Getting Around Napa Wineries Safely: Why Uber Fails Up-Valley, Hiring a Driver & VINE Bus Route 10

Read this section carefully before your first tasting day: California strictly enforces a 0.08% Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) drink-driving limit, and Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail are heavily patrolled. Because three winery tastings pour the equivalent of 2.5 to 3 full glasses of high-alcohol (14.5% to 15.5%) Napa wine, planning how you will get between wineries is the single most important logistics step of your trip.

1. Crucial Warning: Why You Should Never Rely on Uber or Lyft North of Yountville

First-time visitors assume they can call an Uber from winery to winery all day. Here is what actually happens in Napa Valley:

• Getting an Uber Out of Downtown Napa or Yountville in the Morning Works, but Late Afternoon Pickups Up-Valley Often Fail: once you go north of Yountville (into Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena, Calistoga or up any hillside canyon road like Spring Mountain or Howell Mountain), mobile reception drops to zero, drivers rarely wait around rural vineyards, and when 200 wineries close at the same time in the late afternoon, you can be left stranded in a vineyard driveway with no cars available.

2. The 4 Smartest Ways to Visit Wineries Without Driving Yourself

1. Hire a Licensed 'Designated Driver' to Drive Your Hire Car: already have a hire car or SUV? Companies like WeDrive, Napa Drivers and Dryver send an insured, background-checked professional local driver to meet you at your hotel and chauffeur you in the comfort of your own hire car for the day at less than half the cost of a private SUV charter (check official operator sites for hourly rates).
2. Group Tours, Ride the Napa Valley Wine Trolley or 'Platypus Wine Tours': Platypus Wine Tours runs social small-group van tours to 3 family-owned boutique wineries with a picnic lunch included.
3. Car-Free E-Biking Along the Napa Valley Vine Trail (Napa to Yountville or St. Helena to Calistoga).
4. Public 'VINE Bus Route 10': runs straight up and down Highway 29 every 30 to 60 minutes from Downtown Napa through Yountville, Oakville (Mondavi and Opus One), Rutherford (Inglenook), St. Helena (V. Sattui and Beringer) and Calistoga.