Travel the world with a great group of people when you join the Warren Ski Club

For Information about this great adventure, contact Joann Bahr, 724-866-8711

Our California Wine Trip was a huge success thanks to our tour operator, Mike Hibbard of Destination Sonoma.  Nonstop flights, amazing wine and champagne tastings, beautiful vistas, sunshine, giant redwood trees, good food, and so much fun together.

Our first stop was lunch at Sam’s Anchor Café in Tiburon, a small city across the bay with a view of the Golden Gate bridge.  Then on to Dry Creek Inn Healdsburg where Mike greeted us with an over-the-top Welcome Party which included wine, shrimp, smoked salmon and his homemade trout dip.   Many of us skipped dinner that night.

Sunday.   The beautiful Kunde Winery was the perfect start to our trip.  Sonaya met us with a glass of wine and led us on a cave tour.  Her knowledge and love of wine clearly showed.  Then on to Sonoma Square for a brief stop before having a 5-star wine and food pairing at St. Francis Winery, voted best wine and tasting room in 2024 and 2025 in San Francisco Gate.   It was over the top!  Thanks to Cindy Mintus, we got the recipe for the tater tots. 

Monday – Stuhlmeyer Winery–Our delightful hostesses and kept pouring wine while we enjoyed Oliver’s Deli sandwiches in their picnic area.   No one wanted to leave but onto Saini Winery where Laura Saini gave us the history of this family-owned winery.  

Tuesday – After walking through the beautiful Redwoods in Armstrong Woods, we enjoyed a tour and a reserve champagne tasting at Korbel Cellars.  Another big hit.  Then onto an outdoor lunch at the Russian River Café where we heard the owner’s story.  She is a friend of Guy Fieri and has been on his show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives several times. Our final stop was Balletto Winery for another tasting and tour. 

Wednesday- We stopped at Bodega Head on the Pacific Ocean, and many walked from there to Marine Bio Research Lab.   We picked up our lunch at Spud Point Crab company, famous for their clam chowder, and then proceeded to go to Goat Rock where we had a picnic lunch on the rocks with fabulous views of the water.

Thursday – Merriam Winery, another favorite.  the owner and his son, the winery manager, greeted us.  Evan owns a beautiful Springer Spaniel that he got in East Palestine.  On our way back to our hotel, we stopped in St. Helena at Gott’s Farm Market for dinner and ice cream at its outside venue.  Thanks, Jeannie Shimek, for the recommendation.

Friday- We drove to Petaluma Gap to Nicasio Cheese for a farm tour and organic cheese tasting.  Then onto McEvoy Ranch for an organic olive oil tasting. But the experience of the day was the cooking class at Sur La Table which included steak with cognac mushroom sauce, tomato and peach salad, a carrot tart, and lemon pound cake with berries for dessert. What fun!  And then back to the hotel to pack and gather for a liquidation party where we raised glasses to new friendships and began plotting our next wine adventure.

We departed Saturday before dawn, the bus quiet with sleepy goodbyes and satisfied smiles.

Heartfelt thanks to every club member for making this trip special. Denise Malovich deserves extra applause for calmly solving our cooking class hiccup, always ready with a steady hand and a quick solution and to Mike Hibbard for an extraordinary trip.

On Oct, 19, twenty members traveled to Portugal for a 7-day Douro River cruise followed by a 3 day Azores Island stay.  They arrived
in the city of Porto to board the “Riviera Duoro Splendour.” Highlights included a pass through the Carrapatelo Lock, the highest lock in Europe and one of five along the river. They toured castles and sampled Port and wine, visited the city of Salamanca and then Lamego, famous for its cathedral set upon 686 steps, all of which are adorned with mosaic blue and white tiles.

Their adventure then took the group to San Miguel Island, the largest of the nine Islands in the Azores, where they ascended the mountain to view the “Furnas” area, then to the lake below and volcanic hot springs to enjoy a lunch of “Caldeira Stew” made by cooking meats and vegetables in pots for hours in volcanic steam. Lunch was followed by a trip to the Botanical Gardens. The adventure continued the next day with a trip to a hot springs natural pool to soak before standing under a natural waterfall and then swimming in the ocean. The trip culminated in Lisbon with a city tour and traditional Portuguese dinner.

Fall 2024 saw the club take 54 people on a wine and exploration trip to West Virginia.  First stop was to the Hatfield Family Distillery and Sweeter Side of the Feud Winery, where we learned about the famous feud from Mark Hatfield, a direct descendent.  Next, we toured the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, then made our final stop at Daniel Vinyards and its beautiful 192-acre property.

On our second day we boarded the Cass Scenic Railroad for a trip to climb up the Back Allegheny Mountain to Bald Knob and back.  We then drove to the ski village of Snowshoe, West Virginia for dinner, then back to the hotel for the night.

Day three took the group to the New River Gorge National Park where we toured their Canyon Rim Visitor’s Center and hiked to a viewing point of the New River Gorge Bridge -- a very impressive sight.  Our final stop was at Kirkwood Winery and Isaiah Morgan Distillery, where we feasted on a fabulous outdoor lunch served with wine and award-winning moonshine.