Day 8 - Tuesday, July 20

Sonoma Valley, California. Sonoma Valley is about 30 minutes west of Napa and has more than 300 wineries. As you can probably imagine, this area of the country is packed with grape growing and wine-making. Sonoma Valley seemed more laid back and easy going, whereas Napa Valley was more upscale and sheik.



Today's first stop was B.R. Cohn Winery & Olive Oil Company. We learned that the winery is owned by Bruce Cohn, manager of the famous band, The Doobie Brothers. Apparently, 40 years ago Bruce Cohn became the band's manager and has managed the band and owned this winery ever since. The winery had lots of Doobie Brothers paraphernalia and we learned some fun facts about the band:







Ledson Winery & Vineyards:







Overall, our Napa/Sonoma experience was great, albeit too short! If we ever come back for another visit, we'd probably prefer Sonoma, as it has a more friendly, laid back feel. The tasting fees in both valleys ranged from $10-$25 per flight, depending on the winery. The cost was a little surprising, as tasting fees for the NY Finger Lakes wine trails and Long Island wine trails are generally around $5 flight.

Before heading back to San Francisco, we stopped in Cellars of Sonoma, a wine tasting bistro in the heart of Santa Rosa. This place offered tastings of select wineries with very small distributions. Marshall enjoyed this, as if gave him an opportunity to taste some wines that are not available outside this area.

Crossing back over the Golden Gate: