wine country 2008

three years overdue for me; four days in california's delightful sonoma county with a houseful of good friends, and also andy. trentadue, de loach, hook & ladder, suncé, taft street, iron horse, lambert bridge, passalacqua, bella, and the mighty ferrari-carano fell beneath our glassy gaze and parched palates. from our hired house perched perilously (but picturesquely) in the hills outside healdsburg, astonishing quality of the fruits of earth, sea, and vine were consumed. there are of course other tales.

andy and holly
[ smaller ] 		a couched response
[ smaller ] 		the chefs at work
[ smaller ] 		robert's drinking, but andy's getting sauced
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looking out past the porch at bella
[ smaller ] 		barrels inside the cave at bella
[ smaller ] 		in the back of the cave
[ smaller ] 		brass lamps, this big
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the lovely shaded lawn at bella
[ smaller ] 		strange, twisty trees
[ smaller ] 		into the depths of the wine hole
[ smaller ] 		tia's got chickenpurse
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under pressured
[ smaller ] 		the bella logo stemware
[ smaller ] 		earlier experiments with too small a hoop, finally meet with success at a proper size (photograph by tia barnard)
[ smaller ] 		i'm hip (photograph by tia barnard)
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this is not a forced perspective shot.
[ smaller ] 		please stay off the hill. go under it. that's where the wine is.
[ smaller ] 		tia acquires a properly scaled hoop
[ smaller ] 		looking up the hill from the parking lot at bella
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looking out across the valley from bella's parking lot
[ smaller ] 		welcome to bella
[ smaller ] 		sit upon the chair before being broken upon the wheel.
[ smaller ] 		the bob and the liz
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crab omelettes
[ smaller ] 		these labcoats are for science!
[ smaller ] 		cork-pushing-in tool
[ smaller ] 		the product of the cork-inserter, why hugh wasn't allowed to open any more that night
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the de loach fleur de lys
[ smaller ] 		part of de loach biodynamic viticulture
[ smaller ] 		member of the wine institute
[ smaller ] 		tasting tasty wines
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liz and bob in the de loach tasting room
[ smaller ] 		the courtyard at de loach
[ smaller ] 		friday night's feast
[ smaller ] 		out this door lies wine country
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the boar at ferrari-carano
[ smaller ] 		a water bottle in the ferrari-carano tasting room
[ smaller ] 		the ferrari-carano siena and cab savignion
[ smaller ] 		the ferrari-carano vineyards
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its a long road, and there's no turning back
[ smaller ] 		flowers on the grounds
[ smaller ] 		fc_seina.jpg
[ smaller ] 		holly, andy, cathy and robert at ferrari-carano
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debating dessert
[ smaller ] 		hanging in the kitchen
[ smaller ] 		the foggy golden gate
[ smaller ] 		clouds rolling in from the coast at the gate
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solo signature shot, the bay and i
[ smaller ] 		liz and bob at the north end of the bridge
[ smaller ] 		friday's booty
[ smaller ] 		holly
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o rly?
[ smaller ] 		coach de loach at hook & ladder
[ smaller ] 		the barrels at hook & ladder
[ smaller ] 		flowers outside the hook & ladder tasting room
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the lowest of the many decks
[ smaller ] 		the livingroom from the kitchen
[ smaller ] 		the kitchen from the livingroom
[ smaller ] 		the diningroom
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a wee tree
[ smaller ] 		bob and liz at iron horse
[ smaller ] 		the amazing iron horse cab franc
[ smaller ] 		the tasting at iron horse
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looking down the one lane road that leads to iron horse
[ smaller ] 		iron horse's rolling fields
[ smaller ] 		flowers at the iron horse tasting
[ smaller ] 		cathy holding the interestingly tapered stemware at iron horse
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holly and andy, bemused carrier of the precious cab
[ smaller ] 		the main building at iron horse
[ smaller ] 		palm trees and vineyards, the perfect combination
[ smaller ] 		rosés and bubbly
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lamb prep
[ smaller ] 		pasta prep
[ smaller ] 		sweet sweet desserts
[ smaller ] 		laaamb
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lambert bridge barrels, end view
[ smaller ] 		lambert bridge barrels
[ smaller ] 		lambert bridge tasting room, with chandelier
[ smaller ] 		some tasty reds from lambert bridge
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an antique corker
[ smaller ] 		an olde timey truck in the parking lot at lambert bridge
[ smaller ] 		heading in to the tasting
[ smaller ] 		grapes go in
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stems come out
[ smaller ] 		the crew focuses intensely on the wine at hand
[ smaller ] 		lighting up the parkinglot
[ smaller ] 		liz and tia, making awesome things
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mmmeaty fate
[ smaller ] 		heavy dew out in the healdsburg hills
[ smaller ] 		the watermellon wheat beer, my old arch nemesis
[ smaller ] 		OFS is 'our finest selection', not a nitro album
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flags in the concourse at ORD
[ smaller ] 		liz and bob on the train to ord thursday morning
[ smaller ] 		there's only so much parking
[ smaller ] 		looking down into the gardens
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an old press at passalacqua
[ smaller ] 		fruit on the vine
[ smaller ] 		whereto next discussions
[ smaller ] 		self-portrait from the passalacqua deck
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an incredulous liz
[ smaller ] 		passalacqua
[ smaller ] 		tasting whites at passalacqua
[ smaller ] 		looking into the vines past an old john deere
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vines and palmtrees
[ smaller ] 		put the ball in play
[ smaller ] 		the true objective of table tennis
[ smaller ] 		the rock
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on the airtrain at sfo
[ smaller ] 		srrs andy is srrs. not joking this time.
[ smaller ] 		hrm?
[ smaller ] 		bocce court at suncé
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bottles at suncé
[ smaller ] 		cathy and robert
[ smaller ] 		corking good wines
[ smaller ] 		the suncé door
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pressing issues
[ smaller ] 		the tag on the press
[ smaller ] 		suncé signery
[ smaller ] 		vines at suncé
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more suncé vine views
[ smaller ] 		a tasty viognier from suncé
[ smaller ] 		more, please
[ smaller ] 		taft street medals
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the taft street selection
[ smaller ] 		this is not a fan
[ smaller ] 		the taft street tasting room
[ smaller ] 		industrial operations at taft street
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el presidente
[ smaller ] 		the gang lines 'em up
[ smaller ] 		turns out, liz likes tattoos
[ smaller ] 		and they were goin' like this.. pewpew
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tia and cathy
[ smaller ] 		tia and her new friend, the pole
[ smaller ] 		these veggies are for science!
[ smaller ] 		the first tasting friday morning, at trentadue
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one of those golds that's like, double golds
[ smaller ] 		trentadue_lions.jpg
[ smaller ] 		an andy threatens our intrepid cameraman with a fully armed wasabi peanut
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all images © Hugh Kennedy unless otherwise noted