I have very mixed feelingss about group tours. I dislike crowds and like to wander, which you can’t generally do on a group tour. I like to find places that aren’t super crowded with tourists (I am perfectly good with most tourist areas and am not saying I need places no tourists go – I am a tourist so that would be ridiculous- but I like places that are not on the first page of the guide books) but with over 400 wineries in Sonoma, we thought starting out with a wine tour might be s good way to go.
We didn’t know what kind of wineries to expect – big names, large fancy facilities, small family wineries or a mix – but we went with an open attitude and lots of water to drink in between.
Talk about impressed and right up our ally! The tour had nine of us total on it (I can deal with nine) and we went to super small, family owned and run wineries. All four had something unique about them, but two stood out to us. MoniClaire and Viszlay are really tiny places that are producing amazing wine. The families who operate the wineries led us through their wines and showed us their vines. I loved it when someone would ask where a wine was grown and the answer was pointing to an area or a few rows with a “right there” as the answer. You really don’t get much more personal than that.
Day two is another how late can I stay up day. I’ got better but was definitely waking up on east coast time.
Since Bob does the vast majority of the driving, I put him in charge of renting the car and he went with a convertible. He figured we’d be in beautiful country and with georgous weather, so we might as well enjoy it.
We stopped at a winery – Ft. Ross – to see if we could do a tasting. The website says by appointment, but we didn’t have cell reception and couldn’t call. They were super nice and accommodated us with no reservation. It was a great way to start our vacation. Really good wine, including a Pinotage which I loved and never expected to find in California, nice people and fantastic views.
At that point, I should have locked the pantry. I didn’t. I moved things to higher shelves (same as I did after the chips incident) and left it at that. Mistake. Huge mistake. In one week he managed to get a bag of aboro rice, a gallon of vegetable oil, several bottles of water from our hurricane supply, and a box of quick cook oats. He also managed to move cat food cans, a box of coffee and a glass jar of beans.
Florida is a little different. We have such a large yard with so many bushes that it takes three our four weekends, working most of the day both days, to weed and trim. Add in the snakes that like to live in the bushes, the very high humidity and long months of hot and gardening isn’t as much of a joy. So for the last few years I’ve stuck with a small plot and a large pot. I pretty much ignore the rest of it, but my herb garden is my thing.
I am embarrassed to say, I did not correctly identify a single rose – a much worse result that the Sauvignon Blanc tasting we did a few months ago. Bob got one correct. the surprise winner was the 2018 Domaine Loubejae from the Willamette Valley. This Total Wine pick up was less than $15 and the unanimous favorite among all of us drinking. Lulu came in second for three of us and the last two split for third and fourth. I was very surprised I could not identify the Lulu or Guy Mousset since they are my “go-to” rose wines, but that is okay. There were no bad wines in this line up, nothing that we didn’t like. Let me repeat that – we liked every wine we tasted, even the ones that came in “last.”
Sixteen Paws 