We have tasted wine in nearly every geography in California. We’ve spent a lot of time in the obvious wine regions: Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, Livermore, Lodi, Calavaras, but we branch out, too. Locating a winery outside of the typical wine areas is certainly not a deal breaker. The Bluxome Street Winery in downtown San Francisco […]
Quick: you have just enough time to visit one more winery before your dinner reservation! What do you do? Our go-to move? Ask another winery. Great things can happen. This time was no exception, because we ended up at Matanzas Creek Winery. The sun was setting, literally, on our Ballooning Over Sonoma tour. We had already enjoyed […]
The Paradise Ridge Winery may be the most honestly-named winery in history. It is certainly on a ridge, and the view is pure paradise. Sipping on some wine,taking in the art, the amazing facility and the endless vistas – what else could you need? Our Ballooning Over Sonoma tour was going quite well. The balloon ride was […]
Sometimes events beyond our control drive change with remarkable outsomes. Belletto Vineyards is perfect example. Starting as the largest vegetable producer in Sonoma county, weather changes and international trade agreements caused the Balletto family to shift their focus to growing wine grapes. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Our Ballooning Over Sonoma tour […]
It’s harvest time again! That wonderful time of year when wine drinkers rejoice and vineyard owners don’t sleep. Some steps in the wine making process are obvious: growing grapes, fermenting juice, filling bottles, and such. Other steps are more obscure, such as “where to the stems go?” So I’ve enjoyed several parts of the grape […]
The Martin Ray Winery in Santa Rosa is a small winery in a large facility. Small-lot attitude in a large wine making footprint. Finesse where it matters with muscle to get it done. We explored Martin Ray and celebrated the positive outcomes from this apparent contrast. Fresh from our morning floating across Santa Rosa in […]
Two. Nine. Thirty-six. Two days. Nine wineries. Thirty-six cyclists. Simply put, the stats of one amazing weekend. Notice, however, there was not a count of the number of wines tasted because well, that might exceed the number of cyclist and that would be awkward. As I sit here savoring the last few drops of the […]
Everyone has a bucket list. One entry on many people’s bucket list is riding in a hot air balloon. In our case, we not only wanted a balloon ride, but specifically a balloon ride over wine country. Our ride is over now, but the memories will last forever. Up, up and away! For most people, […]
Gianelli Vineyards in Jamestown, California, is an island for Italy in the heart of gold country. The grape varietals are Italian, the wines have strong Italian influences, you would not be surprised to hear Italian spoken in the tasting room! Our visit proved that the GPS can be ignored. Trust your palate, this is the […]
Jamestown California is intentionally caught in a time warp. Clinging to the gold rush era, the picturesque main street is chock-full of antique shops, restaurants and even a real-life gold panning supply store. What brought us there, you ask? Why some lovely wine tasting rooms, of course! Our first stop: Inner Sanctum Cellars. There’s […]
So what is better than a wine tasting? Why a wine club release party, of course. The absolute best situation is a day of wine tasting followed by a wine club release party! That is exactly the situation we found ourselves in as we wrapped up our tasting tour of Murphys and arrived at the […]