Wine Country Second Homes Tag

Wine Country and Roses

I am embarrassed about my infrequent posts as of late. I have been on the run, working with buyers and sellers of Sonoma County real estate. Out of town buyers are out in force, looking for that special retreat property, horse property or wine country second home, from Sebastopol to Healdsburg, Santa Rosa to Guerneville. In the last year I have worked with buyers from San Francisco, Berkeley, Marin County, Provence, St. Louis, New York, Las Vegas, Seoul, Los Angeles, Burlingame, Palo Alto and San Jose, all in one stage or other of the Sonoma County home buying or home owning process. Meanwhile, gardens are in peak bloom, the grapevines have leafed out. My neighbor's pinot has set fruit I noticed today. The ROSES are in full force. Everywhere you go, from country lanes to in town, there is a riot of roses. I'll leave you with a few pictures until my next post. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Looking through a red rose and Russian River Zinfandel to a horse pasture beyond"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_931" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="A view of a Sonoma County horse pasture and vineyard through climbing rose New Dawn"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_932" align="alignnone" width="337" caption="A riot of roses climb the fences along a Sonoma County Driveway"][/caption]...

If You Lived Here You'd Be Home by Now–Scenes from Barrel Tasting Weekend

Today's rain should clear up and bring sunny skies and warmer temperatures for the second weekend of this year's Barrel Tasting Event sponsored by WineRoad, a group of northern Sonoma County wineries from the Russian River, Dry Creek and Alexander Valley appellations. If you are like me, perhaps your first exposure to the Sonoma wine country and our gorgeous back roads came from visiting friends during tasting events such as this. After many repeat visits, you begin to think, after a long weekend of wine tasting, gee, if I lived here, I'd be home by now....

Tropical Dreaming-a new design project in Hawaii by Wright-Simpkins, Inc.

Many of my friends and clients are entrepreneurs and small business owners in the community. From time to time in 2010 I plan to showcase them so that you can learn about some unique and vital services to Sonoma County and beyond. Christian Wright and Gerald Simpkins were friends and fellow Vizsla owners long before they became clients in 2003 when we found them an astonishing 1915 farmhouse on acreage in Sebastopol, since lovingly restored. We sold their charming cabin in Guerneville near the Russian River so that they and their dogs would have more room to roam, and also to be closer to their full-time home in San Francisco, where they ran a successful interior design business, Wright-Simpkins, Inc., serving clients all over the United States. Gerald and Christian have progressed along a path somewhat typical of second home owners in Sonoma County. At first they left San Francisco on Friday evenings and returned home Sunday afternoon. Eventually Friday reverted to Thursday and Sunday became Monday, stretching the weekend to nearly four days. Holidays meant two week stays whenever possible and they became increasingly involved in the community of Sebastopol and Sonoma County. The house had already had some extensive restoration by the previous owners and Gerald and Christian took it and the grounds to the next levels, so much so that the house and gardens have twice been featured on the West County Garden tour sponsored every year by Food for Thought in Forestville. In 2008, Gerald and Christian decided to move to Sonoma County full time, and sold their home in San Francisco. The recently opened a small studio and shop in Sebastopol at 2833 Old Gravenstein Highway on the way to downtown Sebastopol. If you care to stop by and visit, you might call first, to 707 829-9177 to make sure they are in. Oh, and in their spare time in 2009, they neared completion of a project in Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii. If you, like I, are thinking of tropical weather these winter days, take a look! ...

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