If you are visiting the Napa & Sonoma this site is a great resource for you. We provide tours of Wine Countryand San Francisco, and we create Tour Books and I Phone Apps that can help you enjoy the area and navigate our country roads safely. This site is filled with information that will help you plan your trip; wineries, restaurants and lodgings.
For most of our customtours we drive SUV's, while sharing stories and insights about what makes this place special. Our prices are reasonable and competitive, starting at $65 per hour, depending on the number in the party and the starting location. There are no hidden, added fees (that are common with most large companies), so keep that in mind when you compare prices.
Booking a Wine Country or City Tour
When you book a tour we need to know about your interests, so that we can tailor the day to what you are going to find most interesting. In fact, that's the secret to why we do such a great wine tour; there are hundreds of wineries, but we select those that we believe the clients are going to find the most enriching, no matter how far off the beaten path they might be.
To check to see if we are available on the dates when you are visiting please call; 707-235-2648 office, or 707-235-2364 Ralph's cell, Pacific Time, or use the form below.
A Great Winery Tour Book &iPhoneApp
Our newest tour book, the 'Amicis Winery Guides: Dream Tours of Napa & Sonoma' is a 'must have' if you are visiting this area. It explains the secrets to enjoying an excellent and safe wine tour. To help plan your trip the Amicis Tours page provides a directory of our 'trip planning' resources, including lists of hotels, restaurants and wineries, along with our personal evaluations.
Our iPhone App, the Napa Valley Wine Tour, is available at two levels; the Standard Edition and Premium Edition. For the first or second time visitor the Standard Edition provides insider views of thirty of the most popular wineries that do a great job at hospitality and three tours that connect the dots together. Both editions include helpful, short articles about enjoying wine country. The Premium Edition, which is in the works, includes over two hundred wineries and twenty tours, as well as notated directories of lodgings and restaurants in the area. Find the Napa Valley Wine Tour at the iPhone App Store.
Professional Speaking
We first came to San Francisco as Professional Speakers, and took a few days off to visit wine country. We were so charmed that we told the kids to send the clothes and rent the house because we didn't want to leave. Originally we were writing a book about winery buildings, since that fit in with our speaking work as environmental experts. But, we quickly realized that the area didn't have a good winery tour book, so we wrote that instead. After writing three we know why no one else has taken the time to put a real tour book together; you need to be a tour guide and limo driver. That what we did, initially working for other companies, and eventually starting our own tour company, Amicis Tours.
Motivation in Three Dimensions
We lead workshops on two subjects; the Motivated Desk and Motivated Health. Our presentation, Dr. Ralph's Ergonomic Workplace Quiz shows how to quickly improve personal and team performance while minimizing people's resistance to positive change.This fun and educational presentation rolls across the stage as if Gene Kelly ran a furniture moving company. The motion and interaction transmits the information on multiple levels keeping the audience so engaged that they leave with ready to use tools that can translate into immediate improvements. Our Motivated Health presentations provide strategies and natural solutions for many of today's most common health challenges.
Cuore Libre Publishing
This is our catalog of more than a dozen books on Wine Country Travel, Motivated Design, and Natural Healing. Our philosophy is that books should be like friends, helpful, truthful and resourceful. Visit our Book Catalog to see the complete selection.
Pride Mountain Vineyards
Wine Country Touring Tips: We normally tour Napa and Sonoma in a very comfortable Lincoln Navigator that seats up to six passengers or a GMC Envoy that seats up to four passengers, although we often drive couples. A winery day trip starts at 9 or 10 in the morning. Wineries close between 4 and 6 pm. Tours run from 4 to 10 hours depending on starting point, meals and interests. An average winery tour without dinner is 6 hours. From San Francisco to Napa or Sonoma takes 45 minutes.
Allow one hour per winery (including travel between them), an hour to picnic. Private tastings with the owner or winemaker take longer as do lunch in restaurants. When you contact us we'll send you a short list of questions (very short) that helps us plan your tour.
We accommodate larger groups, and work in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German and French. Call us at 707-235-2648 or email us to schedule your tour. Amicis Winery Tours TCP#23123. Below the next ph0to are some things you should know about Wine Country!
First of all, Napa and Sonoma are stunning no matter what time of year you visit. In the summer it looks like Tuscany, gold and green, and in the winter it looks like Ireland, misty and verdant. Then there is the lovely climate (about ten to fifteen degrees warmer than San Francisco), the great architecture and gardens, the fantastic food and the friendly people.
All of these would be reason enough to visit, but on top of that there are the wineries and of course, the wine, some of the finest in the world, and you get to see actual vineyards that those wines come from and meet the people who make them! Our books and guided tours are all designed to help you enjoy your visit to the fullest while learning about this wonderful area and this wonderful art! Wine Country can be tricky though, with lots of country roads, not a lot of road signs or street lights, hundreds of wineries, lots of hotels and restaurants and a wide variety of wines spread over two large, agricultural counties, bisected by a mountain range. That's why experienced guides and drivers are a great investment in your enjoyment and safety (think about avoiding a costly DUI) and they make all the difference in the memories that you bring home. By the way, remember to bring a camera and sunglasses because there is lots of beautiful scenery and very bright sun!
About the bestselling tour book, ‘Your Day in Wine Country, Touring the Wineries of Napa and Sonoma’. We have rebranded it as the Amicis Winery Guide: Dream Tours of Napa & Sonoma. It offers a complete description of what goes into a typical tour, with all of the things you’ll need to know to feel right at home. That is followed by 40 of our favorite tours, based on their starting point, theme and cost of tasting fees. It is really a 'connect-the-dots' guide for navigating between wineries, picnic spots, restaurants, gift shops and of course, more wineries! Filled with self-driven, safe tours that have been road tested by professionals, you get all the fun without the fuss.
It is also chock full of maps that show where to find the best wineries in both Napa and Sonoma. The directory section includes over 450 wineries with their pertinent information that you want such as tasting room hours, tasting fees and wine lists as well as any added features like if they have gift shops, picnic areas, art collections, gardens, views, tours and more. If we are not available to set up your tour, this book will help you to create your own daytrip with confidence! Call us at 707-235-2648 (Pacific Time) to order your autographed copy, or go to the Books link. Or email us to schedule a tour. Amicis Winery Tours of Napa, Sonoma or San Francisco.
Rose Arbor at Nickel Winery
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are talented professional speakers who have been lecturing together since the early 1990's in several fields; Wine Tourism, Natural Healing, Motivated Design and Business. They primarily do presentations in the San Francisco Bay area, because they already live in Paradise and why would they want to leave? They also have a large, extended family that gets nervous when they are away too long. To read about their work as Speakers click here.
Lahni & Ralph de Amicis
Sebastiani Winery Sonoma
Call 707-235-2648 for Tours, Books & Talks Copyright Ralph & Lahni de Amicis 2009 All tasting fees, hours, wine lists, etc are subject to change.
