To complete the weekend in such a beautiful part of the California Wine country, we left the house in Rio Nido and headed back down into the valley. The morning was a bit foggy and damp, but it made the morning a little more intriguing and the view along the river was a beautiful and yet a little mysterious. We made our way down and hit the back roads towards our destination winery. But before we did that, we needed to drop our car off in a parking lot just off the 101 freeway so we didn't have to be running around in 2 vehicles. While driving through the back roads, my wife and I were enjoying the scenery and admiring rolling hills of the farms and the wineries. We ended up coming up on the West side of the Charles M. Schultz - Sonoma County Airport and caught site of a couple a really nice pieces of vintage aircraft just sitting there at rest. I had kind of wanted to stop and grab a few photos, but I knew we needed to get to the first winery, so we kept going and dropped off the car and then headed up to Alderbrook Winery.
We got to Alderbrook and were the first to show up out of our group. So we went inside the tasting room and while everyone was doing their tasting, I just relaxed and hung out checking out the items they had for sale. After the rest of the group arrived, a friend and I decided to play checkers with the jumbo set on the coffee table. I lost! But then again, I can't remember the last time I even played the game. The winery's tasting room was decorated in a prohibition theme. It was fitting as it was telling part of the history of the family and the winery itself. After about 30 minutes, we were off to the next stop.
Not to far away we stopped in at Da Vero Winery. It was a small tasting room, but the atmosphere was quite friendly. We went inside and just like all the other places, there was plenty of items for the visitor to browse and potentially purchase. If you do visit here, be sure that the cat gets some fair attention. Yes she may be sleeping, but she does love the attention. Other than that, the only other part I do remember is the pieces of art outside. We were then on to the next winery after the usual 15 to 20 minutes.
We made out of the parking lot and headed north. After a few miles, we made our way to the Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate. Pulling into this estate, I was just amazed at the beauty of this place. The place is just absolutely gorgeous. I could have stayed here all day and enjoyed the surroundings. We walked into the courtyard and my wife was just loving the view. The way this place is set up, we had talked about doing several years ago as an idea we had. But this was reality, not an idea! I pulled out my camera and started shooting. While everyone was tasting wine, I was tasting the sun and the air reflecting off of the white walls of the courtyard. The group stayed around for a good while, which was nice. I actually had time to relax and shoot without being in a rush to get to the next place. And to top it off, They had a Hot Dog Cart. So, since I was getting hungry, I decided it was time for me to grab something. So I went over and ordered a Chicago Style Hot Dog. The only problem was I had absolutely no cash on me. So, The owner decided to comp me the hot dog. But, on one condition. I had to go onto his Facebook page and give him a great review. So I agreed to it. I was hungry! But then I started to eat the hot dog, and his request became something I just had to do. This hot dog was awesome! And just to throw out something to those of you reading this, Be sure to go to Santa Rosa and look for "Chicago Style Hot Dogs". You won't be disappointed.
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Courtyard view
Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate. |
After spending a good 30 to 45 minutes at Michel-Schlumberger, we left and headed back North on Wine Creek Road. Then made a left on Lambert Bridge Road. As the name of the road is, we crossed the bridge. This was a great old steel bridge that would be a great photo opportunity if I was out running around by myself looking for things to photograph. But, since I wasn't by myself, we kept going to the next stop, Kachina Vineyards. When you pull off the road, you think you are just going to be at the next destination. But to our surprise, we headed down a dirt and gravel road into the hills for a decent distance and pulled through a gate into the property. This was a very nice, quite, in the trees winery that when you pull into the parking lot, you are just relaxed by the setting before you even get out of your vehicle. This is another nice, small size tasting room. But since it has such a peaceful surrounding, you don't really care how small it is. You are just to relaxed to care about the size. It's not as small as I make seem to be though, so don't get me wrong or criticize me on that. The building is done in a design style that I would say is close to an Italian country style. Which is a style I would love to have if I was to build my own house. It brings back some great memories of a vacation in the past. A vacation I would love to be able to take once again if given the time or opportunity. The long road to the tasting room even reminds me of that vacation destination. Oh to be back in the Italian country side in the middle of who knows where, enjoying the peaceful beauty yet once again. Only this wasn't Italy! It's in Sonoma County.
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Tasting Room Patio
Kachina Vineyards |
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Wine Barrel Reflection
Kachina Vineyards |
TO READ MORE ABOUT THE WINE ROAD, PLEASE GO TO MY ARCHIVES. I WILL BE ADDING MY FINAL ENTRY SOON TO FINISH OUT THIS GREAT EXPERIENCE.
