Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
or every 45 minutes in summer, from 10am to 3:45pm. From mid-April to mid-
October, Tuesday through Sunday at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm, there's also a rose-gar-
den tour of more than 250 varieties of roses, many of them antiques planted by
the first Czech immigrants. Interestingly, although 1.3 million cases a year are
made here, there are only eight people working in the factory, which probably
means your tour will outnumber them. There's also a little deli and market where
sandwiches and salads cost $7.50—not bad.
If your pockets are nearly empty and you lack for activities, this smaller vine-
yard, which has set up a few things for skinflints to do, is for you. Damaris Deere
Etheridge, an heir to the John Deere fortune, is one of the patrons of
Landmark
Vineyards
(101 Adobe Canyon Rd., Kenwood;
%
707/833-0218; www.landmark
wine.com; daily 10:30am-4:30pm),
which explains the bright green tractors sit-
ting in places where you might think they shouldn't. In addition to the free
tastings, which come with a souvenir glass, there's a small pond where catch-and-
release bass fishing is allowed. The winery will lend you a rod. What's more, it will
let you borrow equipment for its “Vinolympics,” a collection of pastimes such as
horseshoes, croquet, volleyball, and bocce ball. Remember that if you avail your-
self of these activities, it's customary to buy a bottle or a few glasses of their wine
in repayment. The gravel-lined courtyard isn't much for picnics, but
Sugarloaf
Ridge State Park
(2605 Adobe Canyon Rd., Kenwood;
%
707/833-5712; call for
hours; free),
with about 25 miles of hiking and horseback-riding trails, is about a
mile farther down the road that passes the winery.
It looks like some guy's house because it is:
Kaz Vineyard & Winery
555
(233
Adobe Canyon Rd., Kenwood;
%
877/833-2536; www.kazwinery.com; Fri-Mon
11am-5pm; tastings $5).
Richard “Kaz” Kasmier makes only 60 barrels a year, but
he does it with care and with 10 times fewer sulfites than his competitors. Some
say that you really need more sulfites to balance out the flavor, but the many peo-
ple who are made ill by sulfite-heavy wines will find his efforts useful. His winery
is strongly family oriented—the swing set on his property is for his grandkids, but
he encourages any visiting shorty to play on it, and to feed the fish in the koi pond
out back. Kaz doesn't take the area's pretentiousness very seriously; when I first
called to ask if his winery was open to visitors, I was told, “Yes, but only if you're
the right
kind
of visitor.” They were kidding, of course, a dry wit made even clearer
by the amusing names of his wines: Say “Rah,” Red Said Fred, and Moo Vedra
among them. Tastings are $5 for six. You'll find it a little down the turn-off from
Route 12 where you'll also find Landmark Vineyards.
The facility at
Ledson Winery & Vineyards
(7335 Sonoma Hwy./Rte. 12,
Kenwood;
%
707/537-3810; www.ledson.com; daily 10am-5pm),
though built to
imitate an old French Normandy mansion that looks like a house but isn't (it
hosts lots of weddings, though), is too perfect in that way that gives away its
recent construction. The building makes me think of a mansion where a dating
reality show might be shot. It's still beautiful and surely cost a lot, with carved
wood ceilings and a foyer that will drop you in your tracks. There's a small gar-
den in back where you can nibble on the cheeses and other light snacks on sale
along with the pottery and whatnot. The winery is so small-scale, it's not distrib-
uted to retail stores, so this is your chance to get a few bottles. Five-glass tastings
are $5 to $15, with whites being cheapest; you'll have had one full glass by the
end. The winery also runs a six-room hotel charging $400 a night. As if!
