{"product_id":"back-lane-wineries-of-sonoma-second-edition-isbn-9781607745921","title":"Back Lane Wineries of Sonoma, Second Edition","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis updated guide to the small and \"secret\" back-lane wineries and tasting rooms of Sonoma profiles over 70 hard-to-find, authentic boutique estates that feature world-class, artisanal wines revered by locals and critics.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEach year, tourists visit Sonoma’s well-trodden wineries, many of which offer wines you can buy readily on the shelves of your local grocery store. Far more difficult to find are the picturesque, oftentimes family-run wineries handcrafting exceptional wines revered by critics and locals alike. \u003ci\u003eBack Lane Wineries of Sonoma\u003c\/i\u003e will lead you to seventy of these gems, many with only a limited production and local distribution. Updated with new wineries, restaurants, and local attractions; maps; full-color photographs; and tips on wine-tasting etiquette, wine shipping services, and itinerary planning, this guide will prepare oenophiles and beginning wine-lovers alike to relish in the laid-back atmosphere that Sonoma has to offer.Maps\u003cbr\u003e Introduction\u003cbr\u003e How to Use This Book\u003cbr\u003e Wine Tasting Essentials \u003cbr\u003e Shipping Wines Home\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1\u003cbr\u003e Dry Creek Valley \u003cbr\u003e Wineries 20 | Provisions \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2\u003cbr\u003e Alexander Valley \u003cbr\u003e Wineries 74 | Provisions 90 | Diversions \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3\u003cbr\u003e Healdsburg \u003cbr\u003e Wineries\u003cbr\u003eProvisions\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4\u003cbr\u003e Russian River Valley \u003ci\u003eand Santa Rosa Area\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Wineries | Provisions  | Diversions \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5\u003cbr\u003e Sonoma Valley \u003ci\u003eand Los Carneros\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Wineries | Provisions  | Diversions \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Wine Shipping Services \u003cbr\u003e about the author \u0026amp; photographer\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cp\u003eTILAR MAZZEO is a New York Times best-selling author of books on wine, travel, French culture, and luxury, including\u003ci\u003e The Widow Clicquot, The Secret of Chanel No. 5, The Back Lane Wineries of Sonoma,\u003c\/i\u003e and the forthcoming \u003ci\u003eThe Ritz at War: Luxury in Occupied Paris.\u003c\/i\u003e She is also the co-owner of the online wine business LaLaWines.com and professor of English at Colby College.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The wines in Sonoma County are world-class, and each year more than 7.5 million tourists visit what locals call simply “the North Bay”—the rural and still magical wine country less than an hour north of San Francisco. And everyone knows, of course, that wine tasting is a serious business. Swirl, sniff, taste. There is nothing wrong with classiness and expertise and the love of a fine wine. This is the stuff la dolce vita is made of. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But the wine country is also, increasingly, big business. Many tasting rooms are slick retail operations run by corporate managers living somewhere a long way from Sonoma, offering wines that you can buy just as readily (and often less expensively) on the shelves of your local grocery store. Often, these are beautiful places, and I am not recommending that you pass them by entirely. A part of the California wine tasting experience is sitting on marbled Italianate terraces overlooking acres of perfectly pruned vineyards, basking in the warm sun and the intense loveliness of it all. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But you don’t need a guidebook to see this part of the North Bay wine country. Highway 101 is plastered with billboards, and you would be hard-pressed to miss the big-name tasting rooms clustered around the central plazas of quaint towns like Sonoma, Healdsburg, or Glen Ellen (all worth a leisurely visit). \u003cbr\u003e Just as exciting and often far more difficult to spot, however, are the small, back lane wineries of Sonoma, places that the critics, industry professionals, and locals revere but few visitors ever see. These are wineries run by the same people who grow the grapes and make the wines, and they are geared toward curious travelers looking to discover what it is about Sonoma County that makes everyone who lives here swear it is paradise. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This is a guide to those back lane wineries of Sonoma County. Places where you can find excellent handcrafted wines made by on-site proprietors, often with only a local or regional distribution and a limited case production. The vast majority of the wineries included in this book make fewer than ten thousand cases of wine a year, and the smallest produce only a hundred or two. The very largest make fewer than thirty-five thousand cases, and, in a county where some of the big commercial operations churn out five million cases of wine a year, this is still a small operation. Off the beaten path there are few marbled terraces or stucco palaces, but often these wineries are in the midst of striking beauty—overlooking a hundred acres of a wildlife preserve, on the edge of an ancient redwood forest, or tucked along a rural side road in the middle of open fields, where the proprietors are happy to watch you settle down for a picnic with a bottle or two of wine. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Best of all, in my mind, these are places where wine tasting gets down to earth. These are places where no one needs to show off how developed his or her palate is and where the winemakers welcome questions, from beginners and experts alike. Often, you will also find that these are the wineries where sustainable and organic viticulture is being pioneered. And, above all, these are wines that are likely to be a new experience, with names that you won’t find in big retail outlets back home. Amid the back lane wineries of Sonoma, you can still make secret discoveries.","brand":"Ten Speed Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301837557989,"sku":"NP9781607745921","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781607745921.jpg?v=1767722085","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/back-lane-wineries-of-sonoma-second-edition-isbn-9781607745921","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}