This October, my husband and I will both be attending the first Wine Bloggers’ Conference, which will be held in Sonoma, CA. While I have waxed and waned in my blogging frequency, the chance to visit the Sonoma Valley wine region was too good to pass up. Thus, we registered for the conference, booked our plane tickets and reserved our rooms almost immediately. For most people, I would imagine that they would consider themselves to be done with their travel planning, but for me, this was not the case. I’m not good at just winging it.

Instead, over the past several weeks, I have been researching restaurants, evaluating which wineries to visit and mapping out the best routes. We now have reservations at El Dorado Kitchen, at which we will dine with friends, and Madrona Manor, which will be our romantic splurge of the visit.

As I am less familiar with Sonoma wineries as compared with those in Napa, putting together a list was more challenging. I reviewed lists on the official Sonoma wine sites, asked for recommendations from Cornellians on the Cornell Wine Interest Group and read a number of wine publications. The list grew and then swelled to nearly 40, which I have since pared to 20. I have now begun to slot the wineries into our schedule and anticipate that we will actually visit 15-17 of them. Two appointments have already been secured and as the remainder do not require appointments, we’ll drop in as our schedule permits.

Overall, it should be a great trip and I am very much looking forward to spending time in Sonoma and getting to know this wine region.