Dry Creek Valley

Alexander Valley View

Today, I was excited to ride my bike once again through Dry Creek Valley. In my limited wine country experience, West Dry Creek Road is the best biking road I have ever seen. Sure, there is some traffic but it is generally slow. Drivers on this road don't seem to be in a great hurry and are respectful of the numerous bikers. This is one of the most popular bike routes in the area and for good reason.


But first, there were the logistics of packing up, loading the cars with suitcases and wine purchases, and then figuring out how three of us could bike during the day while the three others traveled a similar route by car. Jim wanted to show Mom and Dad the spectacular canyon route just east of our house so he drove his car up the canyon and then on to see Hanna Winery based on our recommendation from the morning ride. Laurie and Ann rode their bikes into Healdsburg where they would meet up with me in the van at Simi Winery. At Simi, I pulled my bike out of the van and joined them for the first half of the Dry Creek Valley bike ride.

We rode up some nice hills (Laurie might not call them nice) just west of Route 101 on Lytton Springs Road. This road took us by Ridge Winery and, one of our favorites, Mazzocco. It was hard not to visit Mazzocco again for one more quick sampling but we had miles to ride yet before we would meet up with Jim, Mom and Dad. As we took this great short cut to Dry Creek Road, we decided to pull into Mauritson Winery tasting room for a quick rest and wine sample. The wines were delish and Laurie was quite fond of the Sauvignon Blanc.

Next stop was the famous Dry Creek Store less than a mile north on Dry Creek Road. Laurie and Ann were ready for some sustenance as they had ridden 6 miles more than I had and it truly was lunchtime now. The store was very busy. This was Saturday and it sure seemed like the San Francisco crowd was here for the weekend. Plus, the weather was perfect.

Dry Creek Store

As we were about to hit the road again with beef jerky (Ann's vice apparently), Jim drove into the store parking lot to pick up some lunch stuff. We still had 6 miles to ride to get to our destination - the Ferrari-Carano Winery - at the northern end of the valley.

This winery had been recommended to us by a friend and by Wine Spectator magazine. On the drive north, we passed by some of our favorite vineyards including Peterson, Martin and Hawley. Laurie and I had become acquainted with these small wineries by the great tasting room called Locals in Geyserville. In retrospect, we somehow should have planned to stop at these types of small tasting rooms along the way. To me, this is where the charm of Sonoma wine country is at its most magical. You can see the fruits of the labor of love so clearly here. These places have a personal touch that matters more than the high society feel of the bigger and more glamorous wineries.

And so, it should have been with some trepidation that we visited a place like Ferrari-Carano, the glam end of the wine tasting spectrum...