A few things to note: winetasting in the off-season is a more pleasant experience than in the height of summer: fewer people in the tasting rooms, winery staff are more relaxed, winemakers and owners are often available for a friendly chat. A lot of the smaller establishments are open by appointment only, but calling up and arranging a tasting is easy enough, and most places are very accomodating and happy to see you (best to call a few days in advance, but you can often set something up on shorter notice if necessary). We enjoyed special treatment at a couple of wineries where we or our companions were members of their wine clubs (receiving periodic shipments of a selection of their wines). At Chateau Felice, we were welcomed by Samantha, daughter of the owners and deeply involved in the marketing and distribution of their lovely wines. We sat around a large boardroom table in deep, comfortable chairs with an array of large wine glasses (not the smaller ones you usually get) before us. We enjoyed the wines (generous pours all) and conversation with Sam — who gave us a few good tips on transporting wine safely back from Europe — for a leisurely hour before departing with a mixed case of Chateau Felice wines. Our second day began in downtown Healdsburg, at the tasting room of Stephen & Walker. Harry had become a wine club member a few years ago, and he had arranged a tasting with Deborah. Not only was she generous with pouring us a great variety of wines from several vintages, but she offered us some lovely local artisanal cheeses and salami along with the usual crackers and sliced baguette. A mere two hours later we finally left, never once having another group enter the tasting room, and thoroughly enjoying our conversation and all of the wines (among them, some luscious reds and an amazing late-harvest Chardonnay to die for). Now that’s the kind of winetasting I’m talking about: quality and focused quantity instead of 10 or 15 minutes at each of a dozen wineries in the course of a day! — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor