Sonoma Wine Country Weekend

• Held Friday afternoon through Sunday of Labor Day weekend (weekend preceding the first Monday in September)
• Sonoma Wine Country Weekend website
• Admission is charged and prices are in line with food and wine events of similar quality

All events are held at wineries in the Sonoma area. Taste of Sonoma and the auction take place under canopies on the grounds of one of the larger ones.

Taste of Sonoma is the busiest event, with lots of people and occasional human traffic jams form around popular stops, but it's not overcrowded.

Lunch and dinner events are limited to seating available and most sell out, but they feel intimate even when full to capacity.

The auction is busy, but attendance is limited.

• Round-trip shuttle transportation to Taste of Sonoma is offered from selected area hotels for a reasonable fee. You'll find the details on the website.

• Pace yourself. One event per day is more than enough. Use the rest of the time for a nap or a walk. You'll need it.

• Weather can be very hot during the day at Taste of Sonoma, but chilly by evening and some dinners are served outdoors. Check the forecast and dress to match it.

• We'd urge you to adopt winemakers' habits and spit after you sip, but to be honest, we're not going to do it. Instead try for moderation, share with a friend or pour out all but a sip.

Choose your events according to your style for maximum fun. If you're a grazer who likes to try a bit of this and a sip of that, Taste of Sonoma is for you. If you'd rather sit down to a meal planned to showcase some fine wines, try a winemaker lunch or dinner.

Packages for sale at the auction often include items besides lodging and selling prices are high, with the proceeds going to charity. We think this event is better for Sonoma locals than for out-of-town visitors.

Events are held at wineries around the county, but centering around the towns of Sonoma and Healdsburg.

If you can recruit a designated driver, Taste of Sonoma is an easy day trip from Sacramento or anywhere in the Bay Area. There are plenty of places to stay in Sonoma County and some offer special wine weekend packages, which are listed on the event website or use our tips to find a place to stay in Sonoma.

The Sonoma Wine Country Weekend is a high-end event similar to the Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival. Prices for Taste of Sonoma and winemaker dinners rival what you'd pay for a meal at Cyrus or for wine tasting at a handful of high-end wineries. Here's the lowdown on each of the three kinds of experiences:

• Taste of Sonoma: You'll get the maximum sampling for your money by attending this event, with your appetite and capacity for alcohol the only limit. In 2010, 150 wineries and over 60 local chefs participated. Besides the food and wine, you can also enjoy wine-tasting seminars, cooking demonstrations and vineyard tours. We especially liked the grouping by region and food/wine pairing stations set up next to each other. Sommelier tours (extra cost) can help you make sense of all the choices. However, don't expect to celebrity chefs or winemakers and servers are often too busy to do more than just say the name of the item they're serving.

• Lunches and Dinners: These events sell out well ahead of time. Lunches are offered on Friday and dinners are held Friday and Saturday nights. The lineup changes every year, but past offerings have included Chef Joe Reuter of The GreenGrocer cooking fresh produce from the garden at biodynamic winery Quivira, a pinot noir varietal dinner hosted by a group of winemakers, authentic Italian dinners in winery owners' homes and meals served in winery caves.

• Sonoma Valley Harvest Wine Auction: You could buy a case of moderately expensive wine with the admission fee for this event and it would take thousands of dollars to win any of the packages on auction. The price of admission includes a multi-course meal at a table hosted by a local winemaker or grower.

^{As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary admission for the purpose of reviewing the Sonoma Wine Country Weekend. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.}