The perfect wine country getaway in Sonoma County, California

Looking for an easy California getaway that offers terrific scenery, outdoor exercise, and celebrated foods and wines? We’ve found the perfect escape for you.

At this time of year, the little town of Healdsburg in Sonoma County is nicely uncrowded and offers a relaxed setting where you can enjoy wine tasting, and sample local restaurants.

An easy 80-minute drive north of San Francisco up Highway 101, Healdsburg is unique because it has maintained its small town atmosphere amid the growth of tourism in the California Wine Country.

The Honor Mansion in Healdsburg is an unusually elegant B&B resort offering gourmet foods, wines, and special treats for the discerning traveler.

Try a California brut

It could be Champagne from France, Cava from Spain (especially a pinot noir-based Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs), spumante or prosecco from Italy, Sekt from Germany or Cremant from France's Burgundy and Alsace regions.

The sparkler, too, could come from this country.

"I'll tell you something that's overlooked," said Jeff Auman, owner of The Wine Cellar on Walmart Way in Midlothian. "There are some really nice sparkling wines coming out of California that are competing very well with the French Champagnes.

"My favorite California sparkler is Scharffenberger Brut from the Anderson Valley. It is very dry and full-bodied, like Champagne.

Red blends bring on the party

Sacred Stone Master's California Red Blend, $9.99. The aroma offered dried and stewed plums and wild berries, cedar, cinnamon and clove. The wine tasted like it smelled, with lots or cedar. It had a green wood flavor on the end. We felt this blend would be a real crowd pleaser. It ranked first in the tasting.

2006 Root 1 Cabernet Sauvignon, $11.99. This wine from Colchagua Valley, Chile, had dusty, gravelly scents of green peppers, strawberries, ripe black fruit and basil. More peppers and dried fruit appeared on the palate, with minerals and low acidity, all in a lovely texture. Those who like the green pepper taste in red wines should try this, as it should work well with food. It ranked second in our tasting.

2006 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon, $10.99. This wine was from Barossa Valley, Australia. Its nose reminded us of black cherries, smoke, pepper, angelica root, menthol and dried herbs. It was better on the palate than the nose, with black cherry pit and cherry skin flavors, along with black olives and alcohol. The wine had lots of attributes to make it attractive for parties.

1996 J. Rochioli "West Block" Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

To paraphrase Shakespeare, there are wineries that are born great, those that achieve greatness, and those that have greatness thrust upon them. To explain: some fantastic wineries are started by people who are superstars already, and it hardly seems to matter what they do -- these properties are destined for success. Some top wineries seem to come from nowhere, and indeed have greatness thrust upon them, when out of the blue, their wine scores highly somewhere and they are vaulted from obscurity to fame.

The majority of the best wineries in the world, however, fall into Malvolio's second category through their own achievement. Achievement seems perhaps not quite the correct term, however, for the amount of sweat and energy that goes into building a world class winery over decades, even centuries. Wine lovers early in their education (and in their earning power) are often flummoxed by prices for wines that start to head north of $80 or $90 per bottle. Should they pursue their love of wine long enough to really learn (and see for themselves) what kind of work goes into some of the world's best vineyards, and to taste the wine that they produce, such prices no longer seem outrageous.

Mondavi-inspired wine center files for bankruptcy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Six months after California wine pioneer Robert Mondavi's death, the not-for-profit Copia wine and food center he founded filed for bankruptcy on Monday while it seeks to restructure and stay afloat.

The center, located in California's Napa Valley, said its decision to restructure through a Chapter 11 filing will provide an additional six months to achieve long-term sustainability.

In the filing, Copia estimated its outstanding liabilities at between $50 million and $100 million. Recent news reports put its debt at $78 million.

"We recently have taken intensive measures to overcome our deteriorating liquidity position," Copia CEO Garry McGuire said in a statement, referring to cost-cutting by making Copia less of a wine and food museum and more of an education institute.