From the category archives:

Wines

California Wine Country 2009 – The Winery Dogs

by irene on September 13, 2009

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They love their dogs in Sonoma County. The dogs are a big part of the family and culture.

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Bella Vineyards, Dry Creek

There is no question that Napa’s main drag offers more of that in a concentrated tourist friendly package. But this was our fourth trip, and the primary focus was on wine

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Seghesio Family Vineyards

by irene on September 13, 2009

Seghesio Family Vineyards

The history of wine in the Healdsburg area is pretty much the history of the Seghesio Family.

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Rosenblum Cellars

Our last day in Healdsburg was to be a short one as we had made plans to drive back to San Francisco to have dinner before flying home the following day. Still, we managed to stop in on two wineries before we headed back to the city.

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Rosenblum Cellars

by greg on September 13, 2009

Rosenblum

We had an event scheduled at noon, which left us with some time on our hands, so we decided to take advantage of it and visit the tasting room the Rosenblum Cellars maintains just south of the main plaza.

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Alderbrook

On day three we planned to start at the southern end of Dry Creek Valley and work our way north. This would allow us to visit most of the other wineries we had planned on while ending up close to our hotel. We were able to hit all of the wineries on our list, while discovering new favorites that were previously unknown to us.

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Ridge Vineyards at Lytton Springs

by greg on September 13, 2009

Ridge Vineyards

We’ve been big fans of Ridge Zinfandel since the 1989 vintage which was the first exceptional Zin we had had

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J Rickards Winery

by greg on September 13, 2009

J Rickards Winery

Jim Rickards is a self confessed eccentric when it comes to wine. The vineyards are managed in a low tech, labor intensive manner. Vines are hand selected and “chip grafted” rather than nursery grown stock.

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Dry Creek Vineyards

by greg on September 13, 2009

Dry Creek Vineyard

The winery has been producing wines since 1972. Initially they produced a Chenin Blanc, later adding Zinfandel and Bordeaux varieties to their portfolio. The founder of the winery, Dave Stare was instrumental in the effort to get the Dry Creek Valley recognized as an American Viticultural Area.

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Passalacqua Winery

by greg on September 13, 2009

Passalacqua Winery

This winery is owned by a family that has four generations of winemaking history in the Healdsburg area.

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Quivira Vineyards

by greg on September 13, 2009

Quivira

The property has been a vineyard since the 1960’s, initially selling the grapes to other wineries and then producing its own wines starting in the 1980’s. In recent years the winery has become a proponent of using biodynamic practices to produce better wine while reducing the burden on the environment

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Lambert Bridge

by greg on September 13, 2009

Lambert Bridge

On a previous trip we had visited the Lambert Bridge Winery and had a nice picnic along with a bottle of their wine, and so decided to make a return visit.

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Mill Creek Winery

by greg on September 13, 2009

Mill Creek

Mill Creek is a small family run vineyard and winery founded in 1965. Seven members of the family work at the vineyard, though while we were tasting there was a member of the next generation crying in the back room.

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Alderbrook Winery

by greg on September 13, 2009

Alderbrook

The Alderbrook winery lies just outside the city on the south end of Healdsburg. The tasting room is a pleasant farm house style building surrounded by vineyards.

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Pedroncelli Winery

One of the reasons that we were interested in headquartering our visit in the Dry Creek area was because you literally can’t turn around without encountering an interesting, Zinfandel-producing winery. This certainly proved to be true on this day.

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