Chateau St. Jean .. Wine Country Reprise

If you plan to tour California Wine Country ...

...a stopover at Chateau St Jean must be on your itinerary.

Read more about the Sonoma setting:

Link to the original feature on Bay Area Tendrils 

Celebrate Truffles! Napa Truffle Festival

January 13 - 16, 2012 / Napa Truffle Festival

My knowledge of truffles has its limits, despite the delight I take in savoring cuisine boasting the flavor of the extraordinarily renowned fungus.

The Second Annual Napa Truffle Festival promises to add to my familiarity of all aspects of the strangely beguiling yet homely truffle, be it the black Perigord winter truffle or the summer species known as Burgundy: 

In botanical nomenclature, that's Tuber melanosporum or Tuber aestivum/uncinatum.

The Westin Verasa, Napa hosts the festivities that bring together expert scientists and shining stars of the culinary realm. Participants will have opportunities to partake in the culinary bliss of gourmet meals and in stimulating seminars out and about at Robert Mondavi Winery, Raymond Vineyards and Robert Sinskey Vineyards.

Michelin Chefs working their own magic at lunch & dinner events are certain to draw serious food aficionados and wine lovers to reserve a place at the table to they'll in elegant menus prepared by Ken Frank of La Toque; Suzette Gresham-Tognettini, Chef/Proprietor of San Francisco's Acquerello; Michael Cimarusti of Providence, Los Angles; Italy's Marco Gubbiotti of La Bastiglia; and Andrew Zimmerman of Sepia, Chicago.

Images, Courtesy Napa Truffle Festival / American Truffle Company

Morning Dew on Grasses: Kenzo Winery

In a reflective mood....

...as I look back on my 2011 sojourns. I pore over thousands of photographs taken this year and think about the highlights of my gardenwalks. In touring California wine country, a visit to the elegant landscape of Kenzo Winery, Napa stands out.

Arriving in late-morning, the sight of dew on a grass meadow caught my eye immediately. Here, the landscape has been designed to encompass just such sublime vignettes. Shortly after being greeted, I learned that Kenzo Winery's lovely white wine...  Asatsuya Sauvignon Blanc is named for the dew's sparkling display.

Nature Beckons... Morro Rock

Morro Rock (Photo: Kjkolb Wikipedia)

Morro Rock Photo © Alice Joyce

Not far from the cities of Paso Robles & San Luis Obispo on California's Central Coast, the magnificent outcrop of Morro Rock emerges from the Pacific Ocean. One element of the so-called Nine Sisters, Morro Rock is referred to as a 'volcanic plug' on Wikipedia. "There are nine volcanic peaks and hills between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo... The peaks were created over 20,000,000 years ago as volcanic ... magma which welled up .. inside softer rock which has since eroded."

Read more on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Farm Fresh & Fun! Happy Acres, Paso Robles

Had the greatest time touring... Happy Acres Family Farm with Coy Barnes of The Wine Wrangler during a visit to Paso Robles. 

Read more about my Central Coast sojourn on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Happy Acres is a family run Goat Milk Dairy operation that produces the finest artisan cheeses featured in Farmer's Markets and restaurants.

A certified organic farm, they also produce fresh produce and eggs.

Children and their parents delight in touring the property to learn about farming and animal care. You can visit the web site to book a tour!

It's a setting filled with the energetic activity of pigs and dogs, chickens and alpacas, horses and a miniature donkey, along with the 200 or so goats that owner Stephanie Simonin can readily identify by name!

Four women and some younger family members work together milking, collecting eggs, or preparing goats for 4H events and shows. They also create luxurious goat's milk skin care products, another Happy Acres speciality. All are handmade and paraben-free, from moisturizing creams and cleansers to lip butters and lotions in a variety of scents.

Happy Acres Family Farm is located in Templeton, California, a bit south of Paso Robles.

Thanks, Stephanie! The White Tea Ginger Lotion feels wonderful on my skin.

www.HappyAcresFamilyFarm.com

Perfume Roses! Russian River Rose Co.

Russian River Rose Company Nursery and Display Garden

Jan and Michael Tolmasoff harvest more than a half-ton of rose blooms -- that's 130,000 intensely fragrant flowers -- from their Healdsburg, California gardens in order to yield a mere 2 ounces of distilled rose oil.

The Tolmasoffs' gardens sprouted in 1980. And over time, the layout evolved into a historical arrangement of roses, starting with species such as Rosa californica, a California native. A tour of the garden begins across the way, in a setting anchored by antique roses of European and Middle Eastern descent, creating extravagant displays

A naturalistic butterfly garden encircles the house's turret, with annuals, perennials and roses coming together to provide continuous bloom. The relaxed planting features irises and calendulas for color and contrast in spring: summertime allies - verbena, cosmos, pincushion flower and echinacea are outlined by a vibrantly colorful border of miniature, own-root roses.

Look for the entry arch, supporting hybrid musks among a bevy of shade-tolerant roses that thrive in Northern California. Tender tea roses boast an area of their own. Jan mentions Etoile de Lyon as one of the most beautiful, recommending it to people looking for an antique rose, but not a once-blooming type.

A compelling element of the garden design: An allee articulated by seven arches 12 feet high and wide entices visitors to stroll through the vineyard to the perfume rose field.

Heritage Rose Garden: Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Rosa chinensis var spontanea

A magnificent setting year-round! Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Photo courtesy, Christine Walker - Quarryhill

From the garden: Quarryhill director, Bill McNamara returned from a trip to New York City after accepting an award marking Quarryhill's induction into the Great Rosarian's Rose Garden Hall of Fame. Bill received the award at the headquarters of the Manhattan Rose Society in recognition of the outstanding dedication to the preservation of Asian species roses and cultivars.

This honor comes at the same time as the Heritage Rose Garden takes shape at Quarryhill. A new feature at Quarryhill, it will trace the lineage of hybrid tea roses back to their Chinese ancestry, and expand the scope, beauty, and accessibility of the public garden. New attention is being paid to species or wild roses that require less chemical pesticide and fertilizer use.

www.quarryhillbg.org

Summer, Sonoma and St. Francis Winery

St. Francis Winery in Sonoma Valley

The cooling effect of a fountain's cascade on a summer day.

Howell Mountain Hillside: O'Shaughnessy Winery

O'Shaughnessy Winery Vista: Slopes of Howell Mountain in the hills above St. Helena.

(Photos © Alice Joyce)

Jack Chandler, Landscape Architect

Spent a lively day buzzing around Napa Wine Country with Jack Chandler, looking at various projects of Jack's spanning private estates to inviting wineries.

One project we toured, O'Shaughnessy Winery in Angwin was new to me. Difficult to imagine a more beautiful site than this East Napa County landscape, with its terraces that take full advantage of the view.

An off-the-beaten path locale for wine loving cognescenti, the winery boasts a scented entry path lined in fragrant roses, befitting a tasting of their 2007 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, which proved to be delectably stimulating. A full-bodied melding of blackberry and chocolate, blueberry, black raspberry and plum notes with cinnamon and vanilla aromas that distinguish the varietal, there are still more complex flavors to tease the palate and emerge at the finish. ((A Robert Parker rating of 95 points.))

Landscape architecture by Jack Chandler.

Meet me at Cottage Gardens! Wine Country Landscape Design

 Should you be in Northern California on Sunday, April 10th around 11 a.m., Cottage Gardens in Petaluma I hope you'll drop by and say hello!  I'm pleased to be a part of the Springtime schedule of events taking place at this wonderful plant nursery. 

Photographed at Darioush Winery

My presentation will feature my favorite destination wineries, along with aspects of landscape design, and...

I'll be giving away a limited number of complimentary wine tasting cards.

Matanzas Creek Winery Dry Stream Bed

Cottage Gardens is located at 3995 Emerald Drive, Petaluma. 
Photos © Alice Joyce

Chateau St. Jean's romantic setting.

Benziger Winery's Biodynamic Flow Form Water Feature in the 'Discovery Trail'

On FaceBook? I'd love to connect with you.

Log in and ...  'Like' Alice's Garden Travel Buzz 

Hope to see you at Cottage Gardens!

Amazed by the Beauty! A Winter Day at Quixote Winery

The Stags Leap palisades create a dramatic backdrop, while seedheads of ornamental grasses soften the surroundings on a winter's day at ...



UNDER CONSTRUCTION....

Quixote Winery, located in the Stags Leap AVA - American Viticultural Area - of Napa Valley.

Former owner Carl Doumani, an avid art lover, once said: "The minute I saw [Hundertwasser's design) I knew it was what I wanted."

Playfully colorful, flowing and undulating, Quixote's design represents a rare example in the U.S. of a site (buildings and grounds) created by the artist, Hundertwasser. Always aware and concerned about the environment, Hundertwasser often added green roofs to structures.

Hundertwasser's paintings and architectural work incorporate an organic aesthetic meant to enrich one's everyday experience, in sharp contrast to the stark, geometric architecture that he loathed.

Ornamental grasses planted throughout add a naturalism to a landscape

designed by Landscape Architect Jack Chandler.

The Quixote vineyards are organically farmed.

"The kind of day that makes you want to live forever."

I basked in the warmth of the Irish: In this instance, the above greeting by Quixote's Wine Club Concierge, Ireland-born Anne White.

Anne's hospitality will enhance your visit to the winery: open by appointment only.

A note: In 2000, Hundertwasser died on a voyage on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, and is buried in New Zealand.

Quixote produces finely crafted Petite Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Looking Back .. Going Forward!

2010 draws to a close: The time of year to look back, moving forward!

Above... a new garden installation at Cornerstone Sonoma

'Cocoons' by Andy Cao and Xavier Perrot -- created with 5 miles of colored monofilament wrapped around a laser cut stainless steel armature fabricated by William Massie, architect. Forms that turn and spin in the windy, open landscape in wine country.

Since early 2010, I've focused more on regional destinations, news & events on this blog: Bay Area Tendrils, and have taken to highlighting garden settings and public landscapes near and far on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz.

Below:

La Cocina que Canta Cooking School - Rancho La Puerta

When I look back over 2010, my dream journey to Rancho La Puerta in Tecate stands out. You may recall the flowing form of this dry-stone bench; an element of the garden's site-appropriate hardscaping.

I'll always have fond memories of my spa week at Rancho La Puerta

Sky at Dusk .. Tecate, Mexico.

I'll recall the beauty of the cultivated gardens, and especially the surrounding natural landscape, which is protected open space.

A lush vignette from my Springtime sojourn to Britain: a Tamarisk at the Chelsea Physic Garden: I wrote about a treasure trove of English Gardens & a rare Welsh landscape on:

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

A recent sojourn to experience the legacy of Rene & Veronica di Rosa in Napa Valley.

A Celebration of Art and Nature at:

di Rosa Preserve

Visit di Rosa and enjoy a nature walk through the Sculpture Meadow: Learn about the Preserve's restoration efforts of riparian areas, and wildflower plantings.

Ron Mann Sculpture - Stone Edge Farm and Winery

2010 opened my eyes to ancestral English estates, verdant autumnal walks, and to artists and designers who continue to push at boundaries as a means of personal expression.

Only Snowmen Round Here! Cornerstone Sonoma

Although the San Francisco Bay Area may not boast any real snowmen, after having lunch at Sage this past Friday -- the Cafe at Cornerstone Sonoma in Wine Country -- I found a cheery installation to celebrate the season.

Holiday Hugs & Best Wishes for a Peaceful, Healthy 2011 to All!

Asian Species .. Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Photo: Christine Walker

(Photo: San Francisco Chronicle)

Some years ago one of my San Francisco Chronicle 'Garden Walks' columns

highlighted Quarryhill Botanical Garden

The site is a horticultural paradise that is surprising to discover when touring Sonoma's Valley of the Moon in wine country. What sets Quarryhill apart is the fact that most all the plants - trees, shrubs, bulbs, roses - have been grown from wild collected seed gathered during plant expeditions undertaken by the garden's director, Bill McNamara, who travels extensively to China, Japan and the Himalayas. You can click below to read...

...the original feature in the archives on SFgate.com...

More photos of the garden are posted on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Writing about garden travel is especially gratifying when sharing information about a place like Quarryhill.

Rain Did Not Dampen the Delights .. DeLoach Vineyards

It may be rainy season in Northern California Wine Country, but that did not stop an international coterie of journalists, authors, bloggers & permaculture professionals from enjoying a day of garden touring, wine tasting, and a delectable locavore lunch at DeLoach Vineyards.

At De Loach the entire approach to the land, from the vineyards to the culinary and insectary gardens, is fully organic and biodynamic: Awarded CCOF certification.

Our host, Jean-Charles Boisset applies sustainable principles, biodynamic farming, and organic methods to every aspect of the Boisset estates in California, France, Italy & Québec.

On the local level, in partnership with the Redwood Empire Food Bank, 100% of the proceeds from one of the excellent wines we tasted -- DeLoach Vinthropic Chardonnay -- are donated to the Food Bank.

Winegrower Eric Pooler spearheaded our tour, and allowed an up-close and personal look at the innovative bio-reactor - one of the first in the industry - that relies on micro-organisms to purify all the water used in the winemaking process so it can be called upon for landscaping and irrigation use.

Maria Mobilia is shown behind the camera, filming the tour for 
Your Garden Show.

In-depth coverage of my day at DeLoach Vineyards ...

Biodynamic Gardens & Wine Tasting on:

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Head-Turning Design .. Citron and Emerald

A Walkway of Citron and Emerald Green:

Sagina subulata and Sagina subulata 'Aurea' flanked by Verbena bonariensis:

Stonework punctuates the vignette.

It's the rare instance when I'm totally captivated by a design element,

but I took great pleasure in this moss walkway during a recent garden visit

to Stone Edge Farm 

The elegance of the clean-lined scheme turns heads, while the juxtaposition of cushiony mounds of moss beckoned me to remove my shoes and experience the sensation of the patterned planting beneath my feet!

Do you call it Scotch Moss or Irish Moss?

Both common names appear in the realm of gardening and horticulture.
... to read more, visit Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Bloom's Bodacious Borders at Kendall-Jackson Winery

A few years ago, one of my San Francisco Chronicle 'Garden Walks' columns celebrated the opening of new perennial borders in Wine Country designed by British horticulturist Adrian Bloom.

(Above: Chronicle photo - All other photos: copyright Alice Joyce)

Son of famed plantsman, Alan Bloom,and author of numerous gardening books featuring Foggy Bottom, Adrian Bloom's personal 6-acre garden in Norfolk, Bloom shared his thoughts on the Blooms of Bressingham borders at Kendall-Jackson Winery. Here: a long view of the garden on a recent summer's day, with bees abuzz, flitting among the bountiful blooms.

I'll be returning to the winery's varied landscape in future posts, to visit K-J's vineyard demonstration & culinary gardens, where visitors can relax and enjoy a picnic.

To find the borders, amble from the formal parterre garden fronting the main chateau, and continue around the side of the building. A signpost heralds the Blooms of Bressingham garden, where drifts of plants meld together in what Bloom calls "macro and micro views."
Reflecting Bloom's refined gardening style, the garden plan revolves upon artful combinations of conifers, flowering perennials, ornamental grasses and shrubs. The tall, vertical shapes of evergreen Italian cypresses draw the eye, and as Bloom shared, "give you a bit of structure... whichever way you're looking.. on either side of the pathway to take the eye through," calling attention to the surrounding plant combinations.

One of the lessons I took home: "Even small gardens must have a vista."

The Kendall-Jackson Winery chateau and formal gardens

appear upon exiting the parking area.

Back to the Bloom Borders! Plant tableaux come into focus as you walk along the curving central pathway, where groupings are linked by contrasts in foliage and flower color, texture and form: Purple-toned leaves of heucheras and phormiums; blue-violet, long-blooming Geranium 'Rozanne;' mounding Anthemis 'Susanna Mitchell;' bushy Coreopsis 'Limerock Ruby.'

Geranium blooms weave through hydrangeas; salvias and feathery silver-filigree artemisias are backed by dark Cotinus foliage and butterfly-attracting buddleias.

A bee feasting on... Asclepias incarnata?

Flanking a bench, fragrant rosemary, lavender & Verbena bonariensis

envelop the visitor who stops here to bask in the setting.

Kendall Jackson Winery - www.kj.com