Sunshine-n-Wine

  Rutherford Hill Having a milestone birthday in 2020 is a bitch!  We had two cruises cancelled this year due to COVID-19, so when it came time to figure out how to replace my birthday cruise in October, we chose Napa.  Because... duh.  We visited many repeat wineries where we are wine club members so I will not re-iterate those again; rather, I will add the new-to-us ones in this blog post. For those who haven't travelled here since COVID-19 started, here's a couple things that were different on this trip: All tastings were by appointment only, no more than 6 to a group All tastings were conducted outside with no tours It was HOT but the smoke from the Glass Fire was gone Restaurants were still at 25% indoor capacity, with almost all offering takeout or outdoor seating Masks required all the time except when sitting for a tasting and eating In Lodi, all tastings were done in a flight format.  VERY different than what we have seen anywhere in wine country, thanks to COVID. Lodi

Because the hubs was working at a location just outside of Portland, OR, we decided to take full advantage and spend a beautiful weekend tasting our way around Willamette Valley.  If you have been to Sonoma, you will find that Willamette is similar although still more farm-like with a definite trend in moving toward the commercial for some wineries.  Sad but understandable.  My advice is this - if you have been wanting to go, go now while there are still many small wineries, where you stand a good chance of spending some time with the owners and wine makers. Here is a short rundown of the wineries only. Bryn Mawr Vineyards boasts a new tasting room with a great views.  The wine maker is a woman (yay girl power) who making some some very nice small-batch wines.  Included with our tasting, which we shared, was a small dish of cheese and animal crackers.  Cheese goes well with wine, animal crackers do not.  We were both a bit baffled by the choice.  We arrived right at 10 because tha