WineCountry Staff: July 2008 Archives

Don't leave your best pal at home this summer. They want to have fun too! Besides, who can resist that hopeful, then sad look they give you everytime you walk out the door...without them. There are a host of wineries in Napa Valley that are more than happy to welcome your dog with open arms.

Napa Vintners provides a list of dog friendly wineries:
www.napavintners.com/wineries/dog_friendly.asp

Or if you just are dog lover/wine lover, then the following websites may interest you:

Dog Lover Wine Club
www.dogloverswineclub.com/

Dog Winery Labels
www.critterwines.com/Dog.asp

Your Dog Immortalized on a Wine Label!
www.friendlydogwinery.com/labels.htm

Dog Gone Wine!
www.doggonewine.com

But of there are dog friendly wineries everywhere. Let us know which winery (include wine region) is your favorite place to take your dog!

By Robert P. Farmer

With the many so-called "destinations" in California's Wine Country, it's easy for visitors to miss the forest for the trees. Traveling from one big-name spot to another, the itinerant wine taster regularly passes blissfully by unearthed gems that could make them richer for the experience.

One such gem is Geyserville, a small, unassumingly quiet town settled on the banks of the Russian River and shoehorned between the Dry Creek and Alexander valleys. That it happens to exist in one of the great American appellations (Alexander Valley) is a bonus not just for the winemakers who populate the area, but also for the wine aficionado who prefers a more relaxed pace with his world-class tasting experience.

Geyserville is still a small town, the kind of place that would make Andy Griffith feel right at home. But it is emerging as well, and with the recent acquisition and transformation of a local winery by Francis Ford Coppola (Rosso & Bianco, and the Francis Coppola Winery, formerly Chateau Souverain), the klieg lights on the town will only brighten. Yet a homespun appeal still prevails. And the wineries that flank Hwy 128 in the heart of the appellation continue to welcome guests with a familiar embrace and a selection of wines that rivals the best from anywhere.

By Robert P. Farmer
Of California's many options for wine-touring, few match Mendocino for its bucolic aesthetic and for the drama of its natural beauty. Meandering through the verdant hills, twisting along the highways and byways, visitors are presented with a protracted display of wooded hillsides and expansive grassy, sheep-dotted meadows. And stretching toward the coast, the terrain gets steeper, more mountainous, until finally giving way to the never-ending stretch of blue that is the Pacific Ocean.

Mendocino County is unique among California's wine regions for many reasons, not the least of which is its wines. The climate is rainier in these parts, and the moisture combines with rich volcanic Anderson Valley soil to produce outstanding Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays along side unexpected but equally capable Riesling and Gewürtztraminer. There are several great wineries to be discovered along Hwy. 101 in Mendocino County, and more flanking the state routes that serve as tributaries to the Highway.