Quintessential Organic Farm

Just an hour from San Francisco and twenty minutes from Sacramento lies an exquisite winery and organic farm. Full of orchards, grapevines and row crops, it looks as if it was plucked straight from the French countryside. The winery, main house, guest cottage, and barn are like a tiny village, whose pale stucco walls glow in the midst of fruit trees radiating out in all directions. Many of the fruits and vegetables grown on the farm are sold at the San Francisco Farmer's Market, and shipped to restaurants around the United States.

With lavender abloom in the pomegranate orchard, and olives ripening in the trees, the joyous Mediterranean ambiance is unmistakable.

Guests drive onto the farm past a custom made wrought-iron gate that opens onto a wide driveway divided by a row of flowering crepe myrtles. When they arrive at the end, their cars are whisked away by valets to a two-acre parking area hidden from view. The bridal party has its own changing rooms in the small cottage.

By now, the couple has already decided which of the farm's wonderful ceremony and reception sites are best for them. One option is for the bride to emerge through the French doors of the cottage onto a small terrace, and then walk down several steps into a large grassy amphitheater.

Or, she and her groom might say "I do" on the large South Terrace under the sycamore trees at the edge of the amphitheater.

A third possibility is getting married in one of the orchards. Similarly, sit-down dinners, buffets, champagne receptions, and cake-cutting ceremonies can be staged variously on the terrace, in the amphitheater, or in the orchards—and even in a tent set up in front of the winery. Events are limited to one a day, which gives couples the time and space to set everything up the way they want it.