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WinE CountRy this WEEKWINERY FEATUREST. FRANCISWINERY & VINEYARDS20st. FRAnCis WinERy & VinEyARdsopen every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.100 north Pythian road (right at highway 12), Santa rosa, cA 95409About 20 minutes from the town of Sonomawww.stfranciswinery.com | (707) 833-2148 | 1-888-675-Wine (9463)look for St. francis on facebook and twitter.BY chArleS neAVeThe vineyards on every side, the beautiful grounds, thewood bridge over the gently-running stream at the entrance,the bell tower, the spacious high-ceilinged tasting room andthe beautiful mission-style building all combine to make avisit to St. Francis Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma County atrue multi-sensory experience.The winery has earned a reputation for making big andbold wines from carefully selected, hand-picked, 100percent Sonoma fruit. St. Francis has more than 600 acres ofestate vineyards in Sonoma Valley and the fabled RussianRiver Valley. Each come together to form wonderfulexamples of their consistent winemaking philosophy, whichin a few expressive words comes down to “maximumextraction, minimal intervention.” In other words, they takethe most from every cluster, and let the varietals speak forthemselves.The construction of St. Francis’ state-of-the-art winerywas fortuitously completed just in time for the 1999harvest. This new winery, with its mountain views, issituated on the Wild Oak Vineyard, just a mile from theoriginal facility. It was named after St. Francis of Assisi,whose role was as a protector of the natural world. It alsopays homage to the historic Franciscan order, whichbrought the European style of grape cultivation to thiscontinent centuries ago.The visitors center was finished two years later, andbecame an instant success with wine lovers. Today, theproperty also has “green” aspects to it, not the least of whichis the fact that their solar panels would supply enoughelectricity to power over 250 single-family homes.To sample their wines you have two attractive tastingroom options. In the Artisan Tasting five small-productionArtisan Series wines are poured. These are wines availableonly at the winery. The Estate Tasting also offers a flight offive, including wines from their hillside Cabernet vineyardsin the Russian River Valley to the original Sonoma ValleyChardonnay and Merlot vineyards. Other wines available fortasting are Chardonnay, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec,Syrah, Zinfandel, Merlot, a meritage (a classic French-styleblend), the Rockpile Vineyard Red, Cabernet Franc,Cabernet Sauvignon, a Claret and a Port. Some are alsoavailable in large format bottles.From May through August there are also “Winemakersign up for our email newsletter at www.WineCountrythisWeek.com