Arista Winery

By now, it was mid-afternoon on Sunday and we had maybe 8 miles to go to get back to Healdsburg. Ann and Laurie were aiming to be shopping in town by 4pm and we were diligently trying to keep on schedule.

But, I really wanted to check out one more new winery on Westside Road called Arista. I had seen their website and it looked like a really nice place to picnic and relax. So, I stopped at the entrance and suggested that we really should check this one out.

Boy am I glad that we did. The Japanese-style gardens were absolutely beautiful and we were very lucky to score the best table on the grounds for another picnic snack. Ann and I checked out the tasting room and hastily chose a pinot noir to match our remaining food. The wine was incredibly good. Ann thought it was the best so far and it certainly was good. It was hard to remember exactly how it compared to the Gary Farrell pinots by now but I think we were more wowed by the setting and that made the wine even more special.

Ann and Laurie begin to scheme about creating a garden such as this at home!

Here is a photo of this picture-perfect picnic spot that we had. Unreal! This was the perfect ending to our wine-tasting for the day and we toasted to future trips such as this one, maybe at some point visiting the vineyards of France.

Arista's Gardens

I scrambled up on the large boulder next to the table to take this photo:

Bella and Arista were two great discoveries on this trip. The caves at Bella and the gardens of Arista won't soon be forgotten. Oh, and the wines were very good too.

After an exquisite picnic at Arista, Laurie looked at her watch and saw that it was almost 4pm now. She had been bamboozled!!! I think the quality time we spent at this last winery visit was well worth the delay in shopping. Laurie and Ann took off before Jim and me. We thought we'd catch up to them on the bike ride back to Healdsburg but we didn't!!!!! It felt like Jim and I were pedaling fast as the sun was getting low over the hills to the west. I thought we would surely catch up to them.

Apparently, their desire to shop was stronger than our desire to catch them. So, Jim and I went back to the vehicles and then drove toward Healdsburg Square to park and find them. After 30 or so miles of biking we had a hankering for a cold shake and a seat to rest in. We eventually caught up to the shoppers and headed home to get ready for a decadent night at Madrona Manor.

To celebrate our anniversaries, both in October, we planned to have one big fancy meal at a special place. Ann made the reservation at Madrona Manor, which is also a bed & breakfast place.

Jim, Ann and I wait by the fire before dinner

We were treated to an incredible meal with a wide variety of foods and wines to go with them. This was a gastronomical event, the likes of which I've never experienced. It was also the most expensive meal of my life but it was quite an ending to a great weekend.