There's something about Healdsburg, particularly the Dry Creek Valley that calls for a more leisurely approach to life. Instead, I found myself with a four hour wine writer's itinerary to cover three tasting rooms equidistant in their tranquil, off-the-beaten-track locales.
I like to make a point of getting lost. At least once in a while when rambling around wine country on assignment. Particularly when I'm on a tight schedule. Losing track of direction is part of the pleasure of the back roads of Sonoma and Napa counties. Even if you don't have time to get lost, it's an inevitable part of the package of departing from the pressures of the world at large.
Today's outstanding detour found me traversing a rocky, one-track road in search of a brand-new tasting room being constructed in the midst of long established multi-generational family-owned Dry Creek vineyards.
I knew I was way off course when I passed by a permanently inhabited tree house and a dwelling with a sign warning the lone and infrequent passerby that "Grandparents (were) at Play" .
By that and the sight of undulating hillsides of cool climate vines in every direction, I assumed this meant that the grandparents in question would be upon closer inspection, busy making wine. Though harvest has been delayed at least a couple of weeks in Dry Creek as in most parts of Sonoma County due to the summer's crummy weather.
Not having any intention of stopping to ask for directions and risking discovery of what the grandmas and grandpas of Dry Creek might do for light entertainment whilst waiting for crop sugar levels to peak, I instigated a stealthy three point turn and pelted a steady pace back along the ridge line track in the direction of the main road.
Fortunately, my appointment had spotted the wild English woman bombing around the backroads of Dry Creek and stopped me in my tracks as I zoomed by the site of the tucked away tasting room construction site.
With a ten minute window of opportunity left at my leisure for lunch a quick pit-stop at the plaza in downtown Healdsburg had to suffice. My half day excursion was a mere whetting of the appetite for an extended trip back up to the North County.
Comments