Sunday, July 24, 2011

California: Wine Country

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Blouse: H&M, Skirt: Urban Outfitters, Shoes: Rachel Antonoff for Bass

On Tuesday, we headed out to Sonoma in Wine Country to visit a few vineyards. Of course, being only 19, I couldn't actually drink any wine or champagne, but it was fun to see the process of how it's all made and where it comes from. First we went to Kendall-Jackson Winery where we got a sweet little garden tour. We saw teeny grapes growing that would eventually be turned into white wine and a ton of other fruits, vegetables and flowers they had growing as well. There were beautiful huge sunflowers, the best-smelling basil, and tiny little raspberries, just to name a few favorites. They also had a beautiful flower garden that you can see in some of my pictures. Afterwards we had lunch and went on a tour of the Korbell Winery, where they make mostly champagne. After seeing the vineyards at Kendall-Jackson, it was nice to get an inside look at how the final product is actually produced. Our tour guide was less than enthusiastic (which I can't blame him for, as there was this total jerk in our group who kept commenting and asking impossible questions) but I enjoyed walking through the wine cellars and even seeing the "world's largest bottle of champagne." Our tour guide also mentioned that about five minutes up the road from the winery was the red wood forest where they filmed a few scenes from Return of the Jedi! Being a fan of both nature and Star Wars, I convinced the rest of my family to drive up there. It was so worth it. I had never been to a redwood forest before then, and goodness me is it beautiful and awe-inspiring and a million other positive phrases. So, basically, my day in wine country was fairly close to perfect, even though I couldn't drink (not that I even wanted to), though I imagine that's what most people go to wine country to do in the first place.

In the garden at Kendall-Jackson

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Cabbage Patch!
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Inside the Korbell wine cellars
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Star Wars Redwoods!
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It's not easy trying to fit a whole redwood tree into one photo, let me tell you.
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It totally looks like I'm balancing that light ball on my shoulders. Magic!
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Until tomorrow,
Nicole

9 comments:

  1. i love the redwoods. the redwoods almost convinced me to move to humboldt : http://tinyurl.com/3z4amtf

    and those rachel antonoff shoes! i've been dying over them, and the ones i wanted more than anything sold out before i could get them.

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  2. Fabulous photos!!! I love going to wineries. Even if you aren't into drinkings it nice to just go there and walk around and learn. Although, I do partake in the usual taste test since I am of age and I enjoy a good pinot noir :)

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  3. I want to go to a vineyard and wine tasting someday now that I can taste! The forest looks so beautiful. I can't imagine trees that tall! I'm glad you had a perfect day.

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  4. when you first said only 19, I furrowed my brows a bit and then I remembered that the age limit is different in Canada- 19 and isn't 21 over there (no worries I'm no drinker :) I am completely smitten by your shoes, so lovely. the redwoods aside from the beautiful vineyard are awe-worthy its nice to be in the prescence of massive greatness.

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  5. if i would have known you'd be in sonoma i would have directed you to a yummy restaurant that a family friend owns! also, sonoma is really close to where i live, so we could have met there too. :)

    so glad you have fun! honestly i've never explored napa/sonoma for wine tasting! not quite into that sort of thing yet, as you probably could assume ;)

    x

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  6. These pics are beautiful, seems like you had so much fun on your trip!
    I'm so jealous you went to a place when the Return of the Jedi was filmed!!
    You look great btw, I just love your shoes!

    http://lifeisaromanticpoem.blogspot.com/

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  7. hehe that IS a tall sunflower. My uncle holds the world record for the tallest one (in NY state). I took a photo of it when he grew it back a few years ago. This reminded me of it!

    I love your skirt and it seems like it was such a gorgeous place to be in.

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  8. AMAZING :O! The only bad thing about being underage... not being able to drink wine! :( but we're close, so no worries! I love your outfit so much, I can't decide what I like the most because everything's perfect

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  9. I LOVE all these California posts! They make me miss home so much but in a good way. Thanks for posting!

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Thank you so, so much for taking some time to comment on my blog!