Along with the cool inns, restaurants, and activities already shared as part of Beat the Heat: Mendocino County series, there is another unique opportunity to experience Anderson Valley wines. It is a small boutique winery just north of Boonville on Highway 128. Ferrington Vineyards is the home of Fathers and Daughters Cellars. There is no tasting room and no signs advertising wine tasting or sales. Tastings are by appointment only and are very intimate with the winery owner Guy Pacurar and his wife Sarah. Only four or five guests per tasting and only one tasting a day, three or four days a week. You are sent the directions ahead of time and phone number to call if you get lost. However, Guy says the experience and the wines are worth the trip.

Upon arrival at a small house in the middle of the vineyard, a surprising treat was presented: a fresh baked fruit donut paired with a naturally fermented sparkling wine. That set the stage for phase two. We boarded two carts, with fresh picked flowers in the cup holders, and were driven up a dirt road to the top of a knoll above the house with an unobstructed view of the valley and vineyards. A wooden picnic table and umbrella the only furniture. The wines we were tasting, a small platter of food, and the flowers were unloaded from the carts. Guy shares that a tasting should be memorable from the setting, to the wine, and food. He says if you are going to pay a lot for wine it should come with a story.

As we take in the view Guy points out blocks of grapes that surround the knoll, including a special area just behind the table.

Guy also shares that Ferrington Vineyards, owned by his father-in-law Kurt Schoeneman has been producing grapes since 1969, but the family had never produced their own wine. The first family-produced wine was in 2012 as a favor to Guy and Sarah.

He explains the name Fathers and Daughters is the combination of Fathers: Guy and his father-in-law Kurt Schoeneman; and Daughters: Guy’s wife and two daughters Taylor and Ella.
Guy says all of Fathers and Daughters wines are special.

While we visited and tasted reds, whites, and a bubbly wine we also enjoyed samples of locally produced bites.

Somehow, we managed even without the forgotten knife.
To arrange your own special visit and tasting at Fathers and Daughters Cellars visit their website at: https://www.fanddcellars.com/