LA Times’ List of California’s Best Wineries. Time To Call In Sick!

Visiting a winery can be filled with unparalleled joys.  Driving through the countryside, gazing out onto a horizon of rolling hills and serious little grapes, sipping on local producers’ creations, and if you listen closely you can hear your life slow down just a little.  The problem you encounter before you get there? Planning your trip and figuring out exactly where the best wineries are.  Before you feel your pulse quicken at the thought of having to organize another trip so soon after the holidays, the LA Times’ Janis Cooke Newman published a list of California’s top wineries.

Her itineraries start in Healdsburg, which is one of the most beautiful and as yet unspoiled (by tourists) parts of Northern California’s wine country.  She recommends Preston Vineyards, Seghesio Family Vineyards, and Ridge Vineyards, to which we’d like to respectfully add Robert Hunter Winery – they are all unpretentious, amazing quality wine producers who offer a stellar selection of some of the state’s best wines.  In the region, one of the chicest hotels, located conveniently just blocks from Cyrus restaurant, is Hotel Healdsburg – worth the trip on it’s own.

Then in Napa Valley, Newman recommends Frog’s Leap, Long Meadow Ranch, and Cade (a new, green winery).  In all three wineries, you’ll be met with beautiful surroundings – think outside on the porch at Frog’s Leap or minimalist interior design at Cade.  Check into the Auberge du Soleil hotel to enhance the experience.

If Paso Robles is more your style, it seems that Eberle Winery Vineyards, Pipestone Vineyards, Justin Vineyards and Winery, and Tablas Creek Vineyard, the latter of which utilizes only French vines, have all made a lasting impression.  Her recommendations are all of the less-showy, more-authentic ilk, so they’re not really made for people watching.  They all inspire a wandering, luxurious experience in one of the country’s most bucolic locales – aren’t we lucky to live so close by?

Via: LA Times