fstopandsee

I can’t say I’m a connoisseur of jug wine, but this stuff at Preston Vineyards wasn’t half bad. Not good enough to buy a jug, but not bad.

This photo sums up my weekend pretty well. Sunny days and plenty of vineyards and wine. I was in Healdsburg and had an excellent time!

Dinner and a show, where the dinner really is the show. The Kitchen in Sacramento is an amazing place. The meal itself is probably the best I have ever had, but you also get an evening of entertainment from the great staff there. No detail is overlooked. If you are in the area I highly recommend you check it out.

This vineyard was absolutely glowing. Everything about it, from the grass to the leaves to the sky was alive with light.

This is part of the cave at Bella Vineyards. This empty room with a table and some dramatic lighting caught my eye, and I liked the way that this shot turned out. I thought about lounging in one of the chairs in the back until someone kicked me out, but there was to much wine elsewhere, so I had to be on my way!

A recent trip to Healdsburg made a great opportunity for some fall photography! This shot is from Ridge Vineyards. The view from their tasting room of their vines as they lost their leaves with the hills in the backgrounds had some great contrast. Early winter weather in the area had left some snow on nearby mountains, but these were low enough to not have any snow dusting.

These smudge pots in Napa are used to prevent front damage to the grapes. They burn diesel fuel when there is a chance of frost and create a smokey layer that protects the grapes from freezing. This lineup of smudge pots look like they have been around awhile, and maybe even used for BB gun target practice!

I’m not sure what was growing in this field, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t making wine with it this year. It did make the scene non-typical for a vineyard in Napa, and the blossoms really popped against the sky.

I went to a wine and food event at the Old Sugar Mill today.  The Old Sugar Mill is a unique set of buildings that have been restored to house wine tasting rooms.  A few of the wineries had barrels stacked up to the ceiling.  The light shining in through the skylights made the barrels glow nicely in this particular shot.