Harvest Fair

Where can you go and sample over 500 wines from in and around Sonoma County without spending a small fortune??? The yearly Sonoma County Harvest Fair! Mr. & Mrs. Diane invited us to attend with them this year. And Gary and I had a blast! It was a low stress type of day - Gary and I visited the Bottle Barn before picking D & T up. The visit to the BB is in and of itself reason to go to Santa Rosa. I had purchased a bottle of Caymus there a couple of months previously... when I got it home, I noticed that the wine had seeped out of the cork. Bad news. Especially for such an expensive bottle of wine. BB took it back and replaced it with no questions asked. And Gary and I shopped and shopped.... He couldn't believe the wonderful selection of beer and single malt scotch. I immersed myself in the wines.... mmmmm... big cabs, buttery chardonnays.... mmmmmm.... We did manage some Christmas shopping while we were there - a couple of nice bottles of cabs for Gary's sister in Kansas (Caymus and Silver Oaks) and a variety of wines for his mom. Oh and maybe a bottle or two for us... After the BB, we picked up D&T and headed to the Harvest Fair. I don't know what I was expecting -- but I had no idea that it would be this big! We walked in and I was overwhelmed with all of the stuff going on... racing pigs, drumming, free jazz, hayrides, livestock displays, floral displays... it was sensory overload (in a good way)! The wall of apples was impressive -- an HUGE display of all of the types of apples grown in the area -- it was much more than the standard red and gold delicious, you can be sure! And of course the wine. We headed there first - met another friend, bought our tix and entered a warehouse full of rows of wine vendors pouring their best. I tried zippy zins, fruity sparkling wines, and petite syrahs... 550 wines were being poured and I had to stop tasting after 5 or 6.... heh... And then there was the grape stomp - all I can say is .... look out next year!! We left the Harvest Fair and all met up at D&T's place for drinks and dinner. Okay, if you EVER get an invite from D for dinner, you should take her up on it. Seriously! She is an amazing cook. Turkey bolognese.... mmmmmm.... it was amazing good. And they sent leftovers home with us too! (Hello lunchbox!) All in all, it was a wonderful day. Thank you D and T for the invite to join in the fun... can't wait until next year!!