Customer Reviews

Backroads of the California Wine Country: Your Guide to the Wine Country's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures

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When many people visit California to tour wineries, they head for Napa Valley on the weekend and sit in traffic jams for hours on route 29. Realizing that everyone in the slowly moving train may not be totally sober, the visitors think about how much they would like to be someplace else. A little known fact is that there are back roads into virtually every wine region in California that offer stunning vistas, gorgeous greenery and constantly changing scenes around every curve.

Backroads of the California Wine Country is a great resource for those inexperienced visitors. Otherwise, these well-meaning travelers will miss the best of what the wine country has to offer: Scintillating scenery!

The photographs do a great job of picking up on the amazing sights. Here are a few of my favorites:

p. 6 -- The moon rises over vineyards in Napa County's Carneros region

p. 11 -- A dramatic sunset over Napa Valley wine country

p. 13 -- Cirrus clouds float above the hills of the Redwood Valley of Mendocino County

pp. 18-19 -- The early morning sky glows orange in the hills above Ukiah

p. 22 -- Orr Springs Road twists and turns through some of the most pristine and dramatic landscapes in wine country

p. 30 -- This lovely tree-lined drive leads to Fetzer Vineyards, a wholly organic winery and the sixth-largest premium wine producer in the country

p. 31 -- The warm valleys around Hopland offer an ideal climate for growing grapes as well as apples and pears

p. 34 -- Mount Konocti, illuminated by the setting sun, looms large above this Lake County vineyard

p. 35 -- Peaceful at sunrise, Clear Lake State Park

p. 35 -- The vibrant flower gardens of Tulip Hill Winery

p. 38 -- A distant moon sets beyond a winter vineyard in the Valley of the Moon

pp. 42-43 -- Vineyards stretch across the Alexander Valley in northern Sonoma County

p. 47 -- Downtown Geyserville is lined with charming buildings

p. 83 -- A rainbow forms

p. 90 -- Hot air ballooning

p. 94 -- Winery at Groth Vineyards

p. 99 -- Grape vines and mustard plants

Nice work, Mr. Crabbe!

The text is equally inspired with a nice mix of California history, wine background, local features, and suggestions for activities you can enjoy. The text is also well endowed with maps to show you the directions of the backroads that you are being encouraged to pursue.

Here are some of the unexpected materials:

p. 24 -- Seabiscuit's home in Willits

p. 36 -- Organic farming methods

p. 45 -- Cyrus Alexander's founding of the Alexander Valley

p. 61 -- Jack London in the Sonoma Valley

p. 89 -- The soil of Rutherford

p. 108 -- Apple Hill, east of Placerville

p. 117 -- The Gold Rush

p. 125 -- Covered bridges

p. 133 -- Steinbeck's world

Here are the areas covered:

The Redwood Valley in Mendocino County
Anderson Valley
Hopland and the McDowell Valley
Lake County
Alexander Valley
Dry Creek Valley
The Russian River Valley
Green Valley
Valley of the Moon
Sonoma Valley
Northern Napa Valley
St. Helena
Eastern Napa Valley
Yountville
Oakville
Mount Veeder
Town of Napa
Wooden Valley
Los Carneros
El Dorado County
Shenandoah Valley
Calaveras County
Santa Cruz Mountains
Carmel Valley
Salinas Valley
San Juan Bautista
Paso Robles
Edna Valley
Santa Barbara County
Santa Ynez Valley

Nice work, Ms. Misuraca!

Don't miss this gorgeous volume. It'll transform your life if you follow its advice.

There are other books on touring California's wine country, but BACKROADS OF THE CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE WINE COUNTRY'S MOST SCENIC BACKROAD ADVENTURES has journeys even residents may not know about. One-day excursions for weekend travelers and wine lovers chart some of the lesser-traveled routes of the wine region from central California through Santa Cruz and north to Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties. Gorgeous black and white and color photos pack a bright treatment which details wines, scenery and other attractions - all beyond the usual tourist routes.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I lived in the Bay Area for several years and to be honest, the Wine Country is not really my cup of tea. However, the images in this book by Gary Crabbe are amazing and makes me feel as if I were there and enjoying myself. It takes a truly dedicated photographer to make such a wonderful collection of images of Wine Country. Many photographers have published photos of the Wine Country but these are some of the best photos I've seen from there.

The text by Karen Misuraca is well-written as well. It's informative going over a touch of history without over doing it and takes you on a literary road trip through the heart of the Wine Country. The photos and text compliment each other well and the book has a fair amount of both. In 160 pages, it's packed with meat as it works both as a photo book and travel guide.

If you'd like a personally signed copy, Mr. Crabbe is selling them through his website as well.

Purchased this as a gift for someone who loves all aspects of wines; the excitement of a beautiful vineyard and the anticipation of where it leads!