Our trip to California’s Sonoma Valley was brief, allowing us just two full days to devote to visiting wineries in the area. We’ve learned from experience that it’s best to not try to pack too many different wineries into a single day; it can be exhausting and one’s palate can get overwhelmed. Harry is the real expert in the family; he reads Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast magazines cover to cover and keeps all sorts of scores and vintage notes in his head, so he usually has specific wineries in mind for our visits. There’s always room to add or subtract as we go, though, so we try not to be too structured. Monday morning we headed out of Windsor, using a not-to-scale map of the area to help us get to our first stop. We were aiming for Woodenhead Vintners but somehow overshot the mark and ended up in the parking lot of Martinelli Winery trying to get our bearings. “What the heck,” we thought, “why not go in for a tasting since we’re here?” Half an hour later, we departed with two bottles of Martinelli’s 2008 Zinfandel (not as peppery and spicy as your typical Zin, with rich black cherry flavors) and clear directions to Woodenhead. It was a lovely sunny day with big puffy white clouds above, but the area had just endured several days of heavy rain and a big windstorm, so we saw a lot of standing water in the fields and debris on the roads. Woodenhead’s tasting room sits on a hill looking north over pastures, vineyards and wooded hills in the distance. We came away with a couple of bottles of their Alexander Valley Wiley Vineyard Pinot Noir — yes, we Oregonians can find a California Pinot to our liking! We then headed up to Healdsburg for a lunch break. Previous visits had introduced us to the Oakville Grocery, a great little gourmet market on the south side of the town’s central plaza, a square block of palm trees, enormous firs and grass that hosts a variety of free outdoor evening concerts in the summer. The market has a great deli counter where one can order hot dishes or a wonderful assortment of soups, salads and sandwiches. Another side of the store is devoted to a charcuterie and cold cases full of artisanal cheeses, and the aisles are full of baked goods and jars of pickled vegetables, sauces, dips, marinades and other goodies. Throw in an excellent assortment of local wines, brews and coffee drinks and teas and you’ve got everything you need to create your own picnic. Our next stop was a special private tasting at Chateau Felice in Windsor, set up for us by our friend and Chateau Felice wine club member, June Anderson. More on that delightful experience next week! — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor