Moon Northern California Wine Country

This is a great book for those wondering where to go and what to do in the wine country, and also a pretty good resource for winetasting in general. I've lived in Northern California for most of my life and always wondered where to go. I was sick of going to the same 3-4 wineries in Napa every year. So I bought this book. It does a great job of describing the history and general feel for wine regions I had heard of but didn't know anything about - such as Carneros, Dry Creek, Russian River, Anderson Valley, and Santa Cruz. The author is apparently a wine-writer, which comes through in this book. For example, he explains the difference between organic and biodynamic wine making and recommends wineries that do both. He also discusses the art of winetasting at great length, which I found helpful. When he lists a winery, he mentions the wines that the winery is known for and suggests tasting certain wines. There is a glossary with dozens of winetasting terms. He has some useful suggested itineraries. We enjoyed the "Classic Cabernets" and "Pleasures of Pinot" self-tours. And the book's maps are useful. Even though I usually use my car's GPS unit to find wineries and restaurants, some of the addresses aren't in my maps so I have to rely on the maps in the book, which are pretty accurate. The maps are also useful to plan an itinerary. One word of caution - I would double check the hours of wineries, even though they are listed in the book, because they seem to change. Same goes for the restaurants. But otherwise its a great book.

Trip to wine country comes up in September. However, having been to the area many times before I was curious to see what new wineries the book listed and some of the things wineries are delving into beside great wine. Balsamic vinegar has become a hot commodity and I look forward to sampling some at the Terraces Winery in Rutherford. Will update review upon my return in October.