Tours help travelers savor California wine country
California wine country holds wonders for travelers of all walks
The givens of wine country travel are great wine and food. Depending on your budget and preferred footwear, the extra's may include mountain hikes, bragging rights to your own wine, even quality time for dogs and their best friends.
Get your calendar and see if you can fit any of these into your schedule.
Sonoma Valley's Kunde Estate & Winery offers "Eco-Green Tours," with hikes from the valley floor up 1,400 feet through vineyards and into the Mayacamas Mountains, concluding with a wine tasting and gourmet lunch. Fourth generation winegrower (and all-around fun guy) Jeff Kunde personally leads the "Eco Green Tours," offering an insider's exploration of the family's century-long commitment to sustainability throughout Kunde's winegrowing and management of the 1,850-acre operation.
Lasting about four hours, "Eco-Green Tours" cost $60 per person, pre-registration required. Tours run April 26, June 14, Aug. 23 and Oct. 18.
Dog lovers and their four-legged friends can join Sonoma Valley docent Bill Myers in "Sustainable Winegrowing Hikes" on April 12, June 21, Aug. 16, Sept. 13, Nov. 15 and Dec. 20. These hikes are $15 and guests are encouraged to bring a sack lunch.
Proceeds from hikes will benefit Canine Companions, the Sonoma County Humane Society and the Sonoma Ecology Center. For more information or to sign up for a tour, visit www.Kunde.com.
In September, the Winesong! Festival celebrates wine, food, music and the art of giving along the majestic Mendocino coastline.
A Barrel Tasting kicks off the event on Sept. 5 at the stunning 19th century Heritage House Lodge in Little River with local wineries offering samples of their still-aging 2007 Syrah, accompanied by a gourmet picnic.
During the grand tasting from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept 11, wine lovers stroll the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, while tasting wines of more than 90 producers from California, Oregon, Australia and South Africa, accompanied by culinary fare from 50 restaurants throughout northern California. Adding to the festivities, musicians perform throughout the gardens in styles including French and Irish folk music, classical, jazz, and big band.
The excitement continues on Saturday with lively bidding for barrel wines showcased on Friday, along with wines from celebrated California producers (in previous years including Grace Family Vineyards, Colgin Cellars, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Joseph Phelps and more), in hard-to-find vintages, large formats and special vertical collections.
Wanderlusters can bid on international wine getaway packages, including personalized vacations to Tuscany, South Africa, Bordeaux, Portugal and the West Coast's most romantic inns, resorts and spas.
Art connoisseurs can view and bid on one-of-a-kind, hand-painted wine bottles, framed art and display boxes by well-known West Coast artists. The 2008 Winesong! painting by Mendocino Coast artist Lynne Prentice will be one of the live auction highlights.
Since 1985, Winesong! has donated more than $3.5 million to the rural Mendocino Coast District Hospital, underwriting essential medical equipment and services.
For ticket prices and reservations, call (707) 961-4909 or visit www.winesong.org
For those who want a hands-on winemaking experience (whether those hands are sorting grapes or typing an e-mail), Sonoma Grapemasters invites you to make your own wine in one of the world's prized vineyard region's, the Russian River Valley.
Whether on location at the state-of-the-art Owl Ridge Wine Services facility or at home in the suburbs, you'll be guided by your own consulting winemaker through grape sourcing, harvest, blending, designing personalized labels and bottling. Minimum investment is one barrel of wine, which translates to 24, with costs varying from $5,700 to $9,500 ($20 to $33 per bottle.) Learn more at www.sonomagrapemasters.com or contact program director Steve Yafa at (415) 389-1183 or at syafa@sonomagrapemasters.com.
Ross' choice
Toscana IGT
2003
Villa Puccini
Tuscany, Italy
• Suggested retail and availability: About $11 at wine and liquor shops
A delicious tax-time value. The blend of 90 percent Sangiovese and 10 percent Merlot is as close to Chianti as you can get, but this Indicazione Geografica Tipica (just say 'IGT'), with mouth-filling flavors of red berries and brown spice, satisfying texture and vibrant finish, offers more pleasure than many higher-priced Chianti designations. Enjoy as a red wine cocktail and to complement a wide range of veggie, meat and poultry dishes.