I was touring in the Sonoma Valley during the high season, crush, on a Harvest Weekend when visitors can purchase a pass and tour wineries all over the Valley of the Moon. The organizers supplied shuttle buses to connect the wineries together which made the roads much safer, thank you very much says the tour guide. My clients were tasting wine at the Imagery winery and I was all ready to go onto our next stop when they called me on the phone. They decided to picnic there on the patio because the visiting band had just gotten going and were sounding great.
Not surprisingly we went to Benziger because my clients wanted to do a tour and they still do the best one in either county. Out behind the winery Mike and Joe Benziger were carrying buckets and making Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes came in at 28 Brix which sounded wonderful to me because the grapes I’ve been sampling all over the place still have a ways to go with some hopeful exceptions. From what they told me this is the coolest summer here since 1950 so it’s a challenge to say the least, without heat the plant can’t make sugar that turns into alcohol.
Meanwhile the Benziger winery was hopping with visitors, groups of Generation Y friends traveling up and down the valley, tasting, visiting, picnicking and playing bocce. That generation loves wine country and the social nature of wine and a weekend event like this is custom made for them, not that all the generations weren’t well represented. From there we went to the B. R. Cohn winery. They were busy in another way, they were hosting a wedding, plus a collection of Shelby Cobras had lined up in the circle in front of the winery, and of course the tasting room was filled with guests.
There were people everywhere but no one felt crush or harried, it was like the most graceful festival where all of the various groups fit together perfectly. In other words it was a huge amount of wine country fun. I felt this way and I hadn’t even been drinking.
Call 707-235-2648 for Tours, Books & Seminars Copyright Ralph & Lahni de Amicis 2011 All tasting fees, hours, wine lists, etc are subject to change.