NAPA AND GRAPPA

This morning we set off over the Bay Bridge to visit Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley wine regions.  Our tour driver was Silvio.  Doesn't wine information sound better delivered in an Italian accent?

The drought means the land not under cultivation is dry and bare; not the lush, green area I imagined.

We visited three wineries.

First was Madonna Estate.  It seems lots of Italian early settlers were heavily involved in establishing the wine industry.  So we dutifully sniffed, swirled and sipped a variety of wines.

We stopped for lunch in the quaint town of Sonoma, then toured the last one, Sebastiani, which gained an exemption  during Prohibition, to make communion wine for Catholic Churches, so has continuing produced wine since it began. One lovely story here is all the wood carving.  A graphic artist from San Francisco retired to the Sonoma area and approached the Sebastiani family as he did wood carving as well.  They gave him a few projects and he spent the next seventeen years carving barrels, doors, etc. for the winery.

The area actually has a LADY BUG FARM so when aphids infest the nearby rose bushes, as they love roses more than grape wines, the wineries release tens of thousands of lady bugs to chomp up the pesky aphids.

A pleasant way to spend our last day in California.

Just a couple of observations.  San Francisco has more dogs than children, by a ratio of 3:1.  San Francisco is graffiti free.  There are a couple of special wall murals, but not the relentless tagging and spraying of every sign and wall!  So much cleaner and well cared for look.  

Tomorrow we fly to where the wind comes sweeping down the plains and the wheat will wave to us!  Sure sounds sweet!