Okay here's the post you've all been waiting for. Maybe not... but if you like wine, this is where it's at. Lake County is in northern California north of Napa County and east of Mendocino County. The lake itself and the volcanic soil in the area conspire to create a very nice wine growing region for a variety of grapes.
The first stop was at Brassfield Estate Winery. The wines were okay, but the grounds were impressive. They had olive trees and lavender bushes everywhere. We went through a tasting and then moved along to our next destination, Ceàgo Vinegardens.
Ceàgo was absolutely amazing and in my opinion the jewel of the bunch. They were showing off their biodynamic methods of growing things, including pumpkins, peppers, lavender, walnuts, olives, and even chickens and sheep. Inside they sold olive paste, honey, lavender oil, and of course wine. P-Ju and I teamed up to taste some of their wines and I think this is where things started to get slightly fuzzy for me. Fortunately I have pictures to help me remember the rest of the day.
After Ceàgo I *think* we went to Tulip Hill Winery where we continued to taste wines. They had nice grounds, but really it's going to be difficult to beat Ceàgo, which had prime real estate on the lakeshore and the greatest variety of agriculture.
We decided to head into town for lunch. After lunch, we visited Steele, where the guy was extremely informative. I tasted a carbonated red wine there that I liked. I also got a free wine glass with my tasting. After this last tasting, I was a bit buzzed, to say the least. Some of us wanted to head back to the resort and others wanted to continue touring.
I was among the group heading back. There was a large wildfire on one of the mountains that prevented us from taking a straightforward route back. We had my dad's GPS, but we couldn't really figure out how to tell it that we needed to detour. We could figure out how to change it to an Australian female accent and Meryl and I giggled a lot about the hilarity and hijinks that ensued.
That night I really don't remember what I ate for dinner... or if there was a dinner. I woke up feeling a little dried out and shakey the next morning... but certainly hadn't learned my lesson yet.
- Andy
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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