California Love

What an awesome, awesome place wine country is in California. Chris and I had the good fortune to spend 10 days with some of our favorite people following the marathon. Jessica and Chris Iloff and my Chris and I rented a 1,000 square foot house in Santa Rosa for a week. We roughed it with a hot tub with stunning views, our own dog and cat, an SUV for carrying boxes and boxes of wine and 90 degree weather. We cooked, drank mass amounts of coffee and wine and generally onwound for the week.

We were joined for a few days by Clayton Gehbauer and Leah Hammel (or the Hammelbauers, as we affectionately call them), of St. Louis. Leah and Chris met in second grade and Clayton came along in middle school. It was their first time out to wine country, and we were happy to show them around to what we knew.

The pictures will give a more accurate description of our trip, but here's a quick rundown if you're thinking of heading to any of these places on your next trip.

Some of our favorite vineyards and tasting rooms were: Hook & Ladder Winery, unpretentious and simply great wine (Santa Rosa, CA). We loved the Merlot (many of them tasting like Cabs this year), Zinfandel, and, of course, the Tillerman, their famous red wine blend


We enjoyed a private poolside estate tasting at VJB Vineyards & Cellars overlooking their breathtaking vineyard (Kenwood, CA). They specialize in Italian varietals (and even have a sister winery in Italy). We loved the Prosecco (who doesn't?!), Rosso (red table wine blend), Barbera and Syrah (which, apprently we should'nt be drinking until 2018!)



We adored
Kaz Winery in Kenwood. We were in last year and had to return! The vineyard is organic (no yucky wine headaches), and is truly the smallest winery in Sonoma. Kaz will make four barrels of something rather than 400, so if you like something, you'd better buy it. They make the best rose Chris has ever had and some chewy reds. It's hard not to leave with a bottle or two. Here we crushed grapes, samples mustards and had a light saber fight (don't ask).


We lounged in the hot tub, sampled wines and relaxed all week with some of our favorite people! We can't wait to go back!