Grapes for making wine can be grown only in certain places. The right soil and the right micro-climate happily match in only selected places on the planet. In the America, New York State grows wine upstate around the Finger Lakes, and on Long Island. Washington State, Oregon, Michigan and Virginia all have vineyards. Even Rhode Island has some. But no state is viticulturally blessed more than California. The Golden State has vast wine growing regions along the coast from Mendocino in the north to San Diego in the south, and almost everywhere in between except for the lowlands of Los Angeles. The six counties north of San Francisco - Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, Lake and Solano - are rich with vineyards and wineries.
The Wine Trail - as a geographic and economic route, offers an interesting way to look at the region and the current state of California with historic parallels. In the 18th century, the original route was El Camino Real, the King's Highway that connected the Spanish Missions. In the 19th century, the Gold Chain connected gold rush towns. In the 20th century the Interstate Highway system connected all of the major cities, making a 6-hour drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles possible. And in the 21st century, local Highways12, 29 and 128 form the Wine Trail, connecting wineries and vineyards with small towns nearby and the larger world beyond the captive microclimates in the grape-growing valleys. Beyond the towns of Sonoma and Napa, there's Healdsburg, St. Helena, Yountville, Calistoga, Windsor, and Geyserville, to name just a few.
An array of complementary facilities have grown around the vineyards, from tasting rooms and restaurants to markets, spas, hotels, galleries, and golf courses. And the gathering industries of weddings, conferences and retreats. The 2000's saw a building boom of these facilities, one that had been slowly growing for three decades. Wine-makers and their architects have sprinkled the wine valleys with buildings that recall Italian castles, French chateaux, Spanish monasteries, and avant-garde art museums. Of course most of the structures look more local, a little more authentic and little more at home in the northern California landscapes. Most look more like stone barns, or refined industrial buildings, or porticoed market halls. These buildings always help frame the outdoor spaces where wine culture is best absorbed - the plazas, courtyards, forecourts, verandas, loggias, colonnades, and breezeways. The recent South Napa quake notwithstanding, a new building boom is underway and readily visible along the wine trails.
Wine suggests the good life, and just being a part of it for a little while is pure pleasure. And for those of us who were introduced to wine during study abroad semesters in Europe, the ambiance of wine culture reignites our college-era curiosity and joy for life. As my house father in Florence told me nearly 20 years ago, il vino fa buon sangue, wine makes good blood.
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| Sausalito Art Festival |
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| Elmo pinata at Juanita Juanita, Sonoma |
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| Lincoln Avenue, the main street of Calistoga |
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| Lincoln Avenue, the main street of Calistoga |
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| House in Calistoga |
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| Yountville |
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| Yountville |
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| Christopher and Sabra |
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| Sonoma's Mission San Francisco Solano |
