Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival

Located in Sonoma Square, filling the square with music, wine tastings, local artists and food, this festival is an ideal way to spend part of a gloriously warm fall weekend.
The best part about this festival is the wine! $ 20 will get you 5 tastings/​pours from different wineries whom all bring their best out to the square for you to sample. No driving from winery to winery, but walking from booth to booth, sampling whites and reds and bubbles and brews. Wines from the Carneros region all the way up to the incredible Alexander Valley in one place, with 2-​for-​1 tasting coupons provided from most of the wineries.
It did seem like there were less wine-​makers compared to a few years ago, but I still managed to find some hidden gems and places to bookmark as worth a dedicated visit.
My Top Find:
BARTHOLOMEW PARK — An amazing Sauvigon Blanc, and probably the best white I tasted all day long. They were also serving a DesNudes ’06 merlot. Yep, a 7-​yr merlot from grapes grown up in the mountains in an old nudist colony. It was so smooth and yummy and reminded me what I like about merlots. With the winery located close to the square, this is definitely one of my next stops.
Other Notable Wineries:
VIANSA — Featured Italian wines and had an incredible bubbly. Dare I say it, better than Gloria (who I do like a lot). They also had a nice white… and some overly acidic, one-​dimensional Italian reds which if I visit their winery would definitely skip.
IMAGERY — Poured a white blend of ‘European’ varitals. I only tasted oak, and no characterisitcs of the fruit. I do like oaked wines, but if it overwhelms the fruit — not so much. Notable to the point of making sure I don’t waste any more time with their wines.
If wine isn’t your thing, guess what? There’s more. This year for the first time, there were a couple of Sonoma-​based breweries. One of which is opening in 2 weeks and isn’t even bottling yet, but just brought 3 kegs.
There are also children activities (a great place to bring kids), a grape-​stomping contest, and lots of artisan jewerly (Roxanne’s Pearls — to die for!!) and local artists, as well as BBQ oysters to help soak up some of that wine. All the best of Sonoma County in the square. I’ll definitely be back year after year.