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Iron Horse Vineyards

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Highway 116 from Sebastopol to Guerneville is full of treasures, some hidden and some only accessible via a rough, unpaved road. Iron Horse Vineyards is one of the latter.

Let me set the scene…approximately two years ago, a newly engaged couple decided to spend Valentine’s Day on the River, tasting wine along the way. This was a small break from the intense wedding planning that had been happening, and also a way for them to, ummm….find some wine for the wedding. Yes, that’s it.

This couple left their little DogBird at home and headed to the house of bubbles they’d passed often, but never visited. Down windy 116 they went, then up the rough, gravelly road and were met with a vista that seemed to go on forever, accented by a casual, outside bar that was dotted with glasses of bubbles, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay.

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Sicily Wines: Sippin’ Around Etna

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(Originally published by Annie at HeadinKnots)

One of the main purposes of our trip was to discover the world of Sicilian wine — specifically around the Etna area. The morning after we arrived, we were excited to get going on our adventures…but Mother Nature had other plans.

The rain we had encountered upon our arrival had not left us yet — we had a slight reprieve on our first evening, but it came back with a roar our first morning. Luckily the scenery was worth staring at for a while.

After the torrential downpour in Taormina that confined us to our hotel, it was time to head out to the Sicilian countryside to sip some vino and watch the volcano. After a harrowing journey back down Taormina’s windy roads, we were soon en route!

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Outside of our room — vines creeping over the wall

Unlike most places in the wine country here in northern California, most of the wineries in Sicily require reservations.

Unfortunately, thanks to the storms, we were running terribly behind. We decided to swing by one place, any way, in hopes that they still might entertain our visit.

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The WineBirds

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Welcome to our new site: The WineBirds. We are excited to share our love of wine, and travel, with you.

Who are we?
We are Annie (LadyBird) and Jonathan (LordBird) — two lovebirds who spend quite a bit of our time visiting local wineries, flying off to international wineries, and overall just enjoying wine.

What will we be covering?
Wineries, of course…Wine events, great wine bars & shops, and other things that we think might benefit our readers.

When will there be updates?
We’ll update as often as we can — we’re hoping for at least once a week. Forgive us if we get lax…and let us know!

Where will we be focused?
Our focus will be largely in the northern California wine region — trying to bring you fun experiences, tips to tasting, what we like at various places along the way. Most of our holidays tend to focus around wine regions, so if we find something fun, we’ll share!

Why now?
We’ve been talking about this for a while, along with a few other projects, and we were so excited to share our most recent trip that we finally pressed enter on the “create a blog now” button.

How are we qualified?
We are deeply passionate about wines from around the world, and are often asked by friends to advise on wines, to set up an itinerary for them, and what we like — so we thought, “why not make it more formal?” We spend a considerable amount of time in the wine country of northern California, and finding new and interesting things both at home and while we’re traveling.