Holy Fall!

When did fall sneak up on us? When oranges, reds, and yellows exploded all over the greens! The views while driving in Sonoma are hard to beat any time of year but right now they have to rival the east coast fall glory.

We took advantage of the wonderful opportunity to go on a couple free self-guided tours of vineyards in the area. I am getting so spoiled I might start thinking I can just wander through any vineyard I want any time! They have us sign waivers just in case the jackrabbits take us down while we are walk through. That didn’t happen thankfully! Now is definitely the time to get out and connect with nature before cold sets in wherever you are but if you can get out to a vineyard and sip wine will strolling through a vineyard I recommend it, it is truly blissful.

First stop, Balletto Winery in Santa Rosa. They are a small winery that cares about the environment and their employees. They work with the Sonoma County’s Agriculture Preservation and Open Space District to preserver a portion of their land to be protected forever. The vineyard runs along the Laguna de Santa Rosa wetlands. Oh and they built a field of dreams for their employees! Yep! A regulation size baseball field in the middle of the vineyard just for the employees. Great way to give back to the community and their employees!

Headed out to another small winery, Mauritson Winery, out in Healdsburg. We must have passed them a few times in our previous adventures and wouldn’t have thought to stop in for a tasting. Nothing flashy, nothing jumping out saying come on in! Oh but once you get there you want to kick yourself for not stopping by sooner. The staff is super friendly and so are the other customers! They were excited we were interested in walking their vineyard and what we thought of it. So much so we stayed for a while chatting and tasting. Definitely a place to go back to! When you go, ask about the haunted vineyard.

Schug Winery is a small welcoming vineyard off the road in Sonoma. Watch for the signs! They have a cave to store all their tasty wine, are right next door to a dairy farm (great soil!) and are bird lovers. It’s a cute German style building for the tasting room and facility powered by solar. They do everything on site. It’s pretty amazing and so are the views! We enjoyed our tour here with all the bird boxes, cows, jackrabbits, and views of the valley. The guys in the tasting room were also really nice and laid back. I love that 90% of the wineries in Sonoma are so welcoming.

Our final tour for a while until the last one on our list is done with construction was at Stryker Winery. The drive through Alexander Valley is always nice and serene, take the scenic route if you have the time! The driveway takes you through the vineyard to an amazing architectural building that is subdued from the road and lends itself to enjoy the views of the vineyard from all areas. They are more of a boutique winery and have quite the following. We enjoyed wandering through the vineyard before settling in to our tasting inside to learn more about the winery and it’s roots. The 100+ year old zinfandel vines produced a mild zin. We could have easily spent the day on their deck just enjoying the fall day.

I have gotten a but behind in my photography 101 postings.

Bliss happened each day we were enjoying the beauty at the vineyards and really shouldn’t we experience some sort of bliss in our lives each day? Solitude, just us and the bare vines out in the vineyard created the feeling of quiet solitude. Connecting with nature and others at the wineries is what we love to do. This is how we recharge from our crazy lives during the week.

Happy Monday to all!