Wine, Wine, Wine that's all I do!

Horrah for the Vineyards of Sonoma and Napa!

We set out for Sonoma to re-visit Viansa which is one of the first vineyards we visited back in 2000. It's a beautiful setting similar to Italy with well informed, helpful staff with a wonderful tasting area and shop.

Then onto the town of Sonoma. This is such a twee little town with a square and town hall that ouzes history (unusual for this very young country). We found this incredible French Style restaurant called the Fig and the Girl and had a very good lunch.

Then only the Ravenswood Vineyward. You can buy this in Tesco so I was interested to visit this vineyard. We were not disappointed. It's way off the beaten track and not in any way commercialised (unlike a lot of the vineyards theses days). We were attended to by an incredibly well informed member of staff called George and as should be in this kind of establishment I learned a lot about wine - this guy really knew his subject, he was truly passionate about wine. As well as learning more about my favourite beverage I also enjoyed tasting some very unusual types of wine that I'd never previously tried. I liked this place and their wine.

Then onto Napa. This wasnt exactly as I expected. Not like the quaint town like Sonoma, this is a sprawling town with many vineyards and some industrial areas. We headed for the very famous Robert Mondavi - almost as much of a tourist stop off as much as a winery. There was no information offered, but a lot of exensive wine on sale - I'll go back to the other friendly, passionate, informative vineyards in a snap rather than this beautifully manicured tourist trap.