Channeling ancient Egypt in the vineyards

About 20 years ago, during a weeklong Wine Country bike trip, my husband and I stumbled across a strange little inn with a private zoo, where we slept in a room dedicated to an Egyptian goddess, skinny-dipped in the pool and ate French toast in the skylit dining hall before getting back on our bikes and pedaling away.

Encountering this pagan idyll in Geyserville -- in the middle of dusty nowhere -- was like stepping into a mirage. I have wondered, over the years, whether the Isis Oasis Sanctuary had survived, or been turned into another boutique winery.

It wasn't until this year that I stopped in Geyserville again. While grapevines have replaced the area's fruit orchards, and the historic main street is getting a face lift, the Isis Oasis is going strong. Spirituality and winemaking still coexist in rural Sonoma County, as they have for more than 100 years.

Some of the fun in visiting Geyserville is being able to toggle back and forth between the old and the new. The Temple of Isis is a short stroll from Geyserville's turn-of-the-20th century downtown, which houses an old-school general store as well as haute Italian cuisine, wine tasting and gourmet coffee (but no Starbucks).

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