The best way to spend three days: Swirling, sipping and savoring the beauty of California’s majestic Sonoma County and its A-plus wine.

Who doesn’t fantasize about packing up, moving to Sonoma County and spending their days sauntering through vineyards and sipping chardonnay? The Sonoma County Grape Camp allows everyone the chance to live out that dream each year during its three-day wine and food experience. This only-happens-in-the-movies adventure includes picking grapes off the vine, lunching with winemakers, pizza bake-offs and a behind-the-scenes look at the winemaking process in the picture-ready Sonoma County. The region, in fact, is home to more than 250 wineries.
This year, Grape Camp will take place Sept. 27-29, and the schedule includes a visit to Michel-Schlumberger Estate, wine blending at DeLoach Vineyards and grape harvesting with Ulises Valdez, among other once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. While the Grape Camp lineup changes each year, AFM had the opportunity to take part in last fall’s action-packed event. Take a look.

Day 1
The first day of Grape Camp doesn’t start until the early evening, allowing campers time to travel and settle into Vintners Inn, the delightful hotel in Santa Rosa that participants get to call home for three days. The intimate 44-room inn truly lives up to its name as it’s in the middle of 92 acres of vineyards. Campers were welcomed that evening with a lovely reception—topped off with flowing bubbly—in the Vintners Inn courtyard to meet and mingle with other lucky Grape Camp goers. (There was even the chance to remember all of their names, as the camp is capped at 25 people.)
Later that night, a bus shuttled the campers to Arista Winery for a luxe dinner, overlooking the breathtaking Russian River Valley, with a special appearance by Chef Charlie Palmer. (A bus shuttled campers to and from every Grape Camp destination, allowing participants to sip and savor without worry.) During the Arista repast, participants had the opportunity to taste nearly 40 different reds, whites and dessert wines from all over the Russian River Valley. Campers got to know each other while passing bottles along the lengthy table, everyone sharing their favorite sip—so far.