Pruning and the Beginning of Our Second Growing Season

In the “It Never Gets Old” category, we woke up early Tuesday morning to a line of cars parked in the vineyard. That can only mean one thing: It’s time to begin this year’s growing season by pruning the vines. When to prune and how to prune are the first of many decisions we make each growing year. In almost every respect, they are the most important decisions.

Sonoma County Bakery Bakes with Passion

Owner Beth Thorp of Nightingale Breads bakes bread of such unique quality that you can identify it in one bite: Once, we dove into the bread basket at the renowned Farmhouse and immediately asked our server, “This is from Nightingale, isn’t it?”

Wells Fargo Center Offers World-Class Entertainment

The scenic and bountiful land, the world-recognized wine and food, and the warm-hearted people make us feel blessed to live in this nook of Sonoma County. Recently, we’ve been enjoying another benefit of this area: we are just three right turns and a 12-minute drive from the world-class entertainment offerings of the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, Calif.

11 Water Conservation Tips from Gantz Family Vineyards

While growers around the Russian River Valley have been greeting each other with, “Pray for rain,” for a while, the drought is now becoming a concern for all Californians. With the drought obvious every time we look out a window – we have almost no cover crop and very little green growth in our yard to help with soil retention – Gantz Family Vineyards has been doing what we can to conserve water. Here are some tips that have worked for us and might work for you, too:

Wine Tasting at Porter-Bass Vineyard & Winery

We made an appointment to taste at Porter-Bass Vineyard & Winery, a biodynamic vineyard and winery nestled between two redwood-covered ridges southeast of Guerneville, CA, just nine miles east of the ocean.

5 Ways to Use Persimmons (Not Just Recipes)

A common quandary in the Russian River Valley this time of year is what to do with all the persimmons? A full-grown tree can produce a lot of fruit, and all of it is ripe at the exact same time. The fruit is too precious to let it spoil -- I see small, little guys going for $2 at the local grocery store -- so here are some ideas for how you can use all that lovely fruit so it doesn't go to waste: