So my time in California is officially over. I head back to the T dot early tomorrow morning (sunday). The last two weeks have been full of discovery, adventure, relaxation and of course wine. I haven't even left the state of California and I am already thinking of ways that I can come back to experience what felt like a true sunshine and wine filled state.It was also quite the experience to be able to purchase wine and other alcohol at the local corner stores. It seemed to be very reasonably priced and they truly represented California wineries (both Sonoma & Napa) very well. Plus I got to approach my wine purchases with an insiders view after having met many winemakers, owners and vitners from both locations last week.
Day 6 in San Francisco started at ZAP, an annual festival that
celebrates California's most renowed grape varieties, Zinfandel. There were probably over 500 wines to be tasted and the festival was in 2 very large urban barn type venues down by the Fishermans Wharf in San Fran. Chris Waters coined the experience ZAPTASTIC, and I certainly agree.Pax and I then took the afternoon and chose to visit the city like the true tourists we were. We saw Sea Lions, walked down by the harbourfront, took pictures of Alcatrez, and more!
We even saw wine stores that specifically sold only California wines, which is very impressive, we should have more Ontario Wine Stores representing here in Ontario! The one thing I must admit I truly enjoyed in California was the fact that I could have bought wine at grocery stores, local convenience stores, and specialty stores, it seemed that wine was very easy to buy, and you could tell there was a great wine culture in the state.Over the course of the week in both Sonoma & Napa I had the opportunity to try over 400 wines, so the last week was spent relaxing with
really nice weather and resting my weary palate with some blueberry vodka.Also, over the course of my vacation I was able to read another Malcolm Gladwell book, titled Outliers, and I HIGHLY recommend anyone to read it. I read it in under 6 hours straight. I also was able to start on the Robert Mondavi Autobiography called "Harvests of Joy". So I will keep you posted on my thoughts on it.
Stay Tuned for some more posts from me, this last week of consistent blogging sparked a true enjoyment factor, so I can see more coming in the next while!
For more info on Sonoma Wine Country Click here
To learn more about Napa Valley Wine Country click here
