In November 2007 we had an outstanding tour through California wine country. It
was a neighbor reunion, with us joining our
friends Chris and Mary who used to live next door, as well as their friends
Roxanne and Greg, who used to be their neighbors in Wisconsin, as well as
Roxanne and Greg's friends Claire & Dean who live next door to them now in
Georgia.
Chris was the ultimate trip planner and tour guide. He set up and reserved all
of our hotels, restaurants, and wine tours. I didn't even know what towns we
were going to be in from day to day, let alone how to get from place to place.
It was ultimately relaxing and allowed me to spend all of my time enjoying the
experience and taking pictures.
We spent our first night in Healdsburg which was wonderful. It had a beautiful
central square, cute shops, and the incredible Hotel Healdsburg. I can't say
enough good things about the Hotel Healdsburg (http://www.hotelhealdsburg.com).
The rooms were beautiful, huge tile bathroom with soaking tub and a big open
glass shower, beautiful pool area, incredibly helpful and courteous staff, and
even a full complimentary breakfast. I could go on and on, but we will
definitely go back.
The next day we visited incredible wineries and spent the night in Calistoga,
and the following day even more wonderful wineries and we spent the night in
Sonoma.
This was my first chance to really get some work done with my new Canon 40D and
I love it to death!
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Our Route |
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Here's the route we took on our trip |
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Wine tasting at check in |
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How cool is this!?! A local winery was set up in the lobby of the Hotel Healdsburg doing wine tastings |
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Window shopping |
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A little window shopping as we wander around Healdsburg |
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The lift |
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This was right after we first ran into Greg (we all met in Healdsburg) |
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Tasting room |
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This cool tasting room was right on the square in Healdsburg |
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Cool lights |
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I loved these lights in the tasting room. I'm kicking myself for not doing a series where the focus changes to subsequent fixtures |
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Beauty |
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Chris got this shot of Christi and me on a bench in Healdsburg |
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Waiting |
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Greg and Dean hanging out while we shopped |
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Ray Manzarek |
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We walked around a corner and saw that Ray Manzarek (formerly of the Doors) was actually in town |
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Strike a pose |
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Greg does a little vogueing after dinner |
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Flower power |
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Chris looking adorable with a flower behind his ear |
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The pool |
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We didn't get a chance to use it, but the pool and spa at Hotel Healdsburg looked beautiful |
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Lemons! |
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The pool was surrounded by fruit and olive trees |
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Flower |
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I played with some new focusing techniques on this trip and got some great flower shots |
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Love this sign |
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We found this great little dog shop called Fideux in Healdsburg and could not stop cracking up about this sign |
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Roxanne & Mary |
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Here we are at our first winery (Dry Creek) |
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The Bar |
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A fun shot of the bar at the Dry Creek winery |
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Neat plant |
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I love this plan. No idea what it is, but it's neat |
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Beautiful grapes |
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I love how the light hit this bunch of grapes |
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More grapes |
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This little bunch of grapes was adorable |
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Grape seeds |
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They take the grape seeds and other grape leftovers and use them as nutrients for the grape vines |
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Christi & Claire |
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Christi and Claire listening intently to our wine tour |
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Dean |
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Dean paying close attention |
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Our Guide |
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Our tour guide at Dry Creek was awesome |
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Greg |
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A cool shot of Greg listening in on the wine tour |
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Chris |
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Chris with his funny glasses that attach to his nose |
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The vines |
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I love this shot of one of the rows of vines |
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Beauty |
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Christi, adorable as usual |
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More vines |
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The view at the Dry Creek winery was gorgeous |
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Change in focus |
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A similar shot, with a different focus point |
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Of course, more grapes |
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I couldn't stop taking pictures of grapes |
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Roxanne |
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A neat shot of Roxanne whith the vinyards behind |
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David Stare |
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How classic is this shot of the founder of the Dry Creek winery from back in the 80s |
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The History of Labels |
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These bottles showed the progression of the label design |
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Cool boat |
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The Dry Creek winery had a sailboat theme, and this model was cool |
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Consulting the plan |
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Here's Chris consulting the plan |
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Your photographer |
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Christi caught this picture of me as I wandered around taking pictures |
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The Cellar |
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The cellar at Dry Creek was beautiful |
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Huge Barrels |
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The giant barrels were custom made for them, and beautiful |
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Fillerup! |
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Chris's dream come true |
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Barrels |
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I had no idea that barrels were made entirely without glue or nails, just held together with the metal bands around them |
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Ferrari-Carano |
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The Ferrari-Carano winery was stunning! |
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The Tour |
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The tour of Ferrari-Carano was fun |
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More view |
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This view reminded me of a scene from the movie Gladiator where he's walking down the road toward his home |
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A cork tree |
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Check out the sign on this cork tree. I was shocked at how difficult it is to get cork from a cork tree |
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Wood wrapping |
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I love how their barrels are wrapped with wood to protect tem as they roll them |
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Auger |
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When the grapes are brought in from the field they're fed into the system using this huge auger |
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De-stemmer |
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This cage is usually mounted in a unit at the end of the auger and lets the grapes drop through while it keeps the stems inside |
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Pokey things |
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This big pokey thing is usually inside the cage thingy and gently removes the grapes from their stems |
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Wine Cellar |
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The wine cellar at Ferrari-Carano was quite fancy |
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Neat Barrels |
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Quite the wine collection |
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Great bar |
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The bar at Ferrari-Carano had a stunning view |
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Why yes, I will have a drink |
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The crew enjoying some wine at Ferrari-Carano |
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Nice view |
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Christi in front of the vinyards |
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Us! |
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The vinyards at Ferrari-Carano made for a great photo backdrop |
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Me and Chris |
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We're so adorable! |
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Mary, Chris, Christi, and me |
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Rox & Mary |
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The sun was driving Mary nuts |
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Pillars |
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Roxanne pointed out this cool photo opportunity |
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Different focal point |
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Here's a similar shot, but with the background in focus |
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Greg & Roxanne |
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Greg did the most hilarious poses |
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The whole crew |
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Here we all are with the vinyards in the background |
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Clos Du Bois |
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Thes guys make some incredible wine. It's one of Chris's favorites |
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On the sign |
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Rox & Mary on the Clos Du Bois sign |
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The wine cave |
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Even better than the bat cave |
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Olive Tree |
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The olive trees were beautiful, but the olives were yukky |
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Christi in black & white |
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I was playing around with the black & white setting |
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Neat barn |
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The color of the barn is cool |
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More olives |
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but still yukky |
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Alexander Valley Vinyards |
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Wine barrels can cost $800-$1200 each! They've gotten even more expensive as the dollar has gone down vs. the Euro |
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Flowers |
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Adorable little flowers |
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The Zinful 3-pack |
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Temptation, Sin, and Redemption |
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The look |
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Mary is the master of "the look". It makes you feel like a 5-year old caught with your and in the cookie jar |
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Rock wall |
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This view of the vinyards at Alexander Valley was beautiful |
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Long shadows |
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We stopped along the roadside to take this picture of the shadows extending from the vinyards |
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Ready for dinner |
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The gang gets ready to head to dinner |
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Lambkin |
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Of course, Lambkin came along |
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Hydro Grill |
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A cool night shot of a bar across from where we had dinner |
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Grapes |
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I got some cool shots of grapes in the morning dew |
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And more grapes |
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I like the depth of field on this |
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Hello!!! |
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Greg, Chris, and Dean in the window of the inn |
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Roses in the morning light |
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The sun had just come over the roof and hit the roses |
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Flowers |
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These flowers the Chandon winery were adorable |
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Bottle art |
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This wall of bottles at Chandon was neat |
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Tour |
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We had a great private tour of Chandon |
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Leaves |
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The fall colors on the grape leaves were cool |
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Wine tanks |
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Now that's a lot of wine! |
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Our guide |
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Our guide explaining how sparkling wine is made |
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More Barrels |
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This was one huge cellar |
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And more barrels |
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Ignoring the cost of the wine, just imagine the investment in barrels at around $1,000 per barrel, and they can only use them a few times |
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The thingamajigger racks |
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Can't remember what these are called, but essentially they used to use these racks to turn each bottle by hand to stir up the yeast (was it yeast? hmm, can't remember for sure) |
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The new way |
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Now, instead of doing it by hand they use these huge machines to stir the bottles, and this is a baby version, the big ones are like six times as big |
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Cool art |
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I love this series of backlit bottles |
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More Lambkin |
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Lambkin's such a trooper! |
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Puddle |
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A cool reflection in a puddle |
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Pastoral |
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Quite the cool set up on the lawn |
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Close up |
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A closer view of the table on the lawn |
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Waterfall |
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Our private tasting was next to a cool little waterfall |
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A little wine |
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How incredible is this set up they had for us at the wine tasting |
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The glasses |
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The sparkling wine was outstanding! We ordered 18 bottles |
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The menu |
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We each had a menu explaining the different wines we were tasting |
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Cheers |
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Rox, Greg, Dean & Claire enjoying the tasting |
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More bubbly! |
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Rox getting more bubbly as we had more bubbly |
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Slower shot |
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here's a slower shot of the waterfall that flattens out the water a bit |
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Rox & Mary |
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Hanging out at the tasting |
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All gone! |
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Claire showing off her empties |
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Incredible lunch |
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At the Chandon winery we were treated to an incredible lunch. The scallops were unbelievable |
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Christi |
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Christi with the wall of vines in the background |
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The Leap |
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Greg performing a little gymnastics |
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Joseph Phelps |
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The beautiful vinyards at Joseph Phelps |
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More Vinyards |
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more beautiful vinyard views |
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Christi at Joseph Phelps |
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Beautiful girl, beautiful background |
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Little tree |
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An adorable little tree in the vinyard |
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Claude |
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We got the most incredible private tasting at Joseph Phelps. Claude was outstanding |
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A 1980 Cab |
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Claude shared a 1980 Cab with us and it was outstanding. He taught us all about how to look at, smell, and taste wine |
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More vinyards |
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they were just stunning |
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Framing |
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I love the framing on this shot, with the little out of focus flowers in the foreground |
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The Lake |
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Joseph Phelps had a beautiful lake in the vinyards |
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Reflection |
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A cool reflection in Christi's glasses |
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More framing |
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A guy at the winery turned me on to this view. He said he frequently takes his lunch up to this view |
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The mirror |
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Greg and Dean taking a few shots, as seen through our rearview mirror |
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Afternoon sun |
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I shot this from the car on the way to dinner |
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Hess |
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We got the most incredible private tour of the Hess art collection, with a wine tasting, and dinner by their executive chef |
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The path |
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The path into Hess was beautiful |
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Reflection |
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A cool reflection in the pool in front of Hess |
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Grapes |
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Grapes in a vat in the Hess winery |
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More vats |
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Another view of the vats they put the grapes in |
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Corks |
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A cool collection of corks |
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More reflection |
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More shots of the reflections in the pool |
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Heading out |
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Greg and Dean heading down the path |
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Self portrait |
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Couldn't help it |
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Flowers |
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Beautiful flowers in front of a little breakfast place we went to in Sonoma |
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Goodbye |
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Saying goodbye as we all headed off to the airport |
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Golden Gate |
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We stopped by a scenic overlook on the way to the airport |
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Chris & Mary |
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With the bridge in the background |
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Mt. St. Helens |
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We had a great view of Mt. St. Helens on the flight back |
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Another shot |
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Another view of Mt. St. Helens with another mountain in the background. Hood maybe? |
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