(OregonLive) - California's Sonoma wine region recently sent three winemakers to Portland to meet with journalists who write about wine.

I occasionally cover wine from an amenities viewpoint, though not so much about the wine itself. I seem to get great readership response on my blog when wine is the subject.

Memorial Day weekend is a big time for winery visitors in the Willamette Valley, so don't take this as a recommendation to skip out of town and head to the Sonoma Wine Road.

But if you like wine, you will want to get acquainted with Sonoma somewhere down the road. Or, more likely, you've already been there.

Sonoma County is just west of another wine region in California: Napa, which happens to be world famous as the star of American wine. Sonoma is less pretentious, less crowded and has wines nearly as good as those made in Napa. Sonoma wine is widely available for purchase in Portland stores and wine shops.