a road trip to one of our favorite vacation spots. So, in the true spirit of California Wine Magazine, we did just that in July of this year.  It was a wonderful trip and what one of our principals likes to call a “recon” trip because we knew we didn’t have enough time to do more than just get a feel for a wine region as far flung as this one. We had a wonderful time, saw some incredible scenery, and got tricked by the sheer vastness of the region more than once.  Although we plan on returning in the not too distant future and doing a more thorough analysis of the wines and wineries of this wonderful region, for now we have put together a little information on the operating commercial wineries; where they are, what they make, and how you can contact them. So sit back and take a little trip to this dramatic land of active volcanoes, rushing rivers, tall mountains and picturesque valleys.

Because this is such a large region with so much to see and do, we have split this article up into three sections; this one that describes our trip, one that is specifically about the wineries themselves (click here for the winery article), and one that will be devoted to cycling in the region . We hope it isn't too confusing, but it was necessary to keep the pages from becoming too large to make sense. Continued ...