We couldn't leave the bay area without a visit to Napa and Sonoma valleys...
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Sonoma Historic Village
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More of Sonoma Historic Village
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Just like a scene out of a western...
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Now to Madonna Vineyard and down to the business of the day. Grapes...
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Grapes make wine. Wine is great. We like wine.
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Grapes grow in a vineyard.
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They are small, round and green. As they grow some stay green, others turn purple or red. All grapes have clear juice and can make white wine. Red wine is made by using the skins of red or purple grapes as well as the juice.
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Wine. Maturing. In a barrel.
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More barrels = more wine. More barrels is therefore a good thing.
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For goodness sake, stop messing about with your posh corkscrew and telling as about wine, let's get down to business!
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Neil is fascinated by the chat.
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Always ensure the bar is spotless before pouring wine.
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Ahhhh, we're getting there...
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Yes! This is what we want!
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Abstract.
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The villa in the distance looks like a rather nice residence, although I suspect it costs more than the whole of Scotland.
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It gets pretty hot in the valley, good for growing grapes, but too hot for me. Sadly this fountain was too small for me to jump into to cool down.
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At least it's cool in the wine cellars.
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Hundreds of people flock to V. Sattui Winery for their luncheon BBQ.
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Of course, another attraction is that you can taste the wine after lunch.
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Mmmm.... I wonder how much wine you could make with that lot. Did you know that as a rule of thumb, it takes 1 grape to make 1ml of wine? So a bottle of wine is made from about 750 grapes. It's a lot cheaper to buy most wine than to buy 750 grapes though. I wonder if it contributes to your 5-a-day...
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The "Super Sightseeing" coach that was our valiant steed for the day. Very comfortable.
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A line of glasses on the bar, filled with nothing but potential at the moment...
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Pouring at the Sutter Home winery.
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They have rather fancy lights, which look llike inverted cocktail glasses. Surely the inverted wineglass look would have been more appropriate?
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A little display in the corner...
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All of the wineries we visited did great little presentations on their history and wines - making the day a lot of fun.
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I wouldn't mind living there either... Much as it is smaller than the earlier villa, I suspect it would still cost the same to buy as all of Edinburgh...
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