Sonoma County birthday

My brother Glenn and his wife Maria came up to the Bay Area this weekend with their entourage to celebrate Glenn's birthday. I met them at the Dry Creek General Store near the home of my sister to partake in the Saturday festivities.

After some lunch, we headed over to Quivira Vineyards for some wine tasting. Quivira is a favorite of my Dad, and my sister's roommate Adam is Cellar Master there. Good old Adam even pulled some strings so that we got a healthy discount off our wine purchases.

Our next stop was Bella Vineyards. This small winery is also in the heart of Dry Creek Valley and dug its own caves for wine storage. As we were told at the winery, the caves came at a huge upfront cost for development, but they save the winery bundles of cash every year on cooling costs. In fact, the underground caves average a constant 55 degree temperature, so they have no cooling costs at all.

We finished our day at Ferrari-Carano Vineyards, which is much more Napa-like than the other two wineries we visited. While Ferrari-Carano boasts an impressive estate and beautiful gardens, the tasting room was large and crowded, unlike the intimate settings we experienced at Quivira and Bella. However, Ferrari-Carano is a must see for those who don't get into Sonoma County much, and their Zinfandel is excellent!