Napa Valley Picnic Day: The Wineries & Parks That Allow It

Napa Valley is the hardest part of wine country for a picnic. Only about two dozen wineries in Napa County let you bring your own food in any form, usually with a reservation and a tasting, because county permits tightly limit what wineries can offer (our guide to bringing food to wineries explains why). The day still works if you plan around it: stock up at Oakville Grocery, eat lunch with an outdoor tasting at Napa Cellars just down the road, stroll St. Helena's Main Street, and spend the late afternoon under the trees at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.

Rules, hours and fees below are as of September 2026. Book the tasting at Napa Cellars before you go.

The route at a glance

• 11 a.m. Buy lunch at Oakville Grocery.
• 11:30 a.m. Picnic with an outdoor tasting at Napa Cellars, a minute down Highway 29.
• 2 p.m. St. Helena's Main Street and Lyman Park, about 15 minutes' drive.
• 3:30 p.m. Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, about 10 minutes, until sunset.

Drive times are estimates, so leave some slack, and plan on a designated driver.

Late morning: stock up at Oakville Grocery

Oakville Grocery has been selling provisions on Highway 29 since 1881 and is the classic place to assemble a Napa picnic: sandwiches, wood-fired pizza, cheese and more than 200 Napa and Sonoma wines. It opens at 7 a.m. daily and closes at 5 p.m. (6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays). Its own patio tables are for customers, so you can also simply eat there.

Starting in Yountville instead? Bouchon Bakery makes sandwiches in-house every day, opens at 7 a.m., and takes online orders so you can skip the line.

Lunch: an outdoor tasting and your own picnic at Napa Cellars

Napa Cellars, just down the highway from the grocery, openly encourages you to bring food to an outdoor tasting. Tables sit in a tree-lined garden beside the vines, with a mix of sun and shade and lawn games.

The rules:

• Book a tasting (from $40 per person) to sit at the picnic tables. Reservations are recommended; walk-ins are seated as space allows.
• It's open Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• No outside alcohol. Call ahead for groups larger than seven.
• Dogs are welcome in the gardens and even get a free treat pack.

Rather not pack anything? Napa Cellars' Vineyard Box Lunch & Wine Experience ($85 per person, two to six guests) pairs a tasting with an Oakville Grocery picnic lunch; you can cancel up to 72 hours ahead.

On a Tuesday or Wednesday, book Pestoni Family Estate Winery in Rutherford instead. Its picnic lawn is free for guests enjoying its wines, the $45 Heritage Tasting is poured right on the picnic grounds, and kids and leashed dogs are welcome. Tables are limited to two hours, and you bring your own plates and cutlery.

Early afternoon: St. Helena's Main Street

Drive about 15 minutes north to St. Helena. Pick up dessert or coffee at The Model Bakery, known for its English muffins, then sit by the gazebo in Lyman Park, a small green right on Main Street.

St. Helena allows beer and wine, but not spirits, in its city parks, with two catches: no alcohol at all in Lyman Park from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and open containers aren't allowed on the streets, sidewalks or parking lots on the way. For a bigger group, Crane Park south of downtown has reservable picnic areas (one covered) and eight bocce courts.

Late afternoon: Bothe-Napa Valley State Park

About 10 minutes north on Highway 29, Bothe-Napa Valley State Park has one of the few large public picnic grounds in the upper valley: roughly 50 tables with barbecue stoves under mature shade trees along Ritchey Creek, with redwood trails a few steps away.

• Fee: $10 per vehicle ($8 for seniors); free if you walk or bike in.
• Hours: day use 8 a.m. to sunset.
• Alcohol: allowed unless posted, under state park rules. No ban is listed for Bothe, but check the signs at the kiosk.
• Fires: wood fires are banned during fire season (from July 13, 2026 until the fall rains); charcoal and propane are fine.
• Dogs: leashed in the picnic area, campground and roads, never on trails.

On a weekend, stop on the way at Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park, about 5 minutes before Bothe, where a restored 1840s mill still grinds grain on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It has a few picnic tables around the mill; leave dogs at home. The 1.1-mile History Trail links it to Bothe's picnic grounds.

Staying in Yountville? A park picnic with wine

Yountville is one of the few Napa Valley towns that lets you open a bottle at a picnic: town code allows beer and wine in four parks. Vineyard Park, on the east side of town, is a quiet lawn with a few tables and views over vineyards to the Stags Leap hills; bring a blanket. Veterans Memorial Park on Washington Street adds bocce courts. Both are free and open sunrise to sunset. The town's dog rules are unclear, so check before bringing one.

Other Napa wineries that allow a picnic

• Rombauer Vineyards: gardens on a knoll above the Silverado Trail where you can picnic with wine by the glass or bottle (no picnic fee), or book a $25 outdoor tasting. Walk-ins are seated as space allows, but reserve for a guaranteed spot; garden seating takes groups of up to 20. Outside food is outdoors only, and leashed dogs are welcome outdoors.
• Rutherford Hill Winery: an oak grove above the valley floor for your own lunch, with a minimum bottle purchase.
• Honig Vineyard & Winery: a first-come picnic area in Rutherford; tastings are by appointment.
• Frank Family Vineyards, near Bothe: a reserved private table under old elms for 90 minutes ($25 per guest, adults only, no pets). Confirm it's still offered when you book.

What to book ahead

• Napa Cellars tasting (or Pestoni on Tuesday and Wednesday), a few days ahead for weekends.
• Rombauer or Frank Family if you'd rather picnic there.
• Bothe's covered group ramada, by phone at (707) 942-4575, for a larger party.

Rainy day or no reservation

V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena is the fallback for both. You can't bring food or wine in, but its deli sells sandwiches, salads, house-cured salumi and close to 300 cheeses, the picnic grounds need no reservation, and on rainy days it sets up tables inside the underground barrel room. The grounds are open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Without a booking on a dry day, the Yountville and St. Helena parks and Bothe's tables are all first-come.

Wineries and parks that say no

Castello di Amorosa, Cakebread, Inglenook, Mumm Napa and Charles Krug don't allow picnics or outside food. Frog's Leap can't either, and sends picnickers to Bothe or Crane Park. In the parks, Calistoga bans alcohol in its city parks, including Pioneer Park, and City of Napa parks allow it only with a permit at a reserved site.