Why Wine Tasting is My Favorite Olympic Sport

Anyone who knows me understands that I'm a one-hit wonder when it comes to drinking. One glass of wine, beer, cocktail, whatever- and you get "just Jess" - no filter, no-holds-barred, fun-time girl. Everyone who knew me back in the South Africa days remembers my long ranting emails about the wineries and the bars and the crazy nights on the African plains. Well- I've gotten a little older, and wiser, but I definitely haven't lost the sheer enjoyment of riding through vineyards, tasting phenomenal wine with friends and having a fabulous time. I think it is my favorite Olympic Sport. Last weekend, our buddy from Baltimore, James Dull, came over to visit and we took him and my co-worker friend Caitlin out to "do Sonoma" and I think we out-did ourselves. Special thanks goes to Hubby who abstained (mostly) at the last three wineries in order to get us home safely! With Hubby in the driver's seat and me plotting out wineries on the GPS with James D's Wine Map- we started out around noon last weekend to one of the wineries we took my Mom to that we really enjoyed- Iron Horse- to start the day out with some sparklers and a great view. Take a look at that view!!!

Nowadays at every winery you pay a $5-$15 tasting fee, but that gets waived if you buy a bottle. SO- you can't just not buy something! We got a nice, not-too-sweet $20 Rose for a hot day- I kissed the grapes goodbye-

while James contemplated owning a vineyard!
and then we moved on unsteadily to Russian River Valley Winery to try to find some BALANCE!

The Russian River Valley Winery had a great GEWURTZTRAMINER!! (Caitlin says the name of this wine with "Gesundheit" force now since the winery barista taught her how to say the name!) and Caitlin and James D both bought a bottle. We had a fantastic time here with the staff person that served us up- I'm not sure what they call themselves- Tasting Room Hosts, Grape Baristas, Wine-o's... in any case- ours just called herself "a Drunk" and we all had a fabulous time in her company. We had another 5 tastings here (with James getting a 6th because as our host called it "you get an extra pour if you finish first." We were all just getting warmed up and so we took a quick drive down the road to a winery called Gary Farrell winery, which brought out the best and worst in us....

The view at this winery is magnificent. The wine is magnificent. Put them together and what do you get?



We were a little silly for such a serious winery, but we were having so much fun!

Here's me thanking James for sitting this tasting out so he could still drive!.....

Because by that point I was a little toasty!!

Our Second-to-last stop was not quite as momentous, but I did end up purchasing a stellar Family Reserve Pinot Noir at the Moshin Winery while the rest of the gang took a break...

Pork Rinds- what a great way to cleanse the palate in between tastings!??

Our final stop was ARISTA winery- where PANDEMONIUM

ensued! I can't quite remember the wine here, but we had a fantastic time in their gardens.

There were a few parlor tricks:

A Jess Sandwich:

Some gymnastics:

Disobeying the signs to stay off the rocks!

Some Girl-on-Girl action:

Some inappropriate behavior:

and A few "Strike a Pose" moments:


We had a fabulous time and then drove to Santa Rosa for an always magnificent dinner at our favorite restaurant "Flavor" in the square. It was an awesome day and we rode home under a beautiful clear sky with a full moon. I challenge any Olympian to have more fun than we did!! We hope to have many more great times with all of you- COME FOR A VISIT and we'll challenge you to a match in my favorite sport!