap. In Napa Valley as in life: you get what you pay for.

Many of the wineries also charge to tour the vineyards and sample their wines at a wine tasting. In some cases this is a nominal $5 or so, but it can be $10 or more. For some wineries tourism is now as much a part of their business as wine-making. Others prefer to keep visiting low-key and concentrate on what matters: turning grapes into good wine.

Some California vineyard tours offer good value-for-money, but not all of them. If you're paying $10 and only getting a splash of wine, think about it. You're paying to try a variety of wines, but four or five splashes don't amount to much in terms of the wine consumed. You'd be better off spending your ten bucks on a bottle. If that happens two or three times during your California wine country tour, well – you could buy a pretty good bottle of wine for $30 at cellar-door prices.

Free Wine Country Tours and Tastings

Here are some of the vineyards that offer free tastings or tours, but remember that sometimes you have to make an appointment:

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CAYMUS VINEYARDS

87005 Conn Creek Road, Rutherford, CA 94573

Tel: (707) 967-3010

Open: daily 10-4

Free tastings in this Napa Valley vineyard are by appointment only, so phone to make a booking. The winery was founded in 1971 although the family has been in the Napa Valley for generations. A very small and highly-prized production.

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FRANK FAMILY VINEYARDS

1091 Larkmead Lane. Calistoga, CA 94515

Tel: (800) 574-9463

Open: daily 10-5

Dates back to 1884 and is on the National Register of Historical Places, so plenty of local and vineyard history with your free tour and tasting.

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FROG'S LEAP WINERY

8815 Conn Creek Road, Rutherford, CA 94573

Tel: (800) 959-4704

Open: Monday-Saturday 10-4

You can stop by here any time they're open, but you should make a reservation for a tour or a tasting. Click here to email them.

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V. SATTUI WINERY

1111 White Lane, St. Helena, CA 94574

Tel: (707) 963-7774

Open: daily 9-6 (9-5 in winter)

In St. Helena, the heart of Napa Valley, and recently voted Best Winery in California in one poll. The vineyard dates back to 1885, and their wines have won many awards. You can only buy them at the winery or by mail order or from their website, and there's also a large gourmet deli and cheese shop, and picnic grounds.

UPDATE:

Thanks to the good folks at the Cheers2Wine website for adding that Sattui recently introduced a $5 wine-tasting fee.

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