More Wineries - FUN!!

Well today we kept busy all day at two different wineries and some other small attractions located on the way to and from.

We started at the Benziger family winery http://www.benziger.com/- this winery was recommended to us by the winery we visited yesterday and thank goodness for that we had a famous time. We ended up getting a private tour (because we were there so early - no one else was booked for the time) it was fabulous. We got into these golf cart limo things and drove all over the estate even in between the rows of grape vines. The tour guide told us all about each grape and why they grow it were they do on the estate and how they became a certified biodynamic operation. They then took us to the crushing pad and showed us how harvest and processing takes place (Dad you would have LOVED this). The next part was my favorite . . . the caves. They store all the wine in oak barrels in caves, all the barrels are made of different types of oak and toasted for different amounts of time, all which affect the flavours of the wine. They only use a barrel for max +/-5 years the wine makers ultimately decide when the barrels are completely leached, they do this by constant tasting. A wine barrel ranges from min $500 - to upwards of thousands of dollars per barrel. The tour guide we had then takes all the wineries old barrels and makes all sorts of things out of them. The caves were about 28000 sq feet and cost about 4 million to construct. But they save the wineries money through less energy costs and less evaporation because of the constant and natural perfect temperatures and humidity. In the cave this winery had dinning and tasting rooms that we got to enjoy (see the pics) while tasting there most celebrated vintage wines - FABULOUS!!! We learned how they made them, blended them, what type of oak they were in, and how long they spent in the oak - etc. We then got to sample directly from the barrel!!!!! The Benziger wines were amazing as was the atmosphere - it was wonderful. The entire tour took approx 2hours, we tasted and sampled the entire way even out in the vineyard amongst the vines.

Right now all the vines have no leaves and are dormant - they are just about to start pruning for the season, where they prune all the branches right back to the buds at the bases. Then budd break is about the end of march. All the vinyards have huge fans in them that they turn on to help ward off early frosts during the Budd Break. Then during the growing season the winemakers adjust the newly grown branches on the trellaces according to the amount of sun they want the fruit to have in accordance with the temperatures. All the grapes are hand picked during harvest and sent to the crush pad in huge trucks were processing begins. Harvest is about the same here as at home timewise - late August through to late october.

After the first winery we then toured on to see the California old faithful geyser were we ate our picnic we packed to take with us. http://www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com/ the geyser errupted about 3 times while we were there! It was small but fun.

After the Geyser we toured to the Sterling Winery http://www.sterlingvineyards.com/. This winery was fun but very commercialised and while the tour and views were amazing the wine was not the best. We got to take a gondola up to the winery and it was a self guided tour with flat screen t.v.s everywhere explaining each step of the wine making process. There was no tours of the vineyards or caves here - just pictures and views. This winery had a lovely patio to enjoy your wine on (see pics). If you look closely in one of the scenery pictures you can see a castle in the background - this is the next winery we were to tour today but ran out of time. We will take this one in at a later date.

The drive to these wineries were stunning in and out of there appellation mountains (which means big hills) it was amazing. we made it home for pizza and beer for supper. Off to bed now - trying to decide if we will go to San Jose tomorrow or San Fransisco (such decisions!!). Its amazing how tiring holidaying can be - Good night.

Yes Dad my favorite drink here is the premixed beer, clam, salt, lime called Chilada - we had to make a special trip today to get some more!!!!!

Andrea & Colin