Napa Valley parks where wine is allowed

St. Helena

A working 1840s water-powered grist mill on a wooded creekside site just north of St. Helena, now a state historic park operated by the Napa County Regional Park & Open Space District with the Napa Valley State Parks Association. Weekend visitors can watch the miller grind grain, buy stone-ground flour and picnic at tables around the mill.

St. Helena

Crane Park is where St. Helena locals hold birthday picnics and bocce afternoons, and city code allows beer and wine. Reserve a picnic area and a couple of lighted bocce courts for a group. On summer Fridays the farmers market sets up here.

St. Helena

Lyman Park is St. Helena's Main Street green: pick up picnic supplies downtown and eat at a table by the gazebo. City code allows beer and wine until 8 p.m. It's the most convenient legal spot for a picnic with a bottle in the up-valley's walkable downtown.

Yountville

A 73-acre ecological reserve just east of Yountville, owned by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and stewarded since 2008 by the Napa County Regional Park & Open Space District. It protects one of the valley's last stands of valley oak riverside forest; locals come for short river walks, birding and summer swims, making it a no-frills blanket picnic spot.

Yountville

Yountville's downtown park combines a picnic with bocce, and town code allows beer and wine here. It's on Washington Street, so you can walk over with a bottle from a tasting room and a takeout lunch. Book Site 5 and the bocce courts for a group of up to about 75.

Yountville

Vineyard Park is about as wine-country as a free public picnic gets: a quiet lawn with vineyard and Stags Leap views, where town code lets you open a bottle of wine. There are only a few tables, so bring a blanket.

Lake Berryessa

The main public day-use area on Lake Berryessa's west shore, run by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation about 8 miles up Knoxville Road from Highway 128. It combines lakeside picnic sites with grills, drinking water and restrooms, reservable group shade shelters and swimming beaches.

Lake Berryessa

One of the two large day-use areas the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation runs on Lake Berryessa's west shore, a short drive north of Oak Shores on Knoxville Road. It is a smaller, lower-key alternative for a lakeside picnic, with restrooms, trailheads and easy paths down to quiet coves.

Calistoga

A wooded state park on Highway 29 between St. Helena and Calistoga, run by the Napa County Regional Park & Open Space District under an operating agreement with California State Parks. It offers one of the few large public picnic grounds in the upper Napa Valley, with grills, a reservable group ramada, a summer pool, camping and more than 10 miles of trails.