Wine Country, Diageo Style

Today we took a lovely trip up to Sonoma and Napa for the semi-annual Cline winery extravaganza. This summer picnic is full of good food, entertainment, and best of all WINE. And you don't need to sit down to taste wine, so this was a fantastic getaway for Sherri! (Okay, you have to sit down to get there, but I managed to find about 8 different slouchy positions on the ride up/back that would transfer the pain to different regions, thus giving each sacro-iliac joint a temporary break.)

Every year, AT furnishes Sherri with the number of bottles that AT is allowed to purchase at Cline. That way, he won't go overboard after tasting too many wines that he just MUST purchase. Last year, he got sneaky and ordered a magnum of Cashmere wine and said that even though it's double the size of a normal bottle, it's technically just one bottle. :) In this picture, A.T. is trying to justify why he's walking away from Cline with another case of wine. If you haven't seen AT's house lately, he needs wine like he needs a hole in the head. He claims it's not for him. Uh huh.

After relaxing at Cline, and finding out that "Barnyard aroma" is actually legitimate terminology for wine connoisseurs and not just a bet that a Sommelier made at Gary Danko to see who could sell a bottle of wine with the most unusual description, we headed north to the Diageo winery region for my first trip to Sterling and Provenance.

First up was Sterling. What a beautiful winery! From the ski-lift-style tram that takes you up to the hill, to the self-guided (for ordinary people) tour, to the tasting room where the wine is brought to you (and you do not have to fight with all of the other visitors for a spot at the bar), it was fantastic. Tourguide A.T. gave us the spiel on how the wine is made, as he is now our resident wine expert after attending the official Diageo Wine Training courses. (If you can call something where you drink wine a "course".) One woman tried to sneak into our guided "tour", but Adam had to let her know that it wasn't an official tour.

AT's unofficial tour of Sterling. Notice Adam listening closely and preparing his next probing question. Obviously a man in the journalism business!


Adam, Andrea and Andrea's Mom at Sterling:


Sherri and A.T. at Sterling:


Andrea and Elissa at Sterling:


After Diageo we made a quick stop at Provenance to taste the best of the best wines there with warp speed, then off to dinner at the Rutherford Grill, and back home to the city. Boy, was it fun to visit wineries with an employee. We got the special treatment, special wines to taste, and great information.

And Adam, we will never make fun of your gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly, too-big-for-the-city Lincoln Navigator again, and you are ALWAYS welcome to be our group's designated driver! You rock!