October, 2026
Life is just fabulous if …
one can mix business with passion on trips, and vice versa!
Wine Country
After meetings in the tech valley I immediately moved up to the wine country. This place has changed fundamentally in the last 15 years, but it’s not without its challenges.
In Napa I focussed on family run wineries such as Honig, Forman and Seavey, nicely covering every price point. What they have in common still after all is that volumes of estate wines remain small in comparison to the big players.
Besides more places further north in Sonoma and for the first time I also went to Lake County, which is yet another world. All in all, a few very cool days in hot Northern California in October!
What can not be overheard almost everywhere is the fact how much sales and wine tourism is down up to 30% this year thanks to The Big Kahuna in DC, apparently some will not make it into next year…
Northern California
After so much wine, I wanted to see the very different countryside in the north since I mostly stay in southern CA.
So I decided to drive up to Redding and make it my base to see local life and the magical volcanic countryside with Mt. Shasta and Lassen Volcanic N.P. Truly a deep dive into the agricultural heartland of CA including a drive down south stopping in Fresno and Bakersfield.
A short visit to Yosemite was yet another bonus.
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