Dry Creek and Sustainable Farming

Monday Morning, another beautiful day. Kelly is behind the wheel, and take off back towards Sonoma County for our appointments.

A note about Tim-Tim (a.k.a: Timmy T, Tim-Tom, you stupid piece of shit): At the beginning of this trip, I sat on the floor and very carefully programmed the addresses into "Our Favorites". Now sometimes it can be confusing, as the town borders are kind of funky, un-named dirt roads, no street numbers, etc...). Ergo, he occassionally tries to send us off-roading in our little Avenger and tells us we "have reached our destination" 1/2 a mile shy.

We are rolling thru the beautiful hills and curves of the Dry Creek region, blindly following Tim-Tim's direction, when he directs us to "turn left ahead" on a dirt/mud track thru the vineyard. Luckily, we had recently seen a sign for the winery and took off.

Michel Schlumberger is all organic and sustainable farming (no chemicals, no pesticides, let Mother Nature do her thing and keep an eye on the enviroment around you). We are greeted by Jerry (hospitality), Judd (the financial man), and Mike (the wine maker) and set off for a walk around the property. There are chickens (used for pesticide control) and sheep (used for landscaping and mowing), complete with mobile pens that can be moved about. Sheep are preferred over goats, as goats (a) eat everything in sight and (b) chew the grass too low. There are bird house everywhere, with over 45 species on the property.

We wandered around the property, which is also bordered by "wine creek". Mike and the team keep this area "silt free" and the owner installed a rather elaborate drainage system underground to filter/clean the water before dumping it in the steam. Steelhead and Salmon also rush up and spawn in this creek (Melissa's wine pick" The La Brume Chardonnay)

We unpack the little Avenger, which has developed a brake and power steering problem, and head to Seghesio for a tasting. Seghesio is a very old family operation, with Italian roots going back to the Gold rush in the late 1800's. Great zin's (Melissa's pick: Try the Arneis if you can find it).

After Seghesio, we stroll around the town of Healsdsburg (some alone time, if you will). Kim and I grab dinner, while Kelly opts for Thai food at a later time. We head back to Schlumberger, our accomodations for the evening, where Kelly and I sit on our patio overlooking the western portion of the land and Kim heads for a hike (Stories about Mountain lions don't scare her!).

We sit in our courtyard, eating and drinking until the coyotes STOP making noise (Melissa assumes they are on the move) and hit the sack.