Tag

wine | Designated Driver Napa Sonoma

Winter’s a fine time for a wine tour… why?

By | Wine tour

If you’re thinking about a wine tour at this time of year there’s many things to your advantage. Such as there are no crowds! Making appointments is a lot easier and you can get into most wineries. The yellow mustard seed is amazing and make for beautiful photos and the mountains are as green and luscious as ever.

Did you know my background is professional photography and I sometimes do photoshoots in the vineyards of families and friends? The kind of photography you’d want to enlarge and hang above your fireplace. I also have photographed many surprise engagements. These are always so much fun when I get to be part of the surprise.

It’s still a fresh year and yes, before you know it, spring and budbreak will be here and the season will be in full swing. Release parties at the wineries are already underway. Silver Oak Cellars and Flora Springs recently had theirs.

I look forward to this year and look for the newness at the different wineries as well as the comfort and history of the appellations of the majestic California wine country.

 

lovely couple picture in the vines Gustafson winery

Yes, it’s Spring

By | Wine tour, wine-tours, wineries

Spring is in the air and so is Budbreak 2018   and a few events going on in April

Greetings from the northern california wine country. It is just beginning to warm up here after a week of rain. The hills are a vibrant, luscious green and my eyes just can’t get enough of the beauty. I thought in this newsletter I would give you some events you may want to visit this April. Enjoy Spring!  (see 3 photos above)

Happening in Napa today through May 5th is Calla Lily Alley. I’ll be heading there to take a few photos to post at the bottom of my website home page on Instagram.                                        letsrolltours is my Instagram page. Check it out. Here’s some info on Calla Lily Alley ….

•  “Calla Lily Alley, a Napa spring tradition, features hundreds of blooming calla lilies in multiple vivid colors reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. The garden is on display daily              from 9 am – 7 pm at Rohlffs Manor, 2400 Fair Drive, Napa. Info, 294-5057”

 

Other happenings you may want to check out in Napa and Sonoma counties …

•   Cloverdale Fiddle Festival     

Saturday, April 7, 2018 – 9:00am – 6:00pm

•   Annual Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival

 April 14 – 15, 2018

•  Go on Safari

Ride in an open-air vehicle, catching sight of gazelles, zebras, cheetahs, antelopes, giraffes, cape buffalo, and other exotic animals at Safari West Wildlife Preserve & African Tent Camp. Located in the rolling hills on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa, this 400-acre preserve houses about 700 animals, in conditions close to their natural African habitat. (During the fires Peter Land, owner, stayed behind and saved more than 1,000 animals while his house burned down in the Tubbs fire. Please support his efforts).

 •   Sip & Nibble

For more options, read “Wineries with Food Pairings” and “Luxury Wine and Food Experiences in Sonoma County.”  Learn more about Sonoma County’s  18 Wine Regions, and check our listings of all Sonoma County Wineries.

 • 29th Annual Passport to Dry Creek Valley – April 27th – 29th

Many wineries create themes around which they showcase wine paired with food, and entertainment. All showcase the best current releases, library wines, and special bottlings only available during Passport. Presented by Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley.    707-433-3031

www.wdcv.com 

 www.drycreekvalley.org/events/passport-dry-creek-valley

 

More events in Dry Creek Valley, check out this link:

 https://www.drycreekvalley.org/events/#by-reservation-only

More events in Napa, check out this link:

 https://www.visitnapavalley.com/events/arts-in-april/

 

Let’s Roll Wine Tours & Designated Drivers is in its 6th year of operations and we are happy to be here; and be here for YOU so you can enjoy the ride, the tour and especially the wine.

Cheers and let’s roll..

Deborah

Let’s Roll Wine Tours & Designated Drivers

Vineyard Photographer

 

 

Hiring a designated driver for a Wine Tour in Napa, Sonoma or wherever…

By | Wine tour

 


Have you wondered what a designated driver does? We, at Let’s Roll Wine Tours & Designated Drivers do just that… as a designated driver service we pick you up from your hotel,  Airbnb or from your home and drive you in the luxury of your car to the beautiful vineyards of Napa or Sonoma counties.

We will help you with your itinerary, if you like, or we can use what you have planned.

Here’s how it works:

What Our Designated Driver’s Do?

  1. We provide you with your own personal driver.
  2. We are a designated driver service and drive your vehicle.
  3. Call Let’s Roll or fill out the Request Form on the Contact Us page.
  4. You will talk to your driver directly.
  5. We can plan your itinerary, suggest wineries, make appts. or you can give us your itinerary. It’s all very easy.
  6. Your driver will meet you at your hotel or B&B, leave their car there and begin your tour in your car.
  7. Enjoy the tour.

We are insured as designated driver’s through Underwriter’s Lloyd’s of London. This also helps speed things up because we don’t have to meet you at the rental car company to sign our name on the contract. We already are insured. Makes things easier too.

Let’s Roll Wine Tours & Designated Drivers is in their 5th year of touring and we all still love what we do. Give us a call at 415-509-3438. We’re here for YOU!

Let’s Roll,

Deborah

 

 

 

 

mouth watering grapes on the vines

The Cabernet grapes are the last to crush

By | Wine tour

It’s October and the “Crush” is on. Northern CA, along with Napa & Sonoma County wineries are in full swing with picking grapes and continuing on with the fermentation.  The process of crushing and destemming is critical. Seeds and stems contain the high concentrations of tannins. This is what can make the wine taste bitter and have an undesirable flavor and what the wine makers try to avoid in the wine making process.

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On location at Savannah Chanelle winery, I photographed the guys picking grapes and the destemming process. The grapes were then transported into large stainless steel tanks and yeast was added in the tanks to ferment the wine.  This was a fascinating process to watch.

When is a good time to take a wine tour? NOW! The season will be winding down at the end of the month but there is always wine tasting all year long. Also, Wine Road is coming up November 5th & 6th, please book your tour with Let’s Roll Wine Tours & Designated Drivers.

The rains have come and gone … for now.

By | Wine tour

It’s a sumptuous green velvet turf all throughout the hills and valleys of this beautiful land of Northern California. Here in Marin County our reservoirs are full and they say will hold us for only two years. We still need more rain folks.

On the other hand I have had a couple cancellations with wine tours and photo shoots because of the rain. Oh no!! On the bright side it has given me some time to catch up on home chores and paperwork.

The vineyards are so close to bud break, I’m thinking in the next two weeks when we get some clear and warmer weather BAM! Bud Break!! It’s so exciting this time of year to see the first buds and green leaves pop up through the grapevine shoots.

We’re here for you.  Let’s Roll!

For more information about Let’s Roll Wine Tours, you can visit our website, email or call us 415.509.3438.