Benzinger

This morning I had a walk down the hill to have a closer look at the village of Dillon Beach and was quite enchanted at the original houses which have been here since the early 1900's. Each one had its own character, all were made of wood and, though not very big, they looked very loved. I then made my way down to the long stretch of beach passing, as I did, a couple of signs warning of the tsunami danger and to head for the hills in case of an earthquake! Obviously a necessary warning, but a bit daunting! As I relaxed on the beach and "people watched", the sea mist began to roll in once more and it was strangely eerie although it never became cold.

After lunch we took a drive to the wine valley of Sonoma, an hour away. I was again amazed at how brown and dry the land was for some time after we left the coastal region, even in fields where cattle grazed, and so it was very noticeable when we arrived in the valley where green shrubs, trees and an abundance of flowers greeted us. Then we began to notice the vineyards stretching away from both sides of the road. We chose to visit Benzinger, a relatively small, family run organic winery with all the grapes being picked and processed by hand. What was really interesting though was that of their 85 acres, only 35 were laid down to vines as the remaining 50 were planted with shrubs and flowers all selected to encourage the "good grubs" to flourish so that they would seek out and demolish the "bad grubs" that threatened grape crops. Furthermore they didn't use fertilisers, preferring to rely on animal manure and compost, knowing that their harvest would be considerably lower than others but such is their commitment to biodiversity and being organic. This mixed planting also makes for a very attractive vineyard as you can see from the blip. After the tour we enjoyed the customary wine tasting, knowing that none of these wines grace supermarket shelves. I was glad I was not driving home!

It is an early night tonight as we are setting off for the last leg of our tour early tomorrow.