Not Allowing Kids in the Tasting Room

In some areas, like Napa and Sonoma, kids aren't always welcome in the wineries. This might come as a bit of a shock to some parents. Others might see it as good news. Why did this happen? Should the rule stay now that we're past the Pandemic?

Pre-Pandemic

Most tastings rooms were drop-in, where you'd taste while standing at the bar. Kids and other minors were okay, or you might say tolerated, as smaller children could be a problem because they might be a disturbance or be roaming around on their own, something that can be potentially dangerous in a winery. 

There were a minority of wineries that had seated tastings, usually smaller, high-end places requiring a reservation because of limited space. They usually only took people that were there to taste. No minors, no teetotaler grandmas, etc.

So if you were bringing along the young 'uns or others that weren't interested in wine, there were still plenty of options for wine tasting.

How We Got to the No Kids Policy

With the Pandemic and social distancing, tasting rooms reopened with seated tastings as the new normal. Unvaccinated, unmasked, runny nosed kids hanging out were verboten.

It stayed this way because most wineries would rather not have children running around or vying for the adults' attention when they might be thinking about buying some wine.

Is It the Right Thing to Do?

From the winery's perspective, it is absolutely better. No kids causing issues, distracting mom and dad, or worse, kids with no adult supervision while the parents were occupied with their wine tasting. No kids potentially getting into trouble or even putting themselves in danger.

For mom and dad, it should be a better experience without children, but a hassle to have to park the kids with someone to go wine tasting. I'm sure it's cut down on their trips to the wine country.

Questions

Should wineries, where alcohol is served, be kid-friendly? Obviously, bars aren't, but restaurants serving alcohol are. So there's really precedent either way.

There is the issue of should you be drinking at all if you are driving your kids around? That's an issue for the parents to decide.

Should the wineries be making it more difficult for a segment of potential buyers to visit? 

How much of an issue are children for the wineries? You tend to remember the couple bad incidents and not the dozens of children that were just fine.

For the Parent

It's only some of the many wineries that do not accept anyone under 21 years old. It is up to you to discover who will let you bring the little ones along, and to support those wineries that do.

Child-friendly Napa wineries can be found here. Once at the website, go to Wineries or Tasting Rooms, then Amenities.
For Sonoma County, I couldn't find a definitive list. A Google search showed various websites with their own list of favorite family-friendly spots.