re: Napa Valley / Sonoma

You have to book in advance a week or two. I would recommend Opus One, Cakebread, Caymus, and Duckhorn. Cakebread, Caymus, and Duckhorn have REALLY nice tours with wine and cheese pairings at the end. Plus, one of the tour guides at Duckhorn is from Baton Rouge and a Tigers fan.

You can walk in to Silver Oak just about any time and taste wine. You have to book the tours, but to taste, you just walk up to the bar.

You can't go wrong with the Thomas Keller restaurants. Check out Addendum if you can. It's behind Bouchon and has the best fried chicken I've ever tasted. Obvi, try to get a reservation at The French Laundry. These are all in Yountville, which is like a 10 minute drive down that highway, and well worth it.

Also, Michael Chiarello's Bottega is very good and located in Napa. You'll need a reservation.