Wine Tasting in Sonoma

We decided at almost the last minute to take a trip up to Sonoma and do some wine tasting. After I loaded these pictures, I saw that most of them seem to be of us sitting in some restaurant or other.

Here is a map with our route up north.

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Here we are having lunch at the halfway point, Harris Ranch.

We got a room cheap at the Marriott in Napa using Holly's employee discount.
We arrived just as the sun was setting outside our window.
The next morning, we awoke to find it had rained. Fortunately, it stayed dry the rest of the day.
The first place we stopped was Nicholson Ranch Winery. We stopped there because it was the first one we saw as we crossed the hills from Napa into Sonoma. We sampled some wines and bought one bottle.


Next, we stopped at Gundlach Bundschu. We missed the turn and made a U and went back because it was on a list of recommendations from Holly's friend Samantha, who lives and works in Sonoma. We were glad we did, because we sampled a bunch of different wines and liked every single one. Enough that we bought a case of wines and joined their wine club. The setting outside the tasting room was very picturesque, so I took a number of photographs. Lorie liked this lane with the oak trees. We didn't have any cause to travel up that road, so I don't know exactly where it goes. (The history of the winerey is on their web site and is pretty interesting.


I don't know what this pond is for, but the ladies posed in front of it for me.
An egret found it interesting.
Another stop was Valley of the Moon Winery. (Web site has annoying request for your birthdate.)



Finally, we took a recommendation from the guy at the first place and took a tour of Benziger Family Winery. While we were waiting for the tour to begin, we read some humorous signs, like this one.
Becca found some relief.
We boarded a tram.
And were towed up to the top of a hill were the growing conditions and grape varieties were explained to us.

Then back down to the fermentation vats.
Then we went into the cave they dug into one of the hills to provide storage that doesn't require air conditioning. The guide explained the oak barrels used for aging and what the markings mean.
Each barrel holds 288 bottles of wine. Most of them are imported from France.
Afterward, we tasted a few varieties and bought four bottles. Outside, they have displayed some old farming implements that have been found around the grounds.
Here is another tour group at the top of the hill.
The grounds are nice. Here comes Becca, remaining in good humor in spite of being too young to drink any wine.
Lorie and I went down to inquire about where we might have dinner and Holly surprised us on the way into the room.
We arrived at the restauant, 25° Brix, just as the sun set.
The desserts were nicely plated.


On the way home, we stopped for a late lunch at the Madonna Inn.