Oct 1st through 3rd 2003 wine country trip

Pictures and info page two
On day two we were up bright and early to find a local bakery for some breakfast and then were our way to Ferrari-Carano. On Thursday we drove quite a bit, and covered a large amount of ground in Sonoma. The wineries may not be as tourist friendly as in all along the same road and immediately accessible as Napa's main drag, but they were all worth the drive and effort to find. We drove through some stunning countryside, over one lane bridges, and between sweeping hillsides and level fields with vineyards as far as you could see. For my money, having been to Napa before, you can't go wrong with a trip to Sonoma. The wine was all first rate, and there was negligable traffic compared to Napa. Not to say that Napa isn't a great place to visit with some of the best wineries in the world, but I will just say that Sonoma was just as much fun with wineries more hidden and the map beckoning you to discover a road leading there. In addition, because there is less traffic than Napa, we noticed (maybe also because we were there on a week day) a more laid-back manner with the people at the tasting rooms. They were more eager to talk to us, frequently giving us additional tastings at no charge of special reserve bottles or just not charging us for the tasting at all. Nearly every winery we visited was a treat.       Our stops on Thursday Oct 2nd were in the following order. The winery names are links to their websites, if they have one.
Ferrari-Carano Murphy-Goode Rodney-Strong Rabbit Ridge Hop Kiln Chateau Souverain Chalk Hill Winery
We were at Ferrari-Carano when they opened at 10AM. What a beautiful setting they have with an estate that is the rival of Ledson and Chateau Souverain and the wine is great too. Murphy-Goode is in a cool, out of the way place on a country road and is worth the trip. There, we sampled the finest wine that we had during our entire visit to Sonoma AND Napa. We bought a bottle of their reserve merlot, made from grapes grown right down the road in a small vineyard we passed on the way to the tasting room. The treatment we received from the staff was first rate.       The time of year we chose to visit was perfect nearly every winery we visited was in the midst of harvesting. At Rodney-Strong, we were able to see the trucks bringing the grapes in to be loaded in the stainless steel tanks. The wines we sampled were very good. I particularly enjoyed Rabbit Ridge as a wrong turn forced us on a very scenic drive on a narrow, country road, leading us by Hop Kiln winery (which we came back to visit after Rabbit Ridge). The tasting list was extensive at Rabbit Ridge and the wines were very good. I wanted to buy some just for the sheer value they represented but we had limited space to bring back wine (and at this point already had nearly nine bottles to bring back). We returned down the road to Hop Kiln winery where we were very pleasantly surprised by excellent wine and friendly people in a country-store/Cracker Barrel gift shop type atmosphere as opposed to some of the more business-like, aristocratic tasting rooms. We purchased a bottle of their late-harvest Zinfandel (375ml bottle) that is heaven when accompanied by a bit of chocolate (which is how they have you taste it).       Our next stop was Chateau Souverain which had many wines we wanted to purchase, but we held back and took tasting notes and literature on the wines with us to remember later and possibly order. The facility is beautiful as you can see in the pictures.       Finally, we attempted to visit Chalk Hill winery, but either I missed it, or it isn't printed on their website, but they are only open for tastings and a tour by appointment. So we drove all the way there, again by way of Murphy-Goode's back roads earlier, and found the gates closed and realized it was by appointment only. Oh well, their loss. I have more respect for the friendliness of wineries that do not require an appointment and are eager to educate you on their wines and why they think they are the best. Iron gates closed to the public road don't speak volumes to me about the wine they make. Even Opus One lets you at least walk around and taste without an appointment.
Ferrari-Carano	Ferrari-Carano
Rodney Strong grape harvest	Rodney Strong grape harvest
Hop Kiln	Hop Kiln
Chateau Souverain	Chateau Souverain

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