Back to wine country we go!
Even tempered by the legacy of COVID protocols, there is exuberance in that sentence. The exuberance of travel to a beautiful destination. The exuberance of tasting wine in the place where it was grown. The exuberance of gathering again, among colleagues and friends and even strangers who share the common ground of loving wine.
That exuberance was palpable last week, as I participated as a guest at several tastings and programs related to the Sonoma County Wine Auction. The auction raised more than $1.7 million for local non-profit organizations, and I’ll be writing more about it in the coming days. I’m particularly interested in the beneficiaries of the funds, and how their intentions have evolved and responded to COVID-era needs and conditions.
Right now, though, let’s dwell in the exuberance just a bit longer.
The experience of returning to wine country — as tourists and industry professionals — is in some ways a pendulum swing. On one end is the anxiety of re-entering that is compounded by crowds and long queues. But on the other end (the exuberant end) is the pleasure of in-person eye contact again that is compounded by relief and long hugs.
Here are three themes that were prominent for me during my days in Sonoma last week, as I returned to wine country with a refreshed, so-glad-to-be-back perspective.
The New Normal Greeting
There are, of course, now health and safety protocols upon entering an event. They mean that once you’re inside and beyond those checks, you can feel fairly confident that other guests have either been vaccinated or shown evidence of a recent negative COVID test.
Still, greeting colleagues and friends you haven’t seen in a while is like a mini square dance of hand gestures and body language, communicating questions like is-it-safe-to-hug and can I kiss you on the cheek and are you comfortable doing this? It’s a COVID-era pantomime, and it’s fascinating and very entertaining to watch it unfold.
Taking the Long Way Around
There’s a far more direct route to Sonoma than the one I drove from San Francisco airport, and there are far more accurate navigation directions than “Find Highway One and head north.”
For this trip and this re-entry, however, I took the long way around because even the sight of the ocean and the remote Sonoma coastline makes me feel as though I have more air in my lungs and a fresh flow of oxygen in my blood. I took the time to recalibrate my breath to wine country. It was a singular experience, and a happily solitary one for me this time as well.
Unaccustomed Vistas
“People actually get to LIVE here.”
That’s bound to be a reaction from visitors to wine country, who come upon an iconic view of vineyards ranging over hillsides or any number of equally striking, singularly beautiful vistas we encounter while driving along some of the back roads of Sonoma county.
When it really hits home, so to speak, is tasting a vineyard designated wine with the level of certainty that its grapes were grown right there. That immediacy and direct geographic link of vineyard to glass has, of course, always been one of the most compelling drivers of wine tourism. But it seems to have become even more poignant and significant as the industry and its guests re-engage after COVID.