SHORT TRIPS
GETAWAY EXCURSIONS

Why not stay in a vineyard
for a different, relaxing getaway?

By Paul Franson
Correspondent

In Europe, one of the most delightful experiences you can have is staying a few days at a working winery and vineyard, enjoying the tranquility, wine and, often, great food.

It’s surprisingly difficult to do that here in the U.S. Some wineries have restaurants. Some have B&Bs. Few have both.

In Napa Valley, you can stay amidst vineyards at Milat Vineyards, Prager Port Works or RustRidge Ranch In St. Helena. All are modest accommodations, with one of Milat’s rooms over a barn. None have restaurants, though they aren’t far away. You can walk to Tra Vigne or Pinot Blanc from Prager.

RustRidge, about 15 minutes from town in a peaceful valley, has a full kitchen, but most guests drive into town.

Upscale from rustic rooms in Napa’s vineyards is the elegant B&B at Fetzer Vineyards Valley Oaks center In Hopland, two hours from the East Bay.

You enter Valley Oaks a mile east of Hopland through a row of giant elm trees lining the driveway to the former working farm. The guest rooms are in an old barn, but you’d never know it. One suite on the second floor commands views of vineyards and hills from its deck. The stylish main room has inviting chairs around a large coffee table. There’s a kitchen in the corner, but breakfast is served with a stay,

In this guest suite, TV is banished to the bedroom, but there’s a commodious Jacuzzi in the modern bathroom. The suite costs $175 per night. Regular rooms go for $125.

During the day, you can enjoy a secluded pool or walk through the majestic oaks that gave the property its name to visit the Bonterra organic garden. You can take a tour to learn more about native and drought-tolerant plants and your guide will encourage you to taste herbs, perhaps with a glass of wine to show how the flavors clash and complement.

The garden highlights one of Fetzer’s passions. It is committed to protecting the environment, and its practices extend beyond sustainable grape-growing to recycling, energy and material conservation and many other steps that are still unusual in corporate America.

Mendocino wines aren’t as well known as those of Napa or Sonoma, but many are excellent. They come mostly from two distinct areas, the cool Anderson Valley near the coast (Fetzer also has a tasting room in Mendocino), and in the inland area around Hopland and Uklah. Just to the East is McDowell Valley, an even warmer area ideal for Rhône varieties.

Being a visitor center, Valley Oaks has a friendly tasting room that features Fetzer’s many wines. Best known is Sundial Chardonnay, an inexpensive slightly sweet white with caramel and vanilla flavors popular with many consumers. The winery’s second most popular wine is Eagle Peak Merlot. There’s no charge to taste wines.

Fetzer also makes more upscale wines and some that aren’t widely available.

Fetzer’s Bonterra line of wines is farmed organically, though it’s difficult to make good wines without using sulfur dust to discourage mildew and sulfur dioxide to kill bacteria during fermentation and storage. The Bonterra wines, however, use minimal chemicals and best of all, the wines taste great, which can’t be said for some organic wines.

As you taste the Fetzer wines, you might consider which would be best with a picnic. Adjoining the tasting room is a deli with the makings for a sumptuous lunch to enjoy under the oaks or vine-covered arbors. The deli closes at 5. You could buy something for dinner, but even better would be to attend a cooking class by renown chef John Ash at the demonstration kitchen.

Of course, cooking class is a bit misleading, for the sessions also include wine tasting — and eating the food the chef prepares. You can enjoy your wine on the deck overlooking a pond, watching swallows dart after bugs with rolling hills and old hop barns in the distance. Ash also puts on dinners; as you might expect, they’re pretty spectacular.

If there’s no cooking class on, you can drive or walk into nearby Hopland.

The biggest attraction in Hopland is the Thatcher Inn, an old hotel converted into an elegant B&B. Wednesday through Saturday hotel owners Marlena and Donald Sacca serve gourmet dinners; both are graduates of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.

Marlena is from Romania and usually offers a Romanian specialty or two among the selections. If you’re interested, call to see what’s on the menu.

If the weather is good, you can eat on the sheltered patio. The lovely old bar is open only to guests of the hotel — including dinner guests. Both can enjoy the Fireside Library with more books than many small-town libraries.

Next to the Thatcher Inn is the Boneyard, which serves hearty barbecue and similar family fare. It will shortly move across the street to the Schoolhouse Plaza at Brutocao, adding pizza and pasta.

Brutocao is a long-time grower now making wine; it’s rebuilding Hopland High School into a complex that will offer wine tasting and concerts along with the restaurant. It already has a bocce ball court by a hillside of roses.

The Mendocino Brewing Company, first brew pub in California after Prohibition, is home of Red Tail Ale. It also offers pub grub. Next door is the Cheesecake Lady with her calorific delights. Across the street is the Bluebird Cafe with enlightened coffee shop fare. South of town is Real Good’s Solar Living Center, demonstrating environmental heating, cooling and life style.

Jepson Winery north of town has one of the few copper pot stills in California. Milone Winery is south of town and McDowell Valley Cellars five miles east.

If you go: Hopland lies on highway 101 an hour north of Santa Rosa.

Useful numbers and web sites: Fetzer Vineyards Visitor Center at valley Oaks, 800-846-8637; www.fetzer.com. Thatcher Inn, 800-266-1891, www.thatcherinn.com.