by Pete Alexander

A Chinese proverb once said, "Wine should be taken in small doses; knowledge in large ones." Hm, maybe it´s time to go learn a lot about wine by doing a little wine tasting! And what better way to do that than with your canine companion along with you. But could we do that, knowing it would be warm, and lots of car-time, for our Golden Re-triever girl? We could, since we discovered through some basic research that there are dog-friendly wineries!

So, my wife and I opened the car door, in leaped Linda Lou, and off we drove on a beautiful, warm spring day. We had also tossed in treats, lots of water, and even dinner for Linda Lou in case our trip encroached upon her dinner hour.

Ice water in Sonoma

We headed first to Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery. Sebastiani is lo-cated in the town of Sonoma, on 389 Fourth Street East. We parked, put Linda Lou on leash and headed past the beautiful fountain to the visitor center. Although the staff said they normally do not allow dogs in the tasting room, they let us all in to meet them, and to meet another dog who had arrived.

Their dog policy is that dogs may enjoy the grounds, the picnic area, partake of ice water near the fountain, but that dogs are not allowed to be left in cars in hot weather (the staff actually will come out to check, then ask the appropriate humans to take their dogs out of their vehicles). As we left their beautiful winery, we noticed other people arriving and lots of dogs, too! By the way, from August 4 through 7, Sebastiani hosts the Canine Festival, so mark those days on your calendar! (For complete details on the Canine Festival, check out the What´s Happening calendar on pages 14 and 15). Next venue: Silverado Trail.

Beautiful winding road

We took Hwy 121 toward Napa, went north on Hwy 29 to Oakville Cross Road in Oakville, turned right, and drove to Silverado Trail. Why Silverado Trail? Well, not just because it is a beautiful winding road, but we had heard that the staff at the Mumm Napa Winery was also pretty darn partial to dogs, and that´s the road they are on. We pulled off the highway into the parking lot, brought Linda Lou out of the car, and headed in to the visitor center.

We were greeted with lots of "ooh"s and "ahh"s when Linda Lou dragged us inside. "Let me pet your puppy!" "She´s beautiful!" Well, we think so, too, of course. "Can she have a treat?" How friendly can you get? The staff invited us to sit outside on the veranda (can Linda Lou come too?). "Absolutely!" We sat at a table with white tablecloth. Right away a gentleman came to our table with a water bowl for Linda Lou and a silver-wire basket containing a napkin and two medium-sized milkbones. Ahh, we had arrived! (or Linda Lou had, anyway!). The gentleman told us, "If you want the best service at Mumm Napa, bring your dog!" After sipping some of their wonderful champagnes, we walked about the lovely grounds, stopped many times by people who wanted to pet Linda Lou.

The winding road home

We then headed north and back toward home. We stopped at the Dutch Henry Winery, whose owners have two Airedales, both unfortunately absent that day. The Dutch Henry Winery allows dogs in their picnic area. We had stopped also at Casa Nuestra, an unassuming winery that lets you bring your dog into the small tasting room, and also at Graeser Winery. Their German Shepherd Simba greeted us there. Dogs are not allowed in the Graeser visitor center. They do not have a tasting room, but you can of buy a bottle of their wine and have lunch in their lovely picnic area.

We had run out of time with so many more wineries out there to try (see sidebar). Linda Lou was having a fabulous time doing wine-cookie tast-ing, and wanted to do so much more! We promised her we would take her again this summer.

Wineries having dog events

We know of at least two other wineries that are having major dog events this summer. They are Stryker Sonoma Winery and Mutt Lynch Winery. Stryker Sonoma Winery is at 5110 Highway 128, in Geyserville. Their event is called "Hiro´s Doggy Paw-ty." On July 30th, from noon to 4 pm, Hiro shares his territory with wine & dog lovers alike. Enjoy Stryker wines and hotdogs on the BBQ (for both you & your dog). The work of Sonoma County resident and renowned dog artist Mylette Welch will be on display, plus the good folks from Paws for Love (an annual charity event) will create artwork by your dog! RSVP by July 22nd if you plan to attend. Oh, by the way, leashes are mandatory, and cats are not allowed, of course.

Mutt Lynch Winery is located in Dry Creek Valley and is owned and operated by Brenda and Chris Lynch and their ‘mutt’ Max. Their wine labels include "Merlot Over and Play Dead" and "Unleashed," a char-donnay. Mutt Lynch Winery is not open to the public during the year, except during their annual Dog Days of Summer Open House, August 13th and 14th from 11am to 5pm. This year´s event will feature new re-lease wines, art by Mylette Welch and Jessica Sexton, and fun for you and your canine companions. While there, try their newest limited-production Canis Major wines and dine on gourmet hot "dogs" cooked up by local chef Paul Dubois. Art will be available for sale with a por-tion of the proceeds going to the Healdsburg Animal Shelter. We defi-nitely plan to go, so we hope to see you there, and please bring your wonderful dog!

Finally home

We enjoyed our dog-day in the wine country so much that we plan to check out as many dog-friendly wineries we can this summer; we did a little wine-tasting and gained lots of knowledge. That Chinese proverb was right, except it should really have said, "Wine and dog cookies should be taken in small doses; canine companionship in large ones."