Yesterday’s Taste of Sonoma was the largest outdoor food and wine event in California.  Which says a whole lot for a state known for being a mecca of culinary artistry and amazing wine.  I have always known that Sonoma County has it’s own eclectic way of doing things and yesterday showcased my county’s attention to detail, commitment to local/seasonal ingredients and humor.

Just like I saw during the Barrel Tasting and Passport events in Dry Creek Valley this past year, the crowd  at Taste of Sonoma was younger.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed, according to the Press Democrat, “The demographic this year seemed to shift to a younger, hipper crowd of folks in their 20s and 30s.“   This just proves that my idea for Project Y-ine is a great idea and that wineries (and restaurants) need to put more effort into reaching out to this demographic.  The Taste of Sonoma isn’t a cheap event, and at $95 to $160 a ticket, yesterday showed that my generation is willing to pay for the finer things in life.

They had a Taste 2.0 section where anyone could go onto Twitter or Facebook, which was awesome considering MacMurry ranch had no service for us AT&T users (for people like James Marshall Barry who has Verizon, it was humorous).  My one issue with this was that they did not use this service ONCE themselves, though they did post a status update and video on their Facebook Page.

But then again, I tweeted enough about Taste of Sonoma for everyone.

In addition to running back to the Taste 2.0 booth, I took pictures of everything I ate during the day.  Thankfully, it is tomato season, so the theme of many bites to eat revolved around this fruit.  Keep in mind as you read this post that I am a vegetarian, so I was only able to eat some of the food at the event…  Thankfully, my Sonoma chefs kept me in mind when creating their veggie dishes (or so I like to think).

The apple-ation cocktail from Cyrus in Healdsburg was an amazing apple brandy cocktail that only the mixoligst’s at Cryus could create.  They provided recipes, but considering I cannot pronounce one of the words in the recipe, I am not sure how easy the drink would be to recreate….

The mini ice cream cone was a yummy combination of goat’s milk and cow milk ice cream made with Delice de La Vallee cheese (made by Sheana Davis, my favorite cheese lady and organizer of all chefs at the event).

The Bellwether Farms cheese was amazing too, but sadly only located in the Visa Signature section, so most of the guests were not able to try it.

Bacon was also another theme with bacon pizza, pea shooters with bacon topping from John Ash & Co, BLT’s from Bovolo/Zazu and bacon wrapped figs from the girl & the fig and I did get some pictures of these items for you carnivores to enjoy:

If I could give out a prize for my own personal favorite booth of the day, it would have to go to Sondra Bernstein of the girl & the fig and ESTATE in the city of Sonoma.  She truly embodied the Taste of Sonoma by providing three separate ‘tastes’ all made with her restaurants namesake – figs.  The figs wrapped in bacon I couldn’t eat, but I went back for thirds of the fig desert and her fig coolers.  By popular demand, I think quite possibly mostly by me, she posted the recipe for this refreshing and delicious cocktail on her website.  Oh, and I already asked: Yes, they are on the menu at the girl & the fig.

Overall, I ate much more than I drank, but I did visit many of the amazing wineries that Sonoma has to offer.  It was my first time being at an event that solely showcased my favorite county.  Even though each appellation had their own tent, I overheard a lot of comradery and respect for the other wineries and tents.  All together an amazing day in an amazing county.   For more of the pictures I took of the day, please go here, here or here.

Greetings from Healdsburg!  Knowing that one of you will be moving to our beautiful ‘lil town soon, I wanted to first, send my congratulations to each of you for making it so far in this social media/wine competition.  It has been fun watching this all to take place and too see what the contest has done to bring wine to the fore-front of the social media world… We bloggers have been big advocates of this for a while now.

Secondly, I would like to let you know a little bit about what you are getting yourself into in Healdsburg, CA.

Yes, this is a job for Murphy Goode and you will be thrown into a world of wine, dice games, vineyards and Sonoma County appellations, but that is just during your work hours….

Unlike that boring valley to the East, Healdsburg (and Sonoma County in general) is actually pretty fun after 5PM.  During the summer there is always music on the square on  Tuesday’s (the entire town comes out to lounge in the town square, drink and socialize with friends) and if you wear your winery shirt, the Bear Republic only charges you $2 for a pint of their infamous Racer 5 or any of their other delicious beers.

…. Or you can always grab a beer with the rest of the winery workers (tasting room, winemakers, vineyard people and anyone else who may be around) at the Dry Creek General Store.

…..Or listen to music and drink some more wine at Michel-Schlumberger Estate every Friday and Bella on the weekends.

After the sun goes down, Barn Diva has dancing and drink specials and Ravenous has live music on the weekends and is home to the best back patio in town (and a damn good mojito).

Basically what I am trying to say is that we locals promise to show you around town.  If you all have a time when visiting here this month, I would love to schedule a tweet-up, that is, if you have a night to yourselves during your live interviews.

If not, I hope you all enjoy your stay here and come back to visit soon!

… And to the one winner…  Myself, and a few locals would like to offer ourselves to show you around!

Thanks and congratulations once again.

*shana.

(p.s. Another great thing about this town is being able to work from your laptop at one of the many wifi spots in town — My personal favorite is Snowbunny.  Here is a pic of the square that I just took!)

There has been a recent epidemic of blog postings that have been critical of the lack of customer service that a few wineries have provided, including two recent ones from me (here and here).  With the ever-expanding blog posts about everything from what people had for breakfast to the wine they drank before going to bed, the internet is a haven for people to write about their daily experiences.  It is also a fact that people talk more about their bad experiences than their good ones.  Online and during their everyday lives.

I was told by one of my male friends that my posts as of late have been a bit pessimistic and that I should write about something pleasurable and not just promotions or brands that upset me.  Though I don’t believe him, especially looking at the overwhelming exceptional customer service I received (and wrote about) from my favorite wineries over the past two Barrel Tasting weekends, I figured I would take a look at some places I have been to recently that I think have the right idea.  Two Sonoma County restaurants instantly came to mind.

Jack and Tony’s Whisky Bar- They opened up in Railroad Square in downtown Santa Rosa last month, but local Sonoma County chef, Jack Mitchell (of Sassafrass) knows that a good restaurant is nothing without a great staff who is dedicated to providing a memorable experience.  They literally rolled out the red carpet for their customers this past Wednesday.  It was their Grand Opening celebration and no matter how cheesy it sounds, the party was in fact  Grand.

A limo drove guests from the Santa Rosa Hyatt and dropped them off at the front door.  Here guests were greeted by a red carpet and a smiling Jack saying “thank you” for coming.  For part of the day, a paparazzi style photographer snapped candid photos, the mayor showed up for a ribbon cutting ceremony and they gave away free appetizers.  The drinks were delicious and the garlic parmesan fries were cooked perfectly.

Jack personally went from table to table to greet each of his guests and to chat for a bit.  It will be interesting to see if they can keep up this level of great customer service, but as Jack told me “He had the best restaurant staff to choose from in Sonoma County,” so look for people who know what they are doing.

Bovolo Restaurant- One several different wine tasting occasions, myself and a group of wild women have entered into Bovolo (behind Copperfield’s on the Healdsburg Square) to dine on their infamous mac and cheese and carbonara dishes.  Other than my friends being obsessed with the handmade bacon, we go there because they offer free corkage for locals and I have a bit of a crush on one of the staff members at the cash register.  I like that you order off the menu at the cash register and you go to sit down, it brings a more informal vibe to the place.

We tend to get a bit rowdy, so instead of yelling (which has happened at various restaurants or hotels), the staff will come in the back and simply ask us to keep it down.   I understand that sometimes we need to be reminded to use our inside voices, but asking us nicely goes much further than coming back and acting like we are ruining your life.

(Bovolo picture taken from Google Images)

Both of these restaurants have proven to me on more than a few occasions that it is the simple things that create an experience worth coming back for.

One of the biggest events in Sonoma County is the two weekend extravaganza (aka drunk fest) that is Northern California Wine Road’s Barrel Tasting Weekend around Healdsburg, Ca.  The first two weekends in March provide visitors the chance to sample wines straight from barrel, pre-purchase the wine (called futures) before it is bottled and meet the winemakers.

Barrel Tasting weekend is a true celebration of spring in Wine Country: the mustard flowers are in full bloom, the sun is usually out for the first time and tourists & locals are running around in short sleeved shirts with red stained teeth.  It is the first event of the year that the wineries roll out the barrels and open up their cellars to the sunlight.

Thea Dwelle, her mother and I headed out into the wilds of the Sonoma County wine roads with an agenda:

1. To show Thea’s mom some of her favorite wines and wine people.
2. To visit new wineries we haven’t been to.
3. To visit our Winery Twitter friends.

Dry Creek Wineries: Papapietro Perry, Kokomo, Peterson, Truett Hurst (aka @truetthurst) and Sbragia.

Saturday morning was spent visiting some favorites including, Papapietro Perry, Kokomo, and Truett Hurst.  All the barrel samples from these favorites did not disappoint.  Kokomo Winery even had a delicious special “Mystery Sample” for visitors to guess the varietal.  Winemaker, Erik Olsen even gave us a clue (a Bordeaux variety). Thea did eventually get it.  If you really want to know the varietal, ask me in the comments.

Jim Morris at Truett Hurst made us laugh with his “X-Ray” glasses (aka polarized lenses to look into the creek for salmon), feed us some tri-tip and let us try some of their own zinfandels.

We also visited Sbragia where they seemed to not have enough people working to handle the massive amounts of people visiting the winery.  We tried some unmemorable Zin and left.

Alexander Valley Wineries: Route 128, Jimtown (for lunch) Hawkes Wine’s (aka @hawkeswine) and Stuhlmuller.

Route 128 is a newly opened tasting room in downtown Geyserville. They are still very small so they were not participating in Barrel Tasting, but they poured some pinot for us anyways.

The folks from Sonoma County Tourism Bureau (aka @InsideSonoma) suggested a pairing of Jimtown General Store’s infamous chocolate pudding with one of Hawkes Wine’s Cabernets.  The pairing did not disappoint. The 2007 Pyramid Cabernet Sauvignon went perfectly with the rich chocolate pudding. Good thing the two are right next to each other.

Healdsburg Wineries: Newly opened Hudson Street Wineries (Bluenose, Owl Ridge, Teira, Windsor Vineyards, etc), Holdredge, Camilla (where @Cellardiva was pouring), Sapphire Hill.

These wineries are all smaller with limited cases and I would have to say, I was not as impressed with them. It was the end of the day when we stopped by here, so my experience could have been a bit jaded because of the massive amounts of people.  I would like to stop by Camilla and Sapphire Hill again.

Altogether, I couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday to spend wine tasting to experience some old favorites and new adventures.

Look for tweets with the hastag #barreltasting next weekend!  And, of course, please follow me at @ShaRayRay on twitter!

Last week I stopped by the Love Farms Market in downtown Healdsburg to say hello to a friend who was helping to remodel the store.  Love Farms is a local farm which grows certified organic fruits, veggies and sells seedlings for people to grow their own. They supply produce to some of Healdsburg’s biggest restaurants (Barn Diva, Ravenous and Cyrus) as well as to anyone who stops in their retail store or by their farm on Grant Street.

Picture taken from Jon of Sonoma’s Flicker page

During my visit, Ron Love (owner and the farm’s namesake) told me that they are remodeling the market to introduce a healthy and economical community restaurant to the town in the back portion of the store.  He mentioned it would be opening up around the time when the Healdsburg Farmers Market opens up (in May) with meals made, of course, with Love Farms produce.  During my visit we talked about the new seedlings that they are selling and he inspired me to want to start my garden at my house.

All of this rain and the extra pinch on my pocketbook as of late has gotten me into a food funk.  I notice that during the winter I am much more apt to eat meals with less variety…. Maybe it is the weather and being stuck indoors has made me a bit lazy, maybe I just know I can use that as an excuse. But I don’t seem to have the same inspiration in the wintertime as I do during the fall, spring and definitely the summer.

I still buy produce… I have had a lazy vegetarian taco kick that has lasted the past two months.  A few times a week, I will sauté up some spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions along with some store bought salsa to make my tacos. It takes no time at all and they are delicious, but that is beyond the point.

What is my point?  Do I even have one?

Oh…. yes…. My food habits have become monotonous.  My visit at Love Farms has sparked a new excitement in me.  Sonoma County is the perfect climate to grow a garden (or even a Farm).  For the first time since I moved out on my own, I am not living in an apartment… Even better – my house already has three boxes for gardening.  Ron mentioned that right now is the perfect time to start growing my seedlings, or purchase them from him to start growing my beets, onions, garlic and spinach.  So, look for tweets and blog posts about my very first adventures in gardening.