Vacay Pawt 1: Wine, microbrews, SOLA lavender + farm-to-bowl noms

by Tilin Corgi @winecountrydog

Mid-July summer 2013 travels -- Hotter 'n a dog on a grrrrill. Just as worryin' for us dogs who gotta watch out for wildland fires ... 'specially in da Siskiyou mountains areas where we doo travel furrequently.

Howlever, dogspite da high temps and wildfire worries, ourwoofselves + Ani Meezer dooin' wonderfur back-country vacay. Ourselves + Meezer luv road travel 'cuz Mum does stop along da way for fresh foods -- pastured humane meats and organic veggies and fruits from farmers markets. Meezer knows there is nothin' nommier for a carnivore than farm-to-bowl raw bisons and beefs.

'Ere you doo see mywoofself, right, chillin' with furbro in a roadside garden.

If yourself's chauffurr is thinkin' about driving up Highway 101 north all da way past Crescent City, California, then your chauffurr best stop in Illinois Valley ... 'cuz there be one arfully interestin' winery there. Mum sez "The viticulture of the Rogue Valley region is very interesting. They're producing better and better wines, especially the Viognier, Tempranillo, and Merlot."

Soon after wine tastings, there was LOTTA LATTE LUV for chauffurr (aka Mum). BOL

Anywhere not be wine country these daze?? Da wine grapes are growin' effurrywhere. You be ridin' down some mountain valley road far outs in da countryside, and suddenly da ranches and farms turn into vineyards like this one on Humbug Creek.

Yourself likes lavender? Then you will like da annual So OR lavender festival. Mum did 'ave her nose workin' offurrtime smellin' many different cultivars of L. angustifolia and lavandin.

Ourselves rode out to Goodwin Creek Gardens -- a furry famous and knowledgeable lavender grower! Mum so happy to visit their gardens. Mum has done lotta researches and writing about da species and cultivars of Lavandula, and also da medicinal applications.

At Goodwin Creek, da lavenders are furragnant. And da family members of all generations are fun. They are savvy 'bout herbs, farm-fresh foods, craft beers, and so much more!

Yourself likes organic local veggies or meats for supper? Yourself likes craft beer on tap? Then yourself likes da little restos and cafes in da middle 'o nowhere wot got freshest local foods and regional microbrews! Mum enjoyed big dinner + microbrews. Ourwoofselves got wee sippies 'o Walkabout pale ale.

Some 'o da rural fresh-food + brew cafes got da live musics and local-tourney pool tables too. Not your granddogdaddy's dive bars. BOL ...

(Ourwoofselves doo keep some 'o these pawlaces on "the QT" ... meanin' that ourselves doo not woof 'bout ALL da pawlaces where ourselves hang out. Soundin' snobby? Howl no. Jus' like to travel indognito sometimes. BOL)

Wot a crazzzy fun long day. Hotter 'n howl. But ourwoofselves did lotta cool water-soaked bandanas and ... awww ... da coolin' paws in ice waters. 

End 'o day on da trail. Ride back to camp.

Paw-script: In high-risk wildfire areas in summertime, ourwoofselves doo always travel with emergency evacuation readiness supplies, includin' lotta water and alternate-route maps. Pawleeze, furriends, doo not count on internets or simple road exits in da fire-pawrone back country eh.

March mosiac

by winecountrydog Tilin

Howl beautiful the spring weather in Sonoma County. Dog-ma did take us with her wine tasting and riding 'round.

Fluffy clouds float above the mountains east of this Russian River Valley vineyard.


Painted lines on the signpost for Richard's Grove and Saralee's Vineyard show us howl high the Russian River can rise when there is flooding.


Arfully lovely trees bloom behind neatly trained grapevines in this Healdsburg vineyard.


Myself did try to walk into Chateau Felice winery in Chalk Hill AVA during barrel tasting event.


Myself did also try to walk into Foppiano Vineyards barrel room in Healdsburg.


We wanted to see the '09 Chardonnay barrels. Dog-ma sez this is first Foppiano Chard in quite a few years.


My pawtner, Jack Corgi, aka pawlitico, does think wine tasting days are grrreat fun.


We did go to other wineries. We always doo. We will return to them soon.

Wine Bloggers Conference '09

by winecountrydog

It was arfully nice hanging out with folks attending Wine Bloggers Conference North America. You know howl much I like taking paw-notes while humans talk 'bout wine and winemaking.

Here I am in the garden of C. Donatiello Winery on 26 July 2009 with @dirtysouthwine and @DrncPno. What an arfully beautiful estate this is, situated in the Middle Reach of the Russian River Valley AVA. Not that far from my doghaus. A fine pawlace to produce great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.


We were escorted into the C. Donatiello Guild Room fur a private wine tasting. I'm fortunate enuff to fit under the table, and that's a good pawlace fur me to paw my notes while humans drink.

You know I don't drink wine. As a new media innovator workin' in the world of blogging and social media, I have an impawtant role at wine tastings: I'm a designated note-taker and canine schmoozer.

It's hard to believe howl the wine blogging and tweeting humans doo wine tastings. They have micro-bloggin' devices and cameras and video cams. They concentrate arfully hard. Tastin' is a serious activity. It's not unusual fur them to have a device in one hand and a wine glass in the other. That is why my paws come in handy. I take notes that humans miss.


Doo you recognize @winebratsf? It is pawsible that she blogs and tweets more observations 'bout wine and life than most wine bloggers. Rumor has it that it's 'cuz she's a Gemini... but I can't woof whether it's true. I don't know 'bout astrology.


Doo you recognize other wine bloggers in these photos? Howl 'bout @norcalwine and @sharayray and @thebeerwench and @winequester?

You can't see dog-ma in these photos, but she was there. And she was whisperin' many pawsitive wine comments to me. Appawently she was very taken with the '07 Maddie's Vineyard Pinot Noir and the '07 Floodgate Block 15 Pinot Noir.


There are other wine bloggers in the group we were walkin' to the cellar with. But my being so short, I had a hard time seeing 'em all. And I got distracted by the enticing smells of herbs on the paths along the way. I was in Middle Reach heaven....


We all followed @cdonatiello into the wine cellar....

Then @dirtysouthwine jumped into a big tank. Furhaps he was dooin' a demonstration of wine blogger hazing rituals.


I sat and watched @cdonatiello pour Bradford Mountain wines of Dry Creek Valley fur arfully serious tasters @sonadora and @winebratsf and some others, including dog-ma. She whispered to me that she adored both of the '05 Zinfandels.


It was so nice and cool in the cellar that, in combo with all the herbs I'd inhaled, I could've dozed off blissfully fur the rest of the day. Howlever, I had my duty to doo — not as a true wine blogger, but as the ever-vigilant paw-note taker and wine tastin' companion!

I wonder if I'll get my pawsonal chauffeur to take me and my little Corgi bro to the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington.

Lookin' fur Mr. Really Goode Guy

by winecountrydog

It was all over the wine twitterverse that the winner of the Murphy-Goode winery lifestyle compawtition would be announced today (21 July 2009).

Hark and bark! Dog-ma (aka chauffeur) agreed with us two social media corgis that we ought to catch up with the winner in Healdsburg. After all, we had a paw of congratulations to extend!

Our chauffeur parked the doghaus mobile behind Hotel Healdsburg.


Off we ran across the foot bridge, past Bear Republic, takin' the long way 'round via Healdsburg Avenue.

We came to an abrupt halt and stared intensely at the human before us. Oh good grief, that human there is an impawstor. He isn't Mr. Really Goode Guy!


We went 'round the corner and did a sit-stay across from the Murphy-Goode tasting room on Matheson Street. We had to paw over the situation. We knew we could sniff out Mr. Really Goode Guy if we used our dogheads.


Oh boy, that's a fancy new tasting room in an arfully fancy wine country town.


Howl, look! There's somebuddy who magically appaweared in front of the tasting room....


It's him! It's Mr. Really Goode Guy Hardy Wallace — aka @goodetobefirst and @dirtysouthwine. High paw! Congratulations, Really Goode Hardy!

Howl exciting that a really nice guy won. We sure doo like this fine Southern sommelier whom we 'spected would become the really goode job guy.

I hope we'll see a lot of Really Goode Hardy in the future. That is, if we can get close to him. If he carries wine rations like that around with him, he'll have a dogzillion friends. The only way we'll ever find him again is if we doo the lowdown corgi crawl through the crowd's legs.

Paws for Love at Foppiano Vineyards

by winecountrydog

I hurried through the vineyard to the Paws for Love event at Foppiano winery on June 6th. The event, called "Painting Paws and Petite Sirah," was a fundraiser benefit for animals in Sonoma County, the North Bay, and beyond.


Below you see the Paws for Love "Vineyard Barrel Dash", a unique canine agility course that was created from wine barrels especially for this fun fundraiser.


We sat-stayed and watched clever dogs go 'round the agility course. I didn't doo the course 'cuz of my back pawblem. And Jack Corgi didn't doo it 'cuz he's shy. But we compawletely enjoyed watching and meeting all the dogs on the sidelines.


What a beautiful setting fur a get-together! This is one of California's oldest family-owned wineries, founded in 1896. Foppiano is well known fur its old vine Russian River Valley Estate Petite Sirah.

In the background you see some of Foppiano winery's beautiful old vineyards. In the distance, you see fluffy clouds hangin' over hills to the northeast, beyond Healdsburg.

Doo you notice, below, that wine barrel hoops were hung fur dogs to jump through? Such a pawfect activity fur a wine country event.


Below we see handsome Java Schnoodle, winner of the agility event, with his human, Heather, and her mom, Audrey. Sitting and talking to Java and family is none other than pioneer California winemaker Louis J. Foppiano!


Truly, Lou Foppiano is a living resource of wine industry history. Howlever, my favorite story is about Lou Foppiano the great dog lover: It's said that he always had Chihuahuas around him while he was working, and that the dogs would crawl up his arm and sit on his shoulders. Howl I love that!

Java Schnoodle really appawreciated meetin' Lou Foppiano!


I overheard humans at the event say they enjoyed tastin' the Foppiano wines. (Appawently the Cabernet was especially well received and tasted more than once by the same folks.)

After the agility event, Paws' founder, Ms. Ellyn Boone, did painting with dogs on the winery's front lawn. Well, not directly on the lawn — that'd be silly. The dogs made their paintings on paper, so that their humans could frame their works of art.

Howl can I adequately convey to you what a great time was had by all? I'm not just woofin' this to be nice. I've never been on a more enjoyable, dog-mellow outing. And fur such a great cause!

The Paws for Love Foundation provides resources and funding to shelters, rescue groups, and individuals who impawrove the health, welfare, and adoptability of unwanted and abused animals.

High paw fur Ms. Boone!

Paw-note: Congrats, Java! I hope I see you at the next Paws agility event.

Winetasting with Ms. Peep

by winecountrydog & pawlitico

It's terroirific when a human makes great wine. It's even better when a human like winemaker Rod Berglund explains to us dogs and our humans de-tails about his winemaking.

We visited Joseph Swan Vineyards in the Russian River Valley again recently and sniffed out some fantastic terroir. Furhaps you know that the late Mr. Swan was one of California's Pinot pioneers.

Ms. Marsha Peep accompanied us. She was touring Northern Sonoma County in search of nice tasting rooms.


Ms. Peep enjoyed tasting the estimable wines. She likes Pinot Noir a lot.


Our dog-ma appawreciates Joseph Swan wines very very much. How can we tell? Not only did she hang around and taste and chat with Karen, but also she did the unthinkable: She asked Karen fur another taste of one of the wines.


Dog-ma won't tell us which one, but we're betting it was the Great Oak Syrah.

Paw-note: We must mention how much we missed seein' Pappi the winery dog runnin' round. Pawleeze pay tribute to the late great Pappi by enjoyin' photos on the winery site.

Dry Creek Valley wine dog day

by winecountrydog

The fourth day of April was a super-nice spring day fur walkies in Dry Creek Valley!

This is the view from the deck at Mutt Lynch and Wilson wineries.


We were happy to meet Sophie, a very sweet mini Schnauzer. Sophie had a tremendous view of the valley from Rachel's lap.


Many of us dogs were out fur the Barkus Wine & Treats event at Mutt Lynch Winery. It's a fundraiser fur Healdsburg Animal Shelter.

We wanted to walk around and greet everybuddy and eat treats. Dog-ma made a donation and we made a beeline fur some treats that had dropped on the winery floor.

I was, as usual, more outgoing than my buddy, Jack Corgi. Actually, Jack was feelin' uncharacteristically cranky. He asked if we could take him home and let him sleep it off.

I think that poor dog-ma barely got to taste the Merlot Over and Play Dead and the Chateau d'Og Cabernet Sauvignon.


I noticed that Patch the winery dog was interested in a big hunka green stuff. It reminded me of florist's clay — you know, the clay you put at the bottom of a vase to hold the flower stems. Is it pawsible that Patch does ikebana?


Paw-note: You can check the Mutt Lynch calendar of events or pawmail them to get the date fur the next Barkus event!

@twitchhiker in wine country

by winecountrydog

A beautiful day yesterday atop the hills in Sonoma Valley wine country.


I was at dog-friendly Kunde Family Estate with @twitchhiker – aka Paul Smith. Here you see him taking a pic for twitpic.


Standing right in the middle of Kunde's Magnolia Lane Sauvignon Blanc vineyard, sommelier Chris Sawyer explains how humans open screw caps by magic. Winemaker Jeff Kunde looks on knowingly, holding a bottle of same.


Next, twitchhiker does the screw cap bottle-opening trick brilliantly! Anastasia Schuster, aka @AccessInspirati, watches carefully. I bet she can now do the trick too!


Does it make sense fur humans to drink right from the bottle? Below, sommelier Sawyer's obviously in favor of using a glass fur tastin' the next wine. Jeff Kunde pours his '05 Reserve Century Vines Zinfandel.


Humans look so yappy when winetasting. Makes me wish we dogs drank wine.

Twitchhiker apparently enjoys the old vine Zinfandel.


Having finished his Zin, twitchhiker takes a break to twitter.

Howl, just imagine: Paul's the first human to travel the globe by the good graces of twitterers!


Twitchhiker looks cool in his new Kunde vest, below. He's the nicest human, really, and he's raising funds for safe drinking water in schools in developing nations.


You can follow @twitchhiker on twitter. Pawleeze read his blog to learn about twitchhiking and helping charity: water.

Paw-note: I'll be goin' back to Kunde 'cuz it's a super dog-friendly winery. Check out their dog hikes and eco-hikes!

Is wine going to the dogs?

by winecountrydog

Look at lovely Violet! She's a Pom/Chihuahua at the tender age of six months.

"I met her on a Saturday and my heart stood still.
Da doo ron ron ron,
da doo ron ron.
Somebody told me that her name was Violet.
Da doo ron ron ron,
da doo ron ron."

You don't remember this song by The Crystals? Oh howl.

What a beautiful March day it was for seeking out dog-friendly wineries in the Russian River Valley. More than 120 wineries were on the map for the Wine Road barrel tasting event in the valleys of northwestern Sonoma wine country.


I warmed up my olfactory sensitivities in the midday sun at rustic Battaglini Estate Winery, a small family winery that makes Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah.

'Tis I here, below. And in the background is Jack "pawlitico" Corgi. The bottle of wine's not ours. Dogs don't drink wine. We socialize.


Young Violet, very vigilant, alerted Andrea to the fact that her wine glass was empty.


Sometimes a canine wine tourist would like a chew. We're entitled.


I get distracted by all the socializing. That's how I furgot to point out the old Zinfandel vines to Violet.


It'd be arfully nice if Violet were to come back and visit so we can talk about chewin' on things next year!