Blanche & Lucy enjoy Wine County

This was a familiar site in Wine country - rows and rows of vines with bunches of full grapes ready to be harvested.

One of our favorite places to visit is California is Wine Country.  Our timing was great - we were here during "Crush" when most of the wineries were harvesting their grapes.  So lots of wineries were having Harvest Festivals.  Though many think of Napa as wine country, my favorite area is Sonoma to visit the wineries.  Many smaller boutique wineries are there.

A typical road sign on any corner - pointing to the many wineries just around the corner to visit.

One of my favorite sites - plump juicy white grapes ready for picking - Chardonay anyone?

The best white grapes are grown in the Caneros region (southern Napa, and along the seacoast) where your Chardonays, Pinot Grigios, Sauvignon Blancs and Sparkling Wines (Champagne).

These little 'Baby Vines' will grow up to be strong wine producers in 3 to 6 years.

Best know for the red wines, Cabernet, Merlot, Red Zinfendals and more,  the red grapes are grown in the Alexander Region - northern Napa and Sonoma.

Though most people come to wine country to taste the wines, I come to view the scenery and the beautiful architecture and art that is plentiful here.

The first winery we visited was Bella Winery in Sonoma where they had 'cave tasting' of their great red wines - where 'Cab is King'.

We met up with Cheryl's family here at Bella Winery in Sonoma for a few days of fun and tasting -  Cheryl's brother Fred and his wife Leslie and Cheryl's sister Cindy  and her fiance Paul. In this photo they are  in the 'Tasting Cave' seriously paying attention to the wines they are about to taste.

I stayed outside with Blanche and Lucy as we enjoyed the sun and sights and waited for the tasters.

After wine tasting - we enjoyed a great picnic outside together.  Here we are all enjoying a bottle of the Bella Wine with lunch. Left to right - Leslie, Fred, Paul, Cindy & Cheryl.

We stopped  into Francis Ford Coppola's winery where we enjoyed his movie memorabilia (this is from his movie "Dracula")

Paul's favorite winery - Rodney Strong was one where Blanche and Lucy really enjoyed the grassy areas... and we bought a lovely bottle of port.

The grounds at 'J' winery were among those I enjoyed with these  lovely lilly pads.

We loved the Chardonay and the Sparkling Wine here.  Cheryl bought me one of each for my birthday.  I'll save the sparkling wine for New Year's Eve.

Well we had fun indeed - Paul played chauffeur  as he held up a card with "Proia" written on it as limo drivers do  - so that we wouldn't miss our ride.... ha-ha Paul!

An evening dinner at a great Italian Restaurant was a great time together.

Wilson Winery was another favorite where some of us bought and entire case of their wine.

Blanche and Lucy enjoyed the veranda at Wilson's where we enjoyed wine, free food and great views. Left to right - Cindy, Fred, Leslie, Cheryl and the girls.

Many of our wine tours took us through the wine 'caves' where the barrels of wine were stored for aging for years before they could be sold.  Cheryl took this great photo of one of those caves.

Mazzocco Vineyard is known for it's Red Zinfandel wines.  It is part of the Wilson family of wines.

We got a great appetizer recipe at the deLorimier Winery.

And we enjoyed the tastings.

Many of the wineries allowed pets so we tried to visit many of those...

Blanche and Lucy sitting on a Soda Rock Winery barrel and look over the view.

Beautiful wineries with rows and rows of vines were beautiful to see.

Domain Caneros in Napa was a beautiful winery and a must stop at the end of the day where the sunsets were beautiful and the champage was tasty.

As we drank our champagne we enjoyed the setting sun over the vineyards.

We had a cheese plate and chocolate truffles with our tasting - yum!

The architecture is stunning at Domain Caneros - reminiscent of a chateau in France.

Sonoma-Cutrer is one of my favorite Chardonays - but they were only open by appointment - boo-hoo!

 We took a great tour of the Korbel Winery - we know Korbel for their California Champagnes - but we found that they made a great Port as well - ( of which we had to have of course).

One of the wineries that we visited on our own was this one - Hop Kiln - which was first used for drying hops - for beer.... wonderful tour and great tasting & paring with cheeses.

This plaque explains all about the original Hop Kiln building.

The Artesa Winery has always been one of my favorites - it fits all the criteria that I use to visit wineries..... great architecture, beautiful views, and stunning art - and the wine is great too.

Artesa Winery is built into the side of a mountain in Sonoma and the views from the top of the winery stairs is breathtaking.

Another great view from one of the verandas at the winery.

This beautiful fountain is timed to music and it beautifully lit at night.

One of the beautiful sculptures here at Artesa.

This fountain has beautiful art pieces surrounding the water.

Another perspective of the fountain.

From the top of the stairs at Artesa we are drawn to this fountain.

Many of the wineries we toured with Cheryl's family, some we toured with Co & Flo and some we went to by ourselves.... but we enjoyed each one that we visited and will be back again and again, because there are still so many to visit.