Sonoma, Part Two

After a fabulous first couple of days in Sonoma wine country, we spent our third day way up at the top of the valley, near Geyserville and Healdsburg. Although it took us the better part of an hour to get there, the drive was most definitely worth it.

Our second special activity was our first stop on Monday morning: Dry Creek Vineyards, one of Mom and Dad’s favorite places to visit in the Sonoma Valley. They are wine club members, so we scored another private tour and tasting. We spent almost two hours with Maggie, a transplant from Chicago with unlimited knowledge on wine. My favorite quote from Maggie: “This one’s like a puppy: you have to let it age a bit.”

Maggie was great. She poured (large) samples of lots of different Dry Creek wines, talked about the history of the winery and the family that owns it, toured us around the grounds inside and out, and made us feel at home the whole time we were there. Thanks, Maggie!

Dry Creek was fabulous, but the best surprise was saved for last. Once we finished up with Maggie, we headed straight to Mazzoco, a winery Mom and Dad discovered randomly on one of their previous trips to the valley. Mazzoco makes about a dozen different kinds of zinfandel, a variety we all love, so a stop there was a must. Mom and Dad took it one step further, though: we had a catered lunch outside on the terrace. We had a tasting beforehand with David (a huge Martin Sheen look-a-like), to pick out what we wanted to drink, and then relaxed at our table with lunch.

None of us really wanted to leave Mazzoco, but there were more wineries to conquer. We travelled a bit farther north and made it to four more before the day was over: Zichichi (owned by a NOLA native), Preston (lots of kitties roaming the grounds), Meeker (located in an old bank in downtown Geyserville), and Locals (not a winery but rather a collective tasting room with offerings from many different wineries).

We elected to eat in again on Monday, so after the long drive back to the house we prepared stuffed chicken breasts with grilled corn and peppers for dinner outside on the back porch. Another great day; another fantastic night.

The trip was going by way too fast: we only had one more day!