Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
in Sonoma, including the impossibly inclined
Jackass Hill, upon which tractors habitually
tip over. Leno's son Lee is walking some
land he has recently purchased, and ahead
he spots a couple having a picnic. They
strike up a conversation over the fence. It
turns out that his new neighbor, the woman,
is winemaker Helen Turley. Sonoma's great-
est grape grower had just bumped into one
of California's greatest winemakers. The
meeting turned out to be a fortunate coin-
cidence; a friendship began, and the Marti-
nellis soon decided to start making wine,
with Turley as their consultant.
Fast forward another 20 years. Marti-
nelli is now one of the most prestigious
wineries in the United States; its wine is in
such high demand that you have to go on
a waiting list to purchase the top labels.
Jackass Hill Zinfandel—named after that
famous hill—is a sought-after California
cult wine, rated by Robert Parker as “one
of the best.” Yet it is still very much a fam-
ily operation; the owners have not lost
sight of their humble origins, housing their
winery in a down-to-earth old red hop
barn set on a picturesque hill in the Rus-
sian River Valley. Here you enter a country
store-style tasting room packed with gifts
and gourmet local products. The tasting is
generous—the winery often slips in one of
its top wines to try for free.
The hillside behind the winery is an
ideal spot for a picnic, but be careful. You
never know whom you might meet.
Martinelli Winery,
3360 River Rd.,
Windsor (
&
800/346-1627;
www.martinelli
winery.com).
(
San Francisco International (83 miles/
133km).
L
$$$
Ledson Hotel,
480 First St. E.,
Sonoma (
&
707/996-9779;
www.ledson
hotel.com). $$
El Pueblo Inn,
896 W.
Napa St., Sonoma (
&
707/996-3651;
www.elpuebloinn.com).
West Coast U.S.
289
Langtry Estate Vineyards
The Wild, Wild West
Lake County, California
Lillie Langtry was a Victorian society
beauty who was anything but a repressed
Victorian. This flamboyant British actress
went through lovers like her winery went
through grapes—among others, she
counted the future King of England,
Edward II, as a pillow mate. She turned
heads and caused scandal wherever she
went (much like her friend Oscar Wilde),
and when England found her too hot to
handle, she crossed the Atlantic and took
America by storm. The male public was
obsessed by Langtry; Judge Roy Bean
named a town in Texas after her when he
spotted her portrait on the wrapping of a
bar of soap.
In 1888, Lillie bought a vineyard estate
in California, sight unseen, and arrived at
St. Helena in a lavish private railroad car. A
fleet of stagecoaches carried her and her
entourage to the Guenoc Valley, in Lake
County, north of Napa Valley. There she
set up shop, determined to make “the
greatest claret in the country.”
Lake County—named after Clear Lake,
the largest lake in California—nowadays is
a farming community of rolling green hills,
with only the occasional vineyard, but in
