We picked Suzanne and Roy up around 10:30 and drove up to Windsor
where we picked up our wine guides Joanne and Dave.
The first winery we stopped at was Rodney Strong.
There was a nice young man at the desk who poured for us.
By the time we had tasted five different wines I was getting a nice warm
wine glow. It’s a good thing we have Patti for our designated driver.
The last wine I tasted was a $75.00 per bottle red that was smooth as
silk but for $75.00 per bottle I think I’ll pass.
Roy found a Riesling that he liked and purchased a couple bottles.
After the tasting was done we took a self guided tour around the winery.
We saw the stainless steel where tanks the wine is fermented in
and the oak barrels.
The next winery we visited was a small family operation.
According the lady pouring for us it is the oldest continuously operating family winery in Sonoma county.
I think Suzanne and Roy wanted to adopt this bottle of wine.
The wine was okay but we didn’t buy any. I don’t normally drink much
so by the time we left I was feeling a little loopy. We decided that we
needed to get some food in us so we went to Healdsburg and stopped
for lunch.
The Bear Republic is a pretty nice place.
They serve food and have hundreds of different kinds of beers to
choose from.
We all ordered sandwiches and Roy, Dave and Joanne ordered beer,
Patti diet coke, Suzanne and I drank water. 
After a satisfying lunch we headed for another winery. This time it was
the Francis Ford Coppola winery and vineyards.
The winery and grounds are very impressive.
Here is the pool area
and some of the main buildings.
We spent most of our time there wandering around the Coppola Museum.
They had several interesting exhibits. The most impressive to me
was the beautifully preserved 1949 Tucker automobile.
There was some stuff from the “God Father” movie like the desk of Vito
Corleone.
They also had these two sailing ship models that were used in a sea
battle in a movie called “Marie Antoinette”
There was a lot of other stuff from Coppola movies like this wedding dress.
And this monster.
They were in the same exhibit but I don’t know what movie they are from.
We wandered around the museum for a while and decided that we had
already consumed enough wine for today so we headed for home with
a stop at another small winery “De La Montania” so Dave could pick up
some wine that they had ordered earlier.
From there we drove to the Windsor Town Green where we stopped
at Powell’s Candy store.
Powell’s is an old fashioned candy store with sweets that we all loved
from our childhood.
Here are a few pictures from inside the store.
Truffles and fudge, etc.
Candy galore.
Fortunately Patti and I have candy left over from Halloween so
we didn’t have to buy anything.
It was a fun day and something that I would not normally do.
I was surprised how much difference there is between wines from the
same vintners.
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