Escape to Anderson Valley with Kevin O'Connor

A patina blue vintage long-bed rumbles towards the setting sun through the switchback turns of the northern Redwood Forest. In the bed of the truck, a collection of containers and ice chests packed with farm fresh produce, meats, cheeses, quality tinned delights, and way too much wine. In the cab of the truck, myself and my best friend (and favorite wine maker), are looking to make excuses to get away from the triple digit heat of the valley and make our way through Anderson Valley wine country on the way out to a coastal camping trip.

I’ve loaded my truck with all the necessary and some unnecessary provisions for a few-days-long epicurean escape to the coast. My dear friend, and creator of Commune Regional Wines, Tyler Stacy, added some camping gear, a case of his current releases as well as some gems from the dank cellar under his family’s Sacramento home to fully flesh out our excursion.

Where better to escape from the heat than the coolest climate wine-growing region in California? 110 miles northwest of San Francisco, The Anderson Valley is a path of rolling hills and vineyards of the Northern California coastal reaches of Mendocino County. Cool climate high elevation varietals pair perfectly with the intimate and often owner-operated wineries nestled into a fifteen-mile stretch of redwood peppered vineyards and vines grown in ancient oceanic soils.