Jingle bells, red bows, an open white carriage, two stout, shiny horses, and tails and top hats set the stage for an elegant ride up Big Basin Way

Here’s something that lots of people enjoy – a horse-drawn carriage ride along the streets of two iconic Silicon Valley towns. Of course these would be Los Gatos and Saratoga, the Gem of Silicon Valley and the Gateway to Wine Country. It’s worth noting these events in your calendar because on one day in November and many days in December you can board a bell-bedecked carriage for a leisurely ride into the past.

This year Saratoga will kick off the holiday equine season with its open-air Holiday Open House and Wine Stroll. It’s a day-after-Thanksgiving tradition for Saratoga Village to fill with holiday spirit and the sounds of jingle bells as horses clomp their way up and down Big Basin Way hauling loads of cheery families and snuggling couples.

Before and/or after a carriage ride, a libation at the Wine Stroll! Here, wine makers John Overstreet (left background) and Neil Perrelli (seated) pour several of their Villa del Monte varietals. Twenty wineries served strollers in businesses up and down Big Basin Way.

Santa delighted little and big kids alike!

Street-side trees festooned with lights illuminate carolers, musicians and merry bands of wine strollers seeking the next vintage to sample. I’ve told many folks that on this night, in this Valley, Saratoga Village is the festive holiday “place to be”.

Los Gatos horses around on an even larger scale. On more than a dozen days in December, multiple carriages take riders on a twenty-minute tour of the Almond District in the historic downtown. Passengers parade by historic homes brightly decorated in their finest holiday livery. It always transports me to another, slower, simpler time, if only for a moment.

Of course, another significant benefit of a Los Gatos carriage ride is that before and after the ride, you’re parked in Los Gatos, the best place in the valley for dining, tasting, shopping and strolling. Happy Holidays!

In Los Gatos, take your pick of carriages and roll back in time. Immensely popular with families and couples seeking a romantic interlude. Great way to impress your sweetie.

So if you feel like horsing and sipping around this coming holiday season, make a note to self: day after Thanksgiving, Saratoga Village; every weekend in December, carriage rides in Los Gatos!

Dogs welcome, wine and wine-talk aplenty, conviviality abundant and the great forested outdoors steps away. That’s owner and winemaker Neil behind the bottles.

Several weeks ago , Dianne and I cruised south and up the hills of Highway 17,  horseshoe-turned our way back over the highway and up Summit Road five minutes to our final destination of the day – Villa del Monte Winery.

The winery is a client of ours, and we’d heard they recently expanded their tasting room to the great outdoors. We wanted to see for ourselves so we rolled down the residential drive, and then traversed the final 75 feet at the steepest angle this side of Lombard Street. We later heard a story about the descent of a run-a-way scissor lift down this final grade and then about the subsequent rescue of said scissor lift from the forest below.

Never a dull moment in the mountains.

Once safely parked at the winery, we were greeted by a gathering of tasters, closing out the afternoon in the waning sun amidst towering redwoods and happy friends; new, old and in one case, furry.

The Villa del Monte Winery team in full force. Three owners poured in Los Gatos: Neil right foreground, John in the middle, and Joyce reaching for a glass.

Neil, one of the four owners, is usually the one manning the tasting room when they’re open. We ran into Neil Perrelli, his wife and owner Joyce, and owner and co-winemaker  John Overstreet September 24 at the Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk.

They were one of 34 wineries pouring their finest for the steady stream of tasters who strolled through Besos Lingerie and Black Cat Hats to a shared inner courtyard. The tasters were greeted with shade, and a strong lineup of delicious Villa del Monte wines.

I’ve said this before about the many winery owners we know – they are a passionate, hard-working bunch, often holding down day jobs in addition to operating their fledgling businesses.

The rest of us get to savor the literal fruits of their labor, with them, at their winery, less than 20 minutes from Los Gatos.

Lucky us.

This activity is highly recommended for those seeking to defuse the tension of an intense work week and for those looking for a very comfortable spot to hang out with friends as the sun goes down.

Wine by the bottle and glass, awesome ambiance for free.

Good cheer, music and rose liven up a late Saratoga afternoon.

Bocce balls are anything but drab.

I learned a little bit about the colorful side of bocce today at the Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos. The balls for instance. I’m accustomed to the drabber monochromatic rental balls I’ve handled the half dozen times I’ve played the game. Apparently, if you’re serious about bocce, you strut your stuff with lavishly detailed and colored balls that add a festive element to every roll.

Bocce players are anything but drab. Check out the matching socks.

Behold the opening ceremonies of the 2011 U.S. Bocce Championships. Ben Musolf, President of Campo di Bocce and master-mind behind bringing the Championships to Los Gatos and Livermore, opened the festivities with the Mayor and Vice Mayor (left front and rear) lending support.

As this was the opening of the National Bocce Championship Tournament, there were introductory comments by Ben Musolf, president of Campo di Bocce and recently crowned national champion of volo, a bocce variation played on a dirt court with different balls. There was a stirring a cappella rendition of the Star Spangled by gentleman with a certain Joe DiMaggio-ishness to his stately presence. Mayor Joe Pirzynski declared bocce the official sport of Los Gatos and then he and the vice-mayor Steve Rice literally pitched in and rolled the opening balls.

Mayor Joe Pirzynski, citing the powers vested in him, declared bocce the official sport of Los Gatos, much to the delight of the crowd. You can barely see Joe's bandages earned the day before when he rescued a Yorkie from the jaws of a large terrier, forever winning the dog-lover vote.

Vice Mayor Steve Rice shows impeccable form in front of a large crowd of expert bocce players as he and Joe opened play with ceremonial rolls.

The ceremony was a wonderful slice of Italian-American patriotism and community. And then commenced the gentle, good-natured sport of bocce.

This is the way it's done by the experts. Actually, there were innumerable styles of throw, some soft as an evening breeze, others as fast and violent as a thunderstorm. I enjoyed watching the teams work out strategies to counter the moves of their opponent.

I learned today that it’s almost as fun to watch these skilled players as it is to play  myself. For starters, when I play, there’s always great food and drink within arms reach. That’s the awesome thing about bocce – it’s totally competitive and skill-based, and easily played with a slice of pizza in hand.

If you haven’t tried this game, consider giving it a try. We’ve always come home smiling.

One of the delights of a Saratoga Wine Stroll - discovering a new wine from The Mountain Winery and elegant Yolatea yogurt shop in the Village of Saratoga. These happy folks were served by Joan LeMahieu, General Manager of The Mountain Winery.

I love this shot for its symmetry and and wacky spontaneity. The Posh Pet laid out a colorful and nutritious complement of food to compliment the MJA Vineyards wines poured by Cathy Bentley, Tasting Room Manager.

Saratoga and Los Gatos recently have stepped up to the plate to solidify their reputations as gateways to the Santa Cruz Mountains wineries. In the past 18 months, these two towns have hosted  five downtown wine walks and strolls (more on the difference later).  Together,  the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce and the Los Gatos Visitors Bureau  have enticed about two thousand tasters to the two towns. Each town has another stroll or walk planned for the fall.

These events are significant to merchants and wineries, nearly all of whom are small businesses struggling to be seen and heard amidst the barrage of commercial messages we receive every day from larger competition.

And now to the Stroll vs.Walk semantics. The stroll thinking goes something like this – walking the tasting path on a stroll is more leisurely in the smaller confines of a village than in a more expansive downtown. But mostly the difference is a “you say potaytoe, I say potahtoe.”  And it seems seems reasonable to differentiate the two for clarity. In any case, one walks, one strolls – the journey and destination are the same.

Black Cat Hats and Bags of Los Gatos made it easy for strollers to acquire stylish sun protection for some Saturday promenading along Big Basin Way in Saratoga Village.

Below are  are images captured at the May 21 Saratoga Wine Stroll, further titled  “Bonnets and Blooms”. The day dawned glorious after many preceding days of rain, and with Saratoga Heritage Day bringing in an early crowd, the village bustled from mid-day, and then swelled at mid-afternoon when tasters filled the sidewalks.

For tasters, what better way is there to sample a wide range of wines (35 different wines served) in a short time in pleasant conditions? One thing I’m learning from working to help organize these events – tasters come to have a good time sampling wine and interacting with other like-minded people. Local merchants host the wineries, which draws many first-time visitors into their business. Tasters discover new wine favorites and new places to shop and dine. Everybody wins!

Sergio played some energetic foot tapping flamenco-styled guitar solos for tasters at Bell Tower Bistro. Next time you hear about Sergio playing at Bell Tower, make a point of dropping in. There's also a wine bar just to Sergio's left and a patio for sitting, sipping and listening.

Bill Cooper is the winemaker of Cooper-Garrod wine, all crafted from estate grapes grown minutes from and hundreds of feet above Saratoga Village. It's always fun to visit their wine tasting room because it's co-located with Garrod Farms Stables and can be quite picturesque with fine-looking steeds clomping about.

On this Spring Wine Stroll day, father Bill Cooper (above photo) was accompanied by his daughter who helped with pouring duties at Montalvo Realty, another stop along the Stroll.

Ristorante Da Mario's street-side patio pouring proved popular all afternoon. Greg Richtarek introduced throngs of folks to several Guglielmo wines and Mario, in red, served delicious samples to accompany the wine.

Bella Saratoga restaurant hosted The House Family Winery on their street-side patio, ensuring high visibilty and lots of tasters.

Just outside the Chamber of Commerce registration area classic rock from The Ones called to tasters. Having live music play throughout the Village really juiced up the vibe and had folks walking with a bounce in their step.

This scene from ouside of Casa de Cobre restaurant is a sign of Wine Stroll success....sidewalks full of happy village visitors discovering new wines, restaurants and retailers.

Black Cat Hats on North Santa Cruz invariably tickles the fancy of men (boys) and women (girls).

Full disclosure- I’m on the team that organizes this event, so as not to appear unduly immodest, I’ll let a dozen images do the talking. To me they show folks celebrating Spring, the nectar of the grape, the great downtown of Los Gatos and each other’s company.

Significant about this Spring Wine Walk was that the Los Gatos Visitors Bureau, the organizing group, entertained an additional 100 tasters and added several more wineries, so the larger entourage of tasters didn’t result in longer waits at the tasting tables. The Old Town Amphitheater crescendo drew a throng of tasters to this final stop on the walk, where music, six of the 27 wineries, free bottles of water and complimentary food from six eateries awaited. The happy wine revelers coalesced in the center, wound their way up the stairs across the tiered seats and spilled onto the upper terrace. What a great way to end a wine walk, a throng of high-spirited tasters

Also for the first time, most of the wine being poured could be purchased at the Amphitheater. For many tasters, immediate gratification is an appreciated convenience, as many of these wineries don’t have tasting rooms or other local distribution.

OK, enough gloating…here’s the evidence!

First impressions are as important in Wine Walks as they are in meeting new people. Efficient, friendly volunteers moved tasters quickly through registration and acquisition of the all important custom wine glass

Early comers share a laugh with Patti Rice, pouring for Regale Winery and Vineyards in Cambric women's boutique.

Part of the fun of the Wine Walk is discovering stores into which you've never ventured. Clearly, the folks pouring Poetic Cellars wine for merry tasters in the Sierra Toy Soldier store are unperturbed by the F-14 fighter banking overhead.

Besos lingerie store and Black Cat Hats offer up their inner courtyard for tasting. Joyce and John, two owners of Villa del Monte Winery, introduce their offerings to a steady stream of tasters.

Mary and Ed pour Muns Vineyard for hundreds of tasters who ventured into the Butter Paddle, which opened relatively recently on Santa Cruz Ave.

Bill and Doris Cooper greeted tasters to the Amphitheater with pours of their Cooper-Garrod Estate Vineyards wine which is produced in the hills above Saratoga.

Organic farmer and winemaker Jerold O'Brien always seems to draw a happy crowd at these events with his Silver Mountain Vineyards wines.

Down on the floor of the Amphitheater, Ben, CEO of Campo di Bocce, fills a glass to accompany the sumptuous spread of complimentary food they also served. This summer, Campo di Bocce will host the national Bocce Championships at their Los Gatos and Livermore facilities.

A look up from the floor of the Amphitheater shows the party that marked the final stop of the Wine Walk.

This image encapsulates the goals of Los Gatos wine walks - happy tasters sporting new hats and a shopping bag full of goodies.

I suppose it's no surprise that the nectar of the grape brings out the vocal muse in many of us. What is surprising, and wonderful, is how often this seems to happen at Poetic Cellars.

Incredulous? Yes! When I heard about a food and wine pairing offered at Poetic Cellars Winery a couple of weeks ago, I did an auditory double-take. Doughnuts and wine? Are you kidding me?

I’m well acquainted with the wines made by winemaker Katy Lovell, and am particularly fond of her Mourvedre varietal, but even still it stretched the limits of credulity to imagine this, or any other wine, satisfactorily matching up with fancy doughnuts.

Now,  Psycho Doughnuts has built quite a reputation for themselves in a very short period of time. Their doughnuts  are fresh, imaginative,  and delicious in  unexpected ways.  Maybe that’s the point of pairing them with wine. Unexpected, imaginative and definitely fun.

It’s probably the “unexpected” element that attracted Highlighting Entertainment out of LA to videotape the wine-doughnut tasting for a proposed reality show episode that would air on national cable networks. We missed the actual filming portion of the day due to a prior commitment, arriving at 3:30 to find only crumbs as evidence of the earlier festivities. Like most everyone else, we’ll have to wait for the episode to air and experience this culinary coup from the eyes and tongues of others.

In the meantime, we’ll have to satisfy ourselves with the more traditional approach to wine tasting at Poetic, which as you’ll see below, has often included spontaneous bouts of music and singing. If only I could hold a melody as well as I hold a stemmed glass.

The inviting entrance to the Poetic Cellars tasting room, housed under the same roof as the working winery and barrel storage in a new facility Katy purpose built into the side of a mountain.

Dianne was a good sport to model the hands-free wine glass holder custom-made for the Los Gatos Wine Walk coming up April 30. We needed photos for the ticket ordering page, so folks could buy a hands-free wine glass holder and raffle ticket while purchasing tickets. What better time and place than the veranda of Pinot Paradise Villa Ragusa to capture the holder in action?

Here’s the third and final installment of the People of Pinot Paradise. It features two winemakers, a wine drinker, a wild pourer and the real stars of the show represented by a lineup of magnums from each of the wineries, all auctioned off at day’s end.

Silent auctions are right up Dianne’s alley, so we had multiple bids dispersed among the dozens of items. At the end of the day, we suffered our disappointments lightly because we walked away with two fun winnings. Most tangible was the double magnum of Downhill Winery Pinot Noir. This will be served at an auspicious occasion yet to be determined, made more auspicious by the arrival of this gargantuan bottle of wine, whose fate is to be consumed in its entirety the day it’s opened. That’s going to be a good day for a lot of people.

Katy Lovell, resplendant in red and the owner of Poetic Cellars Winery, is one of the few females plying this trade in the mountains. She is also a fountain of knowledge about the art and science of extracting the best of what a grape has to offer.

And I have to concede that knowing Frank Ashton, the winemaker, makes the purchase more special somehow. It’s this same feeling that makes this event special – it’s the people that pour at Pinot Paradise.

Here’s the final special shoutout to the clients shown below:

• Poetic Cellars Winery
• Burrell School Vineyards and Winery
• Silver Mountain Vineyards

Magnums of Pinot awaiting new owners as the silent auction winds down.

The opportunity to meet this colorful Burrell School pourer never presented itself, but his taste in jackets made sense in view of owner Dave Moulton’s predilection for high-visibility garb at this event.

Jerold O'Brien, owner and winemaker of Silver Mountain Vineyards, never seems to tire of pouring his wine and talking to folks about his passion for the trade.

Cin-Cin Restaurant and Wine Bar Co-Proprietor Lisa Rhorer sports the fedora, and is flanked by Chris Schloss, Cin-Cin Executive Chef, and a delightful assistant whose name I missed. Good food is a distinctive feature of this event and improves the wine tasting experience.

One thing to notice about Part 2 portraits are the smiling faces. Pinot Paradise is a fun, people-oriented event for wine lovers. All the tasters I met, even if ever so briefly, were sociable and in good spirits, looking for their next favorite jewel from the Santa Cruz Mountains wine appellation.

As I was sure to mention to Karen Hibble, head of the Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Growers Association and major promoter and organizer of Pinot Paradise, I missed this year the bagpipe-lead procession that marks the end of the silent auction or some such thing. I liked it so much I’m including last year’s photo. Nothing like a bagpipe to fill a room like a shrill wail of wind through the Scottish moors. Best enjoyed in short stints.

A bagpiper always adds to the festive energy of a party, and commands attention from all those in its wake.

As I also said last year, if you want to explore a significant range of fine local wines, munch on delectable taste treats, and enjoy the company of other sociable, like-minded folks, then put this event on your calendar!

Pinot Paradise Part 3 coming soon.

Here’s today’s special shoutout to the clients shown below:

• Cin-Cin Wine Bar and Restaurant
• California Cafe Los Gatos
• Black Ridge Vineyards
• Big Basin Vineyards

More tasty morsels for sippers from the Los Gatos California Cafe.

Jennifer Flippen pours Black Ridge Vineyards wine and extols the virtues of the property's spectacular Tuscan-style tasting room and panoramic views from just above Los Gatos. Note the earnest pair of pourers in the background...

Here's that earnest couple, Jeff and friend, making folks happy they stopped at Big Basin Vineyards for a delicious taste and some happy banter.

Creative and mildly mobile decorations greeted tasters with a colorful shoutout.

This is a picture story of the wine makers and managers who make Santa Cruz Mountains wine-growing appellation wines. They are a hearty independent group who took the wine–making path less chosen. Each year in late-March these winemakers gather at Villa Ragusa in Campbell for Pinot Paradise, a bacchanalian festival where Pinot Noir flows freely and  about a dozen restaurants serve up tasty tid-bits to accompany and compliment the wines.

I wandered about these folk, many of whom are on the local Discovery Map and on www.DiscoverLosGatos.com, and tried to catch folks unposed (with a couple of happy exceptions) as they worked their magic on more than 500 merry revelers. The following photos are definitely worth at least a thousand words.

More to come in a couple of days.

Here’s a special shout-out to the client wineries shown below:

• Burrell School Vineyards & Winery
• Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vineyards
• Cinnabar Winery
• Regale Winery and Vineyards

That's Dave Moulton, co-owner of Burrell School, on the left wielding an empty bottle. He also wields an organizer's wand over Pinot Paradise each year, with great and wonderous effect.

I couldn't sneak up on Anne and Julie Krolczyk. They greeted me with smiles and a magnum of Thomas Fogarty's best.

I like meeting and speaking with wine makers and grape farmers. Pinot Paradise is a great place to meet and greet these folks, like George Troquato, winemaker for Cinnabar Winery.

Larry Schaadt, owner of Regale Winery, in the midst of pourers, bottles and tasters, prepares the next vintage for sampling.