Wineries

During all those years in Sacramento (25 of them) we thought of wine country as the traditional Napa Sonoma counties. Of course we knew there were grapes in the San Joaquin valley, but thought of them as  table grapes. I even seem to remember boycotting them for the farmworkers! But now there are some toity toity wineries in Lodi, and we did get up to Amador County while we were still in Sacramento and had some yummy zinfandel. There are west side of the San Joaquin Valley wineries, notably Paso Robles, which have some of my favorites, and then on down through SLO and Santa Barbara, of "Sideways" fame. When we were in Washington we discovered there are well-thought-of wineries there, and also in Oregon, but I have to say for the most part they aren't hunky wines.

Surprise surprise, there are wineries galore in San Diego County. Escondido itself has an old winery called Ferrara, been around since 1932. We had mixed results from buying wine there, but the port was yummy. Then there's Temecula, the town near where Mike grew up in Elsinore. They have a wine trail there, with 35 or so wineries with tasting rooms, and probably restaurants at most of them. Food is good -- we just took our second jaunt up there for lunch. Apparently 1984 was a significant year in the development of the area as wine country. And then there are wineries in Fallbrook and down the road to Rancho Bernardo and beyond. These turn out to be the drives we want to take. The heck with walking trails -- those are usually so hilly, have so much elevation!

The Bernardo Winery claims to have been founded in 1889! But I read that Napa had it's first official winery in 1859.

Just some random info before I pour my second glass.