Sonoma: A Wine Country Excursion

Today so far we have been two two wineries and a delicious lunch stop.

Winery 1: Domain Chandon
Bryan got a bottle of their bubbly for our anniversary last week, and I was excited to try more of what they have to offer.

Next we stopped for lunch at Gott's Roadside Grill. Bryan got a burger and some fries, and I ate a bite of his but just got fries. The sweet potato ones were definitely my favorite!

After lunch we ventured back to Sonoma (from St. Helena) to tour and taste at:
Winery 2: Hanzell Vineyards

The vineyard is situated on the hillside above Sonoma overlooking the entire valley. You can even see San Francisco and the bay from certain viewpoints.

 We had a private tour through the grounds with Ben, who was an awesome guide!

This is the oldest producing (59 years old) vine in California. They make a very special wine with these grapes.

It was amazing how dry the land actually is compared to the very lush and productive grape vines.

Hanzell's processing and fermenting area. They will begin to harvest next week!

One of their store rooms.  

Ben took us into their lab to let us taste some of the fresh grape juice from this morning. He said based on all the numbers and what type of grape they were, they were 10 days away from harvesting.

Their property was really breathtaking.

And our private tasting at the end of the tour! 

We aren't planning to tour every place we visit. Like at Domain Chandon we just tasted, but this tour was really worth it. It was so good and informative and being one-on-one we were really able to ask questions and see everything and stop any time we wanted a photo. He pulled over our tour a couple of times just to pull grapes off the vine for us to try!

Now we are going to sit and be still for a few minutes before we head back out to the Sonoma Farmer's Market and then dinner at The Girl and The Fig!!