Postcard from Thursday – October 5, 2017

Rustridge Drive

Out for a stroll on an autumn morning – a few years ago in Napa.

 Rustridge Drive

Enjoy!

Wine Country Landscapes

One of the things that adds to my enjoyment of the wine country of Napa & Sonoma are the lovely landscapes that we come across as we drive from winery to winery.  It always feels so peaceful, one can’t help but come away with an optimistic perspective about how life truly can be lived.

Wine Fields in Napa

As you drive further up north along the Silverado Trail in Napa, you get some wonderful views of the wine fields.  For this trip, the clouds were very low hanging, but you can see there were some blue skies just above them.

Vineyard Home

When I saw this homestead set in the fields of vines, I thought about what it would be like to live among the grapes and having this view from one’s home office, living room, front porch……you get the idea!

Misty Hills

One treat we got this visit that we’d not seen in previous visits, was the effect of the low clouds and wisps of clouds hugging the hills.  We were told it was a bit early for this type of weather, and people apologized for the bad weather we were having (as if they could have done anything to control Mother Nature!), but it certainly made for some great moody views!

Fall Vines

One thing that the wet weather did was to make the fall colors really pop!  The crush was just over when we visited, and we were able to just enjoy the beauty of the vines after they produced this year’s crop of future wines.

Enjoy!

Winery Visit – Sterling Winery

Jeff & I had never been to Sterling Winery, altho originally, Jeff thought he had.  We have visited a few wineries in our time, and have even take a tour or two, along with our fair share of tastings, but this one was a bit more unique than the rest.

View from the Tram

One difference – we had to take a tram to get up to the winery!  I can say this is the first time I’ve ever had to do that.  It did give us a nice, and different, view of the countryside.

Aging Wine

Once at the winery, the tasting was handled in a different way, too. We were each given a wine glass to take with us from tasting station to tasting station.  Along the way, we toured various areas of the winery – a self-tour.  I don’t believe that I ever have seen area rugs in the area where wine was being aged in traditional size wine barrels.  I believe these barrels contained their “reserve” wine grapes.

Castle in the Hills

The tour did take us to the top of the winery where we had an excellent view of a neighboring winery from the rooftop deck.  The deck was set up to be able to host some nice private gatherings, where one could sip wine while taking in beautiful wine country views.

Big Barrels

I don’t know what types of grapes are being aged in these barrels, but I don’t think these would be any barrels that you could later convert into planting containers!

Heading Down

And, after a small additional tasting in a charming area where we sat at our own table, we took the tram back down to where we began.  It was truly a very different way to enjoy a wine tasting and tour!

Enjoy!

Trinity Road

There’s this wonderful narrow, winding road that connects Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley.  As we travel from one end to the other, this road has, I believe, 3 different names.  I know it by the name it bears on the Sonoma Valley end – Trinity Road.  To me, it’s the quintessential wine country road.

Autumn around the Bend

I especially love driving this road in the fall, which is really the only time I’ve ever visited Napa & Sonoma.  There is such a peaceful feeling driving down this little road.  It takes me to a place I think I’ve only ever been in my mind, but how I imagine the roads thru the wine country of Italy and France must either be or have been at one time.

Follow

The road has a warning sign at the far end of either side, telling large trucks and RV’s that this road is truly not meant for them. The twists and turns are such that would probably be difficult for them to navigate.  But, it’s perfect for our little Jeep.

Napa Valley

And, at the Napa end of the road, we are presented with a wonderful view of the Napa Valley, as we descend from the upper reaches of the hills that lie between the two valleys.  Traveling this road is as much a part of a visit to this area as sipping the wine.

Enjoy!