A lot of people callously use the perceived rivalry between Napa and Sonoma counties as a reason to promote their own agendas. It is shocking, I know. Next thing you know, people will be talking up the rivalries between LA and San Francisco, Pepsi and Coke, and Google and God. Pish-posh, says I. Just as the tourism authorities in Los {…}
Looking for something fun to do with the whole family? Summer is fast approaching and why not start it off with a weekend designed to please everyone. Carneros Heritage Festival; Saturday, May 30; 12 – 4 p.m. At The Donum Estate, 24520 Ramal Road in Sonoma – just off Rt. 121, 40 miles north of San Francisco, 30 miles {…}
Indy film “Bottle Shock,” set in 1976, shows how underdog California went up against the Goliath of the wine world – France. And won. While the film focuses on Napa Valley’s burgeoning wine industry, the movie was filmed mainly in Sonoma County. Now you can experience your own stunning cinematic vacation by following the camera through Sonoma’s wine country. The {…}
Not only stunning photos, but some great tips on wine country in winter. The writer makes some good points about wine tasting in Napa versus Sonoma, and even offers good insight about west Sonoma County and towns like Occidental. And, again, the photos are gorgeous. While the rest of America hunkers down for a long, cold winter indoors, Northern Californians {…}
As regulars Sonoma Insiders know by now, the Sonoma Wine Country is a little bit different than our neighbors to the east. To wit: Our vintners once hijacked a group of travel writers heading to Napa, including Sir Richard Branson, as detailed in an earlier post (scroll to bottom). Our vintners once, uh, hijacked the famed Napa Wine Train and poured their {…}
Phil used to work with us here in Fortress Sonoma County. It was the Axis of PR Evil: Larry for the grapegrowers, Phil for the vintners, and myself for tourism. Then one day Phil up and surprised us all by announcing that: He was quitting, he was going to open a wine shop, in Milwaukee As a former Milwaukeean, and {…}
Take a tour through the North Coast breweries with writer Bob Ecker. Ecker explores local microbreweries in Napa, Mendocino, Humbolt and Sonoma Counties. To read the beer tour click here.
Temecula, in Southern California, has been called “LA’s wine country”, as it is about 80 miles from Los Angeles, thus making it closer to the average Angeleno’s house than their place of employment. Unlike Temecula and LA, Sonoma County and San Francisco are separated by a mere thirty miles. From the Golden Gate Bridge to the San Antonio Creek, it {…}
From the File of Perilous Portmanteau, comes this tale of an Angelena who visits Sonoma County, throws in a Napa reference, and promises to fill us in more about the trip once the euphoria from her engagement wears off: This week, I will be posting updates from my trip to Sonoma. I left on Friday and am returning on Tuesday evening {…}
It’s the annual Big Game, when Stanford takes on Cal, and the Bay Area looks up fleetingly from their iPhones and twitter accounts, puts down their fair-trade soy lattes, and sits in front of the tube, fair-trade micro-brew in hand, to watch these 2 colossi of college football battle it out on the gridiron. Or something like that. In the {…}
