California Wine Country Sonoma & Napa Valley!

​
Fairfield County It!

had a divine wine time in
​
Sonoma & Napa Valley, California! 

March is a wonderful month to visit
Wine Country in California.  

The mountains are stunningly green and the trees sparkle with Spring buds.  

​We started at the historic setting of
Chateau St. Jean Winery.  The buildings are from the 1920's and originally a summer home for a wealthy Michigan family.  
The winery has maintained the elegance and integrity of the buildings.

They offered us 4 wines:
​
2015 Viognier
2012 Reserve Chardonnay
2013 Reserve Pinot Noir
2012 Cinq Cepages

Our favorite the
the ripe red fruit aroma and essence of the Pinot Noir. 

In Napa we visited
Alpha Omega Winery.  

It has a handsome tasting room
and you can sip outdoors on the pleasant patio,  surrounded by vineyards with a lovely pool filled with fountains.

Our wine host was full of information about the vineyard,
knowledgeable about wine and enjoyable company as we sampled the whites. 

The winemaker,  Jean Hoefliger, who studied oenology and viticulture in Bordeaux France has paired up with Michel Rolland, an award-winning winemaker,
to create elegant,
approachable and well balanced wines of the highest quality by
blending the best of Old World and New World wine making techniques. 
  
My dear friend left with six bottles of the 
Chardonnay 2013
with nose of honey, citrus and nutmeg.

 

Another enjoyable winery is Rutherford Ranch Winery.  

All of the wines are organic and sustainable.
​
"Three generations committed to 100% sustainable viticulture and the crafting of wonderful wines."

We sat outside and decided to feast on the Reserve and Chocolate Pairing.

All of the pairings were carefully crafted to complement the characteristics of the wine
and artisan chocolates.
​
Our favorite was the Lemon Bark White Chocolate
paired with the Carneros,
​Scott Family Estate Chardonnay. 
We happily departed with Chocolate and Wine in hand
​acquired at the winery store.

We also headed down to lesser known Livermore Valley to visit
Wente Vineyards.  
Wente is the oldest family owned winery in California,
dating back to 1883.  

​I found it interesting that 75% of all California Chardonnay wines are derived from the Wente Clone which creates grapes that perform well in this terroir (land characteristics, sun and overall environment).

In the picture below, we are enjoying a wine class
where you learn to identify the aromas of what you are tasting.  
Is it mushroom or is it cork?  
Is it butterscotch or is it vanilla or is it coconut?
   
Toward the end of the class there was a
contest to decipher nine specific aromas.  

I thought the butterscotch was vanilla, and did not win,
but it was great fun and put our noses to test!

Afterward we had a delightful time
with even more wine around the fire pit.

What a fabulous wine time in lovely verdant California wine country!

I will be back!
​

It!       Woman      Kyle