Our Annual Trip to the Wine Country

We went to the Sonoma County wine area over the long weekend, and went a-winin'. We stayed at our Worldmark timeshare in Windsor.

This is our 3rd annual trip. The last one was interrupted by important health concerns, so I was glad we got back on the horse. There were 7 of us, two families and an adoptee, and we hitched our plans to the Winter Wineland event.

You buy a $40 ticket for the weekend, which lets you into over 100 wineries in the area, for the tastings. The best part about it, I thought, was that each one offered some food along the way.

You have to pick a winery to check-in, so we picked Preston of Dry Creek Winery, a small one a bit north of Healdsburg. We figured fewer people would check in there. It was a really nice little place, a bit hard to get to through narrow roads. There was a pizza kitchen in the back (from where they gave us pizza as part of the Wineland package), and a large backyard with picnic benches and hungry cats.

You know, I had THREE wine maps this weekend, and all of them have disappeared! Otherwise, I'd use them to tell you where we went. We went to at least 7, I think, on Saturday, and 3 more on Sunday (and only one of those on Sunday were connected with Winter Wineland).

So I'll attempt to name some we visited besides Preston. Rafanelli's (by special invitation, after we called and bugged them), Raymond Burr (the port was sold out, so we turned right around and left), David Coffaro, Fritz, Frick. Pedroncelli Winery, Bella Vineyards (with a large tent for the food, leading into the cave where they served their tastings), Dutcher Crossing Winery, Martinelli Winery, and Unti Vineyards and Winery. The best food? Probably the vegetarian (no pork, no seafood) paella at Bella. Frick, however, had the makings for s'mores, and such a friendly staff person that brought wine out just for me, a tasting of the zinfandel. Jamie bought some Red Red. I have no idea what that is. But, anyway, holding a tree stick stuck with two marshmallows over an outdoor wood fire, and coupling it with graham crackers and chocolate...mmmmmmmm.

We also met some lovable cats and dogs along the way. I did a much better job of spitting and dumping what I didn't want so that I wasn't blitzed and terribly tired when we called it a day. And the food helped.

I think next year we're talking about Angel's Camp and Gold Country. Maybe with some local wineries on the itinerary.