Sonoma Wine Country

We spent our last two days in Sonoma. A tour of California’s wine country was one of the primary reasons for this trip. We soon learned that understanding wine country in two days is a fool’s errand. On the plus side, to complete our wine country education we need to plan another trip to wine country. California has many micro-climates. Each one is suited to a particular type of grape and a particular type of wine. White wine grapes are happier in the cooler, moister regions nearer to the coast. Red wine grapes like hot dry summers. You might think that we could have learned these simple facts online without leaving home, but I am a hands-on learner so I have to be told these things by an expert.

We found such an expert on our tour of Benziger vineyards outside of Glen Ellen, California. Mike Benziger the founder of Benziger Family Winery explained the micro climate that allows his family to grow premium Bordeaux grapes in their 85 acre vineyard. Like many of the vineyards, Benziger is on the leading edge the agricultural production practice known as biodynamic farming. Biodynamic farming is a step beyond traditional organic farming. Benziger incorporates “insectariums” into their vineyards. The insectariums attract beneficial insects that help to control insects that would damage the grapevines. The vineyard tour ended with a trip to the tasting room.

One of the insectariums can be seen at the bottom of the hill. Grapevines are planted on the hillsides.

After stopping for lunch at The Fig in Glen Ellen we visited two other vineyards. We only visited the tasting room in one of these. Betty noticed after the Benziger tasting she was a bit buzzed. I can’t imagine what the small country roads around Sonoma are like during the serious tourist months when wine tasters abound.

We returned to our hotel room in Sonoma around 4:00 and decided to walk around downtown Sonoma. It is a small town arranged around a central square. As you would expect, given the tourist trade, there are lots of restaurants and boutique stores. There are tasting rooms hidden down alleyways and off in corners. Around 4:30 we stepped into a store that sold wine equipment – cork removing devices of various sorts, wine aerators, decorative bar items, etc. It turned out to also be a tasting room for Petroni Vineyards. The tasting host offered us wine and waived the tasting fee. (Most wineries charge a tasting fee which is rebated if you buy wine.) She told us that she was closing up shop for the day at 5:00 and that she would have to pour out the remaining wine unless someone drank it. We were happy to help her out. After all we had walked downtown so no driving was involved.

Werner tip of the day – “When visiting wine tasting regions, delay your wine tasting until late in the day.  When pourers want to empty their open tasting bottles, the pours are more generous and . . . they’re free!”