Wine Country

I really, really want...scratch that....NEED to win HGTV's 2009 Dream Home. It's in Sonoma County and you get your own little zinfandel vineyard. Could it really be heaven? Our trip to California's wine country rivaled our honeymoon in gorgeous St. Lucia. I actually preferred Sonoma to Napa, although both were fantastic. I know that HGTV is just giving you the opportunity to win the American Dream and doesn't actually expect the winner to live in the house. Oh yes, it's true, I'm sorry to break it to you. HGTV even released a press release about their intentions for the winner and isn't it a shocker that I scoured the web and couldn't find it. It basically just said that they really expect you to take the money and run because a simple fool like you could never really, actually expect to live in a house like that. The taxes would kill you and don't even think about renting it out. It's against the rules. MUAH HA HA! In any event, I have to win.

 

We were there in May 2007 from a Wednesday afternoon through Sunday morning. Stay away from the weekend. We basically had each winery all to ourselves and got preferrential treatment such as one-on-one staff and bottles that were off-menu and opened just for us. Once Friday afternoon hit, the place became a zoo, you could barely get your glass under the pourer's bottle and it was such a turn off. On Saturday afternoon, we actually gave up and headed back to our hotel for the rest of the day because we were so disappointed. One bonus that I didn't know (silly me) was when you go to the tasting rooms, you don't just get one glass and that's it. No, no. You get the whole tasting menu of about 7 wines on average. Of course, you don't have to try them all but who would really be lame enough to do that. We stocked our rental car with water, Gatorade and crackers but that wasn't always enough. We also weren't expecting to buy any wine. Looking back, that was just plain dumb. Be prepared to have a nice big wine box to check in on the plane with you.

Wednesday afternoon, we started in Napa at Opus One.

We really just wanted to see if the hype was true. While the wine was good, we didn't think it was worth the $150 price tag. Also, the winery was very unwelcoming and boring. Very sterile. From there we headed over the mountain (a scary, winding, two lanes on the side of a cliff, road) to my favorite spot of the trip - St. Francis. Here we had an appointment to have a wine and food pairing. What we didn't know is that we were the only ones to sign up for the time slot so the pairing was held in a private room for just the two of us. The food was really, really good and the woman serving us opened an off-menu bottle just for us that we actually ended up buying (introducing bottle #1). Afterwards, we were free to roam the grounds with our last glass of wine. There were breath taking views of their vineyards and the mountain that we almost died driving over.

For dinner, which was a little rough since we just had all that yummy food from the pairing, we went to a delicious little restaurant that served small plates - Willie's Wine Bar in Santa Rosa. We did skip the wine though because if you can believe it, we were wined out. The server said it's actually really common.

Thursday, we headed into Healdsburg where, if we ever go back, we will make our home base. Imagine a small, quaint downtown that looks rather unassuming until you learn that in about 5 square blocks there are 17 tasting rooms. Insane. We already knew we were going to go to La Crema - where we were alone and who also opened an off-menu bottle for us (bottle #2). While we were there, we stopped in at Rosenblum. Later that night before dinner at Zin, we went to two unknowns - Sunce and Chateau Felice (bottles #3 & 4) whose wine club we ended up joining. A note about wine clubs, each winery has one and unapologetically forces it upon you. We just graciously took the information to review once we got home. We decided to join a different one each year to get a variety. Also, friends of ours were told to tip, and subsequently did, the person pouring the wine at each place. We did not witness any of this nor did we feel compelled to tip. Many of the tastings were free too, but mostly in Sonoma. Later that day we stopped at Ridge which had gorgeous views

and we had an appointment to take a tour of Francis Ford Coppola's winery. Again, we were the only ones who signed up for that time slot so we got an hour long private tour of the vineyard while sipping a glass of Sofia Blanc de Blancs. We walked out with bottle #5.

Friday morning was what we were most looking forward to. We had an appointment at Seghesio winery, which is one of our absolute favorite wine makers, for a food and wine pairing. Here we sat with 2 other couples and tried 5 wines. Sadly, the food was not impressive. Afterwards however, I chatted up one of the employees and she took me and Bill down into their cellar for a little private tour. We ended up buying two bottles (#6 & 7) including a zinfandel port which was like nothing we had ever had. We are currently in their wine club and were recently able to buy more which was fantastic. From here we headed back over the mountain, but on a much less scary road,

to Rombauer which was nestled in the side of a mountain.

  Aside from pretty views, not much to say.

This is where we first encountered the crowds and we were sad. We ended the day at Sterling Vineyards. Nothing much to say about this place except that it had the most fantastic views.

They are located at a very high elevation (for a price, you take a cable car to get to the top) so the views were stunning.

Overall, it was a tourist attraction at best. We had dinner this night at our favorite restaurant of the trip - Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen. A foodie's dream.

Saturday started off well before we gave up and went to our hotel. We started the morning at Merryvale where we had two appointments. The first was a component tasting that took place within a fermenting barrel. We sat with 3 other couples and tasted acetic acid, alcohol, tannins and sugar water to learn how to pick these flavors out when tasting wine. It was a really great class because I never knew that tannins tasted like black tea. Our other appointment was a barrel tasting.

The barrel they opened was a 2005 vintage but they also had bottles of the same wine open in 2004 and 2003. The difference in the vintages was very interesting and, not surprisingly, we walked out with a 2003 (#8). This bottle became the most expensive wine, at $75, we had ever purchased by almost double. I won't lie, we had minor heart attacks. We then headed to Silver Oak. Again, we were more interested in seeing if they were worth the hype and were pleasantly surprised. Their Alexander Valley isn't anything special but we would pay the $100, shoot at this point, what's another $25??, for Napa Valley.

Sadly, this is where we really experienced the commercialism of Napa. I can't tell you how many limos were at Silver Oak with about 5-10 girls each, scantily clad and celebrating bachelorette parties. It was extremely annoying. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Twomey which I did not want to do. Bill kept talking about it so I finally caved. Turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. Twomey is a sister vineyard to Silver Oak. We liked it because we actually got a little more attention here, ate up all of their rosemary bread - YUM - and the wine was amazing. They only make Merlot, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. The Merlot drinks like a Cab and is the best Merlot I've ever had. As I'm typing this I realize that I should probably add this to my list of Favorite Food Things. No hesitation - bottle #9 - the second $75 bottle of the trip. I believe we temporarily lost our minds. Dinner that night was at Go Fish and was not very impressive. We were going to go to French Laundry or the Culinary Institue of America but decided to keep things more laid back. Next time though, the foodies within us will win out.

So now you see why I must win the HGTV Dream Home. I know I'm not going to but I think I'll still be sad and have a twinge of jealousy when my door bell is not rung. I just hope whoever wins realizes what they are getting. Did I mention the gourmet kitchen.....