Guide
When to Visit American Wine Country
Vineyards look their best in October and their worst in February, but the best month to visit depends on what you want: empty tasting rooms, warm weather, the harvest crush, or a bargain on a hotel. Here is the calendar, region by region.
Spring: March to May
The vines bud, the hills are green and the crowds have not arrived. This is the best season for Texas, where the Hill Country wildflowers peak in April and summer is brutally hot; for Arizona and New Mexico for the same reason; and for Napa and Sonoma, where mustard flowers fill the rows in March. The Pacific Northwest is still wet until May.
Summer: June to August
Peak season on the coasts and in the north. The Willamette Valley, Finger Lakes, Michigan, New England and Colorado are at their best, with long evenings and winery concerts. Napa and Sonoma are hot and expensive. Inland California, Texas and the desert Southwest are too hot for a pleasant afternoon of tasting.
Harvest: September and October
The most photogenic time and the most crowded. You will see grapes on the vine, trucks in the driveway and fermenting must in the cellar, and a few wineries offer harvest experiences. The trade-off is that winemakers are working eighteen-hour days, tasting rooms run on skeleton staff, and rooms in Napa, Healdsburg and Walla Walla sell out months ahead. If you want the colours without the crowds, the second half of October is calmer than the first half of September almost everywhere, and autumn in Virginia, North Carolina and north Georgia is the year’s highlight.
Late autumn and winter: November to February
Quiet, cheap and in some places closed. West Coast tasting rooms stay open year round with shorter hours, and this is the best time to actually talk to a winemaker. Cabernet season in Napa, the Thanksgiving open houses in Oregon and the Finger Lakes, and ice-wine harvests in Michigan and New York in January are worth the cold. Many wineries in the Midwest, New England and the mountains drop to weekends only or close from January to March; check hours before driving.
Days of the week
Wednesday and Thursday are the quietest days everywhere and the days you are most likely to get a walk-in tasting at a busy winery. Saturday is the busiest; Sunday afternoons empty out early. Many small producers, especially east of the Rockies, are closed Monday and Tuesday.
Whatever the month, the winery map and the state guides give you the winery’s own website, where its current hours are the only ones worth trusting.
Frequently Asked Questions
When to Visit American Wine Country: where does this information come from?
Winery counts and locations come from the federal TTB permit list and each producer's own website. Nothing on this page is a paid placement and we publish no ratings.
Find the wineries
Every producer in the country is on the map, with the address, phone and website we could confirm.