Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Sunday's Wine Festival

100* in Elgin, where the Sonoita Vineyards are located.

We had to drive around a mountain to get there. It's very wide open country with huge buttes rising up out of the dry ground. Surprisingly, there were many cows.

Must be close, huh?

After doing this festival for 25 years, I would have thought they'd have a more professional sign, but maybe that just adds to the country atmosphere!

Plenty of barrels of this lovely wine!

There was indeed grape stomping! We did not partake, only because it was too danged hot to stand in line to get in. And let's face it, so many more wines to taste!

Meet Lola, the official vineyard dog. Isn't she a beauty? One of the employees found her half starved, just wandering around, and they adopted each other.

The Busted Cowboy Band. Hard to tell by this picture, but they were awesome! The boys can rock! Before we got there, I had pictured live music outside, but, really, it would have been tough in that heat.

Hubby & his new friend who likes wine. There was horseback riding available as well as horse-drawn wagons to tour the vineyards. Maybe we'll try it in the fall when the temperature makes that a more inviting adventure. Really, doesn't it make you wonder how people built lives and prospered in this area?

Ahhh, that's better! A nice spot on the lawn, under a big cottonwood tree!

Our favorite wine of the day was the Sonora Rossa, a red wine made from Columbard, Merlot, & Cabernet grapes. It's described as light and spicy, ideal with pasta and barbeque. Mmmmm.

All in all, the festival was not what I had pictured in my mind. But the food was great, the wine delicious, and with a turnout of over 200 people, it was all good.

9 comments:

Cynthia L. H. said...

How wonderful!
mmmmmm(that last photo!)
;^) ;^) ;^)

amuse me said...

I liked your line - so many more wines to taste -- I'm right there with you. Looks like it was great fun. Glad you could post pictures. 100 degrees! :) M

septembermom said...

Great photos to tell your wine festival story! A horse drawn wagon tour of the vineyard would be fun.

Heather said...

Lisa, these are wonderful photos to share in your day!! The sunshine, the country, the precious little doggy...everything. Thank you, girlfriend :)

NanU said...

It looks like you had a great day.
Love that sign!

pam said...

I wish I lived somewhere fun like you!

Elaine said...

I love your photos! They're beautiful! What kind of camera do you use? I'm in the market for one and I'm "making my list" lol. Well I'm really in the saving for it, checking everything out stage. Well of course I can tell you're a great photographer too....some people can't take good shots no matter what kind of camera they have :0 Anyway, I enjoyed the tour today....looks like you had fun. I don't know if I could have resisted jumping in that barrel of grapes.....I've wanted to do that ever since I saw Lucy do it!!!

Anonymous said...

What a fabulous trip!

Graham Edwards said...

It looks wonderful. Thanks for the experience. I've never been to a wine festival in the States. In fact when we 'did' the wineries in California it was the only day in three weeks when it rained and it poured all day. I can't wait to get back to summer in New Zealand and music festivals at the wineries. Nowhere near as hot as yours and a dry day's not guaranteed but the wine is!

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