“Really a great chance to talk to the grape growers and wine makers.” “This was such an amazing trip. Anyone who loves food and wine needs to do Grape Camp.” “Absolute blast. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about he process of making wines. Great vacation. “Loved it, will recommend it to friends. Would love to enjoy it again.” “Such a great time! We loved the experience with food, wine and new friends.”
Dinner at Arista Winery with Kate MacMurray and Chef Charlie Palmer
“The perfect way to start camp – beautiful.” “Great ice breaker, wonderful hosts, informative, welcoming, extraordinarily excellent food.” “Wonderful people, the best meal I’ve ever had.”
Harvest grapes with Steve Sangiacomo in Carneros vineyard
“Relaxed and informative at the same time.” “Great experience, love the vineyards.” “A good way to learn to appreciate what goes into making a bottle of wine.”
Tour and tasting at Gloria Ferrer
“Beautiful sparkling wines. Friendly and passionate tour guide.” “Wonderful wines, beautiful setting.” “Nice environment, relaxing.”
Tour and lunch at St. Francis Winery
“Big company with a personal touch.” “Excellent host, knowledgeable and interest. Lunch was excellent.” “Very informative tour. Nice to talk with the winemaker. Lovely picnic lunch.” “Interesting to see a giant player in Sonoma and how it compares to smaller wineries.”
Team pizza and wine pairing contest at Relish Culinary Adventures
“Educational, fun, and yummy.” “Fabulous fun!” “Cool way to understand paring wines.”
Dinner at Tom Klein’s House with Chefs Josh Silvers and Jeff Mall
“Words can’t describe this amazing meal and location.” “Again an evening to remember. Perfect setting, perfect weather, perfect food and wine.” “Spectacular.”
Harvesting Grapes with Duff Bevill in Dry Creek Valley
“Nice to see the difference in the grapes on the vine.” “Love the harvest experience.” “So authentic!!”
Sorting Grapes at Mauritson Winery
“Family, family, family, Sonoma at its best.” “This was the best experience of the entire trip. So much information and the best tasting.” “Loved getting my hands into sorting”
Tour and Lunch at Miramar Estate
“Delicious – fabulous winery & setting” “Super lady, super wines—the reason California exists.” “Fabulous, inspirational host –exclusive experience and intimate.”
Blending wines at Stonestreet
“Amazing.” “Excellent, entertaining, informative – hands-on.” “Most fun of all!”
Quantity and variety of wines served at camp
“Fabulous!” “Excellent.” “Oh my God!”
Hotel accommodations at Vintners Inn
“Excellent.” “What a beautiful venue.” “Gorgeous room – hotel staff was friendly and attentive.”
2008 Camper Comments
Overall evaluation of Grape Camp
"Incredible line-up of first-rate venues and celebrity-level hosts/speakers. I really felt like a special insider."
"I could not think of a better way to relieve the stress of today's uncertainties."
"Sonoma County wines are the best - other regions add ingredients, Sonona adds heart and soul."
"If 2007 camp was a 10, then 2008 was an 11."
"A better experience than we could have imagined."
"Highly recommend."
"Couldn't be better."
"Outstanding! A must do for foodies and winies."
Vineyard dinner at Frei Family Reserve Winery with Gina Gallo and Duskie Estes and John Steward of ZaZu Restaurant
"Fantastic meal, setting and what an opportunity to see, hear and talk to Gina Gallo."
"A wonderful beginning, fabulous views, amazing food, a most gracious hostess, plus all those wines to share - great format."
"Comfortable and classy, especially after a travel day."
Harvesting at Hoot Owl Creek Vineyard with Mark Hauser
"It was fun and interesting and gives you a better appreciation of the wine process."
"Great experience with wonderful instruction before hand."
"Wonderful day with delicious grapes."
Tour and tasting at Jordan Winery
"Great classroom experience on wine/food pairing."
"Once in a lifetime opportunity-phenomenal."
"Very informative and extremely entertaining."
Tour and lunch at Francis Ford Coppola Presents Rosso and Bianco
"Wonderful experience. So all-encompassing. Great lunch and wine pairing."
"Great lunch, fun and unique."
“Superb."
Indian Summer Cooking with Chef/Author John Ash
"Very informative and entertaining."
"Fun, great tastes and learned a lot."
"Exceeded expectations."
Cave Party at Kunde Winery with Chef Bruce Riezenman of Park Avenue Catering
"There are no words to describe this event. It was like being in another world of food and wine. I will probably never experience that again."
"A better experience than we can imaged."
"Only in Sonoma could we have such a storybook setting with sumptious food and wine."
Harvesting Grapes with Ulises Valdez
"Enjoyed hearing from someone who worked from the ground up - A real person."
"This was the best!! Ulises is passionate about his profession."
"Ulises was great with low key, Sonoma style."
Stomping grapes at Valdez Family Winery
"I stomped twice - what an experience."
"What a dream come true. I have always wanted to stomp grapes."
"I’m changing my name to Lucy. Fun!"
Vineyard lunch with cheesemaker Cindy Callahan of Bellwether Farms and Andrew Barnett of Ecco Caffe
"The setting was so peaceful. The coffee was a real treat and nice compliment to the wine tasting, plus the cheesemaker was great."
"A beautiful setting and wonderful food and wine."
"Again, two culinary legends - exciting to meet such passionate people."
Blending wines at DeLoach Winery
"Fun experience-great way to wind up camp."
"Even though my group lost the blending + label + packaging competition, it was wonderful fun."
"Very informative."
Quantity and variety of wines served at camp
"Wonderful."
"Awesome - unparelled."
"Unbelieveable."
Organization of camp
"Loved that things were on time and the group never kept us waiting."
"Camp runs like a Swiss watch (with a nice buzz)"
"Over the top."
2007 Camper Comments
The Vineyard Dinner at Hoot Owl Vineyard
"Opening evening dinner in vineyard was great."
"I think the setting was beautiful-the food superb and the wines-delicious!"
"Great kick-off event-Relish did a wonderful job."
Tuesday Harvest at Saralee's Vineyard
"Saralee added much to our harvest experience. Weighing our grapes a plus."
"Fun, educational, great beginning."
"Great fun-Saralee was knowledgeable and fun."
Tour, tasting and lunch at Sonoma-Cutrer
"Terry Adams was tops of the trip for knowledge."
"Awesome-the best meal-the most friendly staff and I have found a new sport-croquet."
"Most beautiful venue-fab food-croquet was fun to watch."
Marriage of Food and Wine with John Ash
"Great classroom experience on wine/food pairing."
"Once in a lifetime opportunity-phenomenal."
"Very informative and extremely entertaining."
Paella Party at Russian River
"A knock out punch for Relish!! Great food and wines."
"A setting and food beyond reality."
"Food was excellent, scenery was excellent, wine was excellent, company was excellent."
Harvest at Montemaggiore Vineyards
"Seeing small vineyard differences very eye-opening experience.
"Loved the opportunity to follow-up on the harvest process-so cool to be hand sorting grapes and to taste the grapes juice from the grapes we picked."
"These people are the heart and soul of Sonoma Valley-really great experience and incredible wine."
Blending wines at Ferrari-Carano
"Great experience to blend at a great location."
"Neat experience. The winery was breathtaking."
"Fun to see how the pros do it."
Cheesemaking tour at Redwood Hill Farm
"Delicious cheese for a cheese lover like myself."
"Wish we could spend more time but still great to see the factory."
"This is really great cheese! I will seek it out and buy it."
Quality and variety of wines served at camp
"Would be hard for anyone to walk away not understanding Sonoma wines."
"Over the top!!! It can't get any better!"
"Amazing. Way beyond our expectations."
Organization of camp
"Good, kept on schedule-we learned a whole lot-it really was camp!"
"From the first call I made to inquire about camp to the actual experience, I can't say enough about the great organization and flow of camp! Yea-Larry."
"Larry must be a Virgo I don't know how else he could be so detailed oriented; yet he brings the fun to grape camp that everyone should have the chance to experience."
Overall evaluation of camp
"Would do it again. Great balance of everything you want to learn about wine"
"Awesome! Loved it, loved it! Really was a learning experience-real people-no wine snobs. A lot of fun."
"Exceeded beyond words and dreams & expectations."
"Great camp for adults. It was great getting a behind-the-scenes tour-I have a much greater appreciation of what it takes to put a top quality wine in a bottle. Sonoma wine now has a special place in my heart."
Would you be interested in attending a special camp reunion in 3 or 4 years?
