Wine tours take more leisurely mode

Ed McCormick used to ride in the captain's seat in the cockpit of a commercial jetliner for U.S. Airways.

But these days he's the jolly pilot of Ed and Jonnie's Wine Trolley, weaving in bits and pieces of Sonoma's history and its deep roots in viticulture - all while safely ferrying wine tasters up and down the Sonoma Valley in old-fashioned style.

The cheery burgundy and green trolley, trimmed in oak and equipped with a high-end galley kitchen where he and his wife Jonnie prepare gourmet meals for passengers - is one of several new ways to taste the Sonoma Valley while wisely leaving the driving to someone else.

Within the last year, in addition to the Wine Trolley, the distinctive open-air purple Vine Line HoHo (hop-on, hop-off) and two human-powered pedicab services have hit the road in the Valley of the Moon. And there's a horse-drawn carriage trip through the vineyards in the Alexander Valley outside Healdsburg, giving wine-tasters new options beyond the traditional limousine and bus tours that have been a longtime staple in Wine Country transit.

"We wanted to enjoy drinking and not worry about driving. It's freeing," said Trolley patron Jessica Domlucas of Hayward, who pointed out that the open-air experience and al fresco lunch beat the closed in feeling of a limo tour.

The McCormicks, longtime Sonomans, aim to give people an intimate view of their valley, including a picnic under the trees at the historic Glen Oaks Ranch in Glen Ellen and an outdoor tasting at CLARBEC winery.

But the bigger benefit to riding instead of driving is safety. Tasters don't have to worry about getting behind the wheel impaired or forcing someone in their party to forego the pleasure of wine tasting. It makes the roads safer for all.

"It's very important to me," said Jonnie, a former executive director of the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance, whose only daughter died in an accident 17 years ago riding in a car with a drunken driver. "One of the things I like about doing it is that people can let their hair down without worrying about doing something incredibly awful."

The trolley will pick up and drop off at the plaza or a hotel for a cost of $99 for lunch (or $150 for dinner) and stops at several wineries, tasting not included.

Offering safe and memorable transit between wine stops is something Bret Le Rolland has been doing in the Alexander Valley for nine years. The native New Yorker takes wine tasters on a five-mile gander in The Wine Carriage, a 12-passenger, horse-drawn wagon with padded seats and a shade top. Passengers hop aboard at Alexander Valley Vineyards for a slow, four-hour tour of White Oak Vineyards, Sausal Winery and Hanna Winery, where they're served a Wine Country picnic of French bread, cheese, cold cuts, strawberries and chocolate truffles. Cost is $149.50 per person including tasting fees. Passengers don't have to worry about open containers or who is driving, and ca pop a cork or make a toast with bubbly right along the way.

"We go at the speed of love," quips Le Rolland, who learned horsemanship at U.C. Santa Cruz, driving a donkey cart. "We have two speeds: slow and slower."

The route goes not just beside vineyards, along vineyard rows where riders are close enough to pluck grapes as Le Rolland recounts the life cycle of the vines and Alexander Valley lore.

"They're communing with nature really closely," he said, "and with the clip-clop of the horses and the tinkle of the chains, in a place where you can see and smell and hear everything around you, it just transports people out of their everyday reality."

Last summer, Rich McKee was testing out the Vine Line HoHo, a hop-on, hop-off shuttle that stops every 40 minutes or so at various wineries in The Carneros.

McKee cut the top off a regular school bus and painted it purple. School buses he said, are ideally engineered for start/stop driving. He picks up some customers at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, but visitors or locals can hop aboard at any of the stops like Schug, Larson Family, MacRostie and Cornerstone. Cost is $25.

"It keeps them off the road when they get sauced," he said, stressing that he has special relationships with certain wineries and won't drop off large groups without calling ahead.

Sonoma town has two new competing pedicabs - Sonoma Pedi and Plaza Pedicab that will cycle tasters to nearby wineries like Bartholomew Park, Ravenswood, Buena Vista and Sebastiani.

Adrian Palenchar of Plaza Pedicab said some of his customers have said they like the experience of cycling to the vineyards but wouldn't feel comfortable riding and tasting. He'll do the pedal pumping for them, offering customized itineraries starting at $75 for three hours.

Staff Writer Meg McConahey can be reached at 521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@ pressdemocrat.com.