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This year's Lake County Wine Adventure is once again being hosted by the Lake County Winery Association.
Adventurous wine enthusiasts will have an opportunity to discover the “new” wine country and taste the reason why Lake County – with a grape-growing history that extends back to the mid-19th century – is fast becoming known for its award-winning wines, ultra-premium winegrapes, resort-style wineries and friendly tasting rooms.
Throughout the weekend, “wine adventurers” will taste wines from five of Lake County's six distinct viticulture areas (AVAs) as they visit participating wineries.
Wineries taking part include Ceago Vinegarden and Tulip Hill Winery in Nice; Brassfield Estate Winery, Shannon Ridge Winery, High Valley Estate Vineyards, and Noggle Vineyards & Winery in Clearlake Oaks; Villa La Brenta in Clearlake; Gregory Graham Winery, Ployez Winery, Hawk and Horse Vineyards, and Six Sigma Ranch in Lower Lake; Langtry Estate & Vineyards and Off the Vine at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown; Moore Family Winery on Cobb Mountain;Cougar's Leap Winery, Kelseyville Wine Co., Shed Horn Cellars, Mt. Konocti Growers, Bell Hill Vineyards, Rosa d'Oro Vineyards, Steele Wines, and Wildhurst Vineyards in Kelseyville; Sol Rouge Wines will be offered at the Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake and Robledo Family Winery will be pouring at their brand new tasting site located on Soda Bay Road in Lakeport.
Adventure tickets can be purchased online at www.lakecountywineries.org for $35 each plus a small handling fee through July 15. Tickets also are available at every participating winery on the day of the event for $40 each.
Each ticket is good for two days of activities and entitles the holder to wine tastings and hors d'oeuvres at each winery, a logo wine glass, a tasting booklet and a reusable wine tote.
Several wineries also offer barrel tastings, winery tours, art exhibits and entertainment.
Event-goers will be entered into a raffle drawing when they leave their completed adventure tickets with the last winery they visit. The grand prize features a cellar collection of premium wines from each participating Lake County winery.
Event organizers promote responsible hospitality and encourage all participants to designate a driver.
Designated drivers are invited to enjoy non-alcoholic drinks, food, and entertainment free of charge at each site compliments of the Lake County Winery Association. Designated drivers also can turn in their special button to be eligible for some fun Lake County prizes.
For more information, call 800-595-WINE (9463), 707-355-2762, or visit www.lakecountywineries.org.
Lake County is part of the North Coast AVA, which also encompasses Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties. Within Lake County, five other AVAs exist — Clear Lake AVA, Benmore Valley AVA, Guenoc AVA, Red Hills AVA and High Valley AVA.
For visitor information, contact the Lake County Visitor Information Center at 800-525-3743 or www.lakecounty.com.
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LAKE COUNTY – Another July 4 holiday came and went this past weekend, marked by parades, barbecues and fireworks.
Fireworks displays ringed the lake over the weekend, extending from Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks to Nice and Lakeport.
On Sunday evening, Lucerne photographer Ron Keas captured these photos, taken of Lakeport's display from the vantage point of Library Park.
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The quake, originally reported at a magnitude of 3.1, occurred at 2:07 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey.
It was centered immediately at The Geysers, five miles southwest of Cobb and six miles west of Anderson Springs, at a depth of 2.1 miles, the agency reported.
The US Geological Survey received 11 shake reports from nine zip codes, including Kelseyville, Middletown, Windsor, Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Napa, Union City, San Francisco and South San Francisco.
A 3.2-magnitude temblor was reported at The Geysers on June 22, as Lake County News has reported.
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Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit will conduct a control burn on Morgan Valley Road near the location of the Homestake Mine on Wednesday, July 7.
The prescribed control burn will be conducted between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Prescribed burns are carefully planned and controlled burns which must meet strict criteria of ecological benefit, weather parameters, smoke management and fire safety guidelines, officials reported.
When all conditions and prescriptions are met, trained wildland firefighters manage the control burn while monitoring the set criteria, fire behavior and designated fire control lines.
The benefits of low intensity fire in the natural environment include cleansing of wildland debris. Cal Fire reported that excessive dead and down branches, brush and small trees are burned converting fuels that are hazards in the summer into rich soil nutrients for larger species of vegetation.
The controlled burns also provide habitat. Removal of decadent fuel encourages the growth of seasonal
grasses and leafier plants which affords highly nutritional food and habitat to a wider range of animals.
Low intensity fire also helps eliminate and control diseased plants and trees, encourages the healthy growth of new plants – especially those fire dependent for renewal or seed dispersion – and decreases the size and frequency of large uncontrolled destructive wildfires. Prescribed burns also are safer for firefighters and area residents.
For more information about fire safety or prescribed fire visit www.fire.ca.gov.
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John Medeiros, 46, was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital via REACH air ambulance following the crash, which occurred at 5:20 p.m. on Highway 20 west of Orchard Shores Drive in Clearlake Oaks, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Medeiros was riding his 1993 Harley Davidson motorcycle westbound on Highway 20 at approximately 55 miles per hour, while 39-year-old David Andrade of Clearlake was driving his 1975 Ford pickup eastbound, also at 55 miles per hour, according to a report prepared by CHP Officer Jake Bushey.
Bushey's report said that, for unknown reasons, Medeiros made an unsafe turn to the left which caused his motorcycle to enter the eastbound lane, directly in the path of Andrade's truck.
Andrade attempted to swerve to the right but couldn't avoid the collision, and Bushey's report said Medeiros' motorcycle hit the left side of Andrade's pickup.
Medeiros' motorcycle went under the left side of the pickup truck and hit the rear axle. He and the motorcycle came to rest in the westbound lane, Bushey's report stated, while Andrade's pickup ended up on the south shoulder of the highway facing westbound.
In addition to Medeiros' injuries, the collision also resulted in Andrade receiving minor injuries, Bushey said. Andrade was treated at the scene by Northshore Fire Protection District paramedics and was not transported to the hospital.
The report noted that both men were using safety equipment.
Drugs and alcohol are not considered as contributing factors to the collision, Bushey reported.
The collision is still under investigation, the report said.
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Just in time for the July 4 holiday, the Library of Congress has reported that a recent study has given new insight into the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
Recent hyperspectral imaging of Thomas Jefferson’s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence has clearly confirmed past speculation that Jefferson made an interesting word correction during his writing of the document, according to scientists in the Library of Congress’ Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD).
Jefferson originally had written the phrase “our fellow subjects.” But he apparently changed his mind. Heavily scrawled over the word “subjects” was an alternative, the word “citizens.”
The correction seems to illuminate an important moment for Jefferson and for a nation on the eve of breaking from monarchical rule: a moment when he reconsidered his choice of words and articulated the recognition that the people of the fledgling United States of America were no longer subjects of any nation, but citizens of an emerging democracy.
The correction occurs in the portion of the declaration that deals with U.S. grievances against King George III, in particular, his incitement of “treasonable insurrections.”
While the specific sentence doesn’t make it into the final draft, a similar phrase was retained, and the word “citizens” is used elsewhere in the final document. The sentence didn’t carry over, but the idea did.
Fenella France, a scientist in PRTD, conducted the hyperspectral imaging in the fall of 2009 and discovered a blurred word under “citizens.”
“It had been a spine-tingling moment when I was processing data late at night and realized there was a word underneath citizens,” France said. “Then I began the tough process of extracting the differences between spectrally similar materials to elucidate the lost text.”
Hyperspectral imaging is the process of taking digital photos of an object using distinct portions of the visible and non-visible light spectrum, revealing what previously could not be seen by the human eye.
The hyperspectral imaging system is located in the Library’s Optical Properties Laboratory, on the sub-basement level of the James Madison Building.
Fascinating details of our historical heritage have been coming to light with the use of hyperspectral imaging.
For instance, recent imaging of the heavily varnished and visually obscured 1791 Pierre L’Enfant Plan of Washington, D.C., has clearly revealed invisible streets and special locations, including the “President’s House” and “Congress’ House.”
The Thomas Jefferson word correction has been suspected for some time by scholars, the Library of Congress reported.
In “The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 1: 1760-1776” (Princeton University Press, 1950), Julian P. Boyd wrote, “TJ originally wrote ‘fellow-subjects,’ copying the term from the corresponding passage in the first page of the First Draft of the Virginia Constitution; then, while the ink was still wet on the ‘Rough draught’ he expunged or erased ‘subjects’ and wrote ‘citizens’ over it.”
Incidentally, Jefferson died at age 83 on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Dying on that same day at age 90 was John Adams, also a former president and one of the five men – along with Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman – who sat on the declaration's drafting committee, which ultimately instructed Jefferson to draft the document.
Adams and Jefferson were friends, later becoming political rivals. However, late in life they renewed their friendship and entered into a long-running correspondence. Their letters still exist today.
Jefferson died hours ahead of Adams, who – not knowing of his friend's death – is reported to have said, “Jefferson still survives,” according to historical sources.
The rough draft of the Declaration of Independence can be explored in stunning detail in the online version of the exhibition "Creating the United States" at www.myLOC.gov (and on-site, appropriately, at the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building).
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds nearly 145 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats.
The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning Web site at www.loc.gov.
Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at www.myLOC.gov.
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