With Portland, Oregon wine country, Big Sur and 826 Valencia check off the list, we headed up to Sonoma County. Our time was limited, so I did more exploring and less tasting. We headed to the Sonoma Mountains in search of Coturri Vineyards, makers of funky, biodynamic, organic, hand-labeled, hand-corked, dry farmed wines. Like the Alloro winery, getting to Coturri required patience and a small car (since everyone else on this one-lane road seemed to be in a truck).
the entrance to Coturri:
And the Coturri vineyards:
Some Sonoma Mountain goodness:
We came down from Sonoma Mountain and went through the town of Sonoma on the way to Napa. Even within the town of Sonoma, there are vines planted on tiny plots of land. I would see vines in an empty lot next to a residential area or, my favorite, a single row of vines, not more than a couple hundred feet planted in a slash of land abutting the street. Next we headed through Napa, where the volume of vines being grown is striking. I hadn’t seen so many vines since I lived in Italy.
And some Napa craziness (so many grapes!):
Back in San Francisco, I came upon this vase just outside the DeYoung museum.
The Dore Vase, illustrating the story of winemaking (and drinking, as you can probably figure out):
