My Too Short Visit to the Sonoma Wine Region

Hey hey everyone! I’m back! Since I’m just getting back into the swing of things, and have yet to photograph any outfits, I thought I’d do a re-cap of my vacation for you… hope you don’t mind! I only had my phone to take photos so please bear with the images!

So, before I regale you with the details of my trip, I noticed a curious thing about writing this post. Before and during my vacation, I kept thinking of all the things I wanted to write about and tell you all about and then when I got home and started to write I thought: “Nah, they’re not interested in that.” “That’s not that interesting.” “They come here to see outfits, not hear about your trip.” (the last comment was from my husband, by the way.)

Being silly at Benziger Winery
Being silly at Benziger Winery

So, I did write a post downplaying my trip but when I re-read my last post here I realized I had hyped up this trip and to come home with a big silent nothing seemed disjointed and disingenuous. So, despite the little voice in my head saying “they’re not interested in that. It’s boring” I will tell you about my trip because it was fun and I like getting ideas for trips from others and, most importantly, this is my blog and I can write whatever I want! If you are not interested in reading about my trip check back next Wednesday because I will be talking about traveling with teenagers and modeling my new, favorite bathing suit (Yikes! The things I do for you!).IMG_7325

First, flying from the midwest to the west coast requires more than 5 days. No matter how you plan it, it will take a full day to get there and a full day to get back, leaving us only three days to really vacation. Unfortunately, due to whatever at Southwest Airlines, we were delayed 3 hours and though we woke up at 0 dark thirty we arrived in California in evening rush hour. Luckily, I am an adept driver and my sister is an adept navigator so we were able to slip out of San Francisco and head to the hills to Glen Ellen, a quiet little crossroads of a town deep in Sonoma County. We had rented a house for the 5 of us (me, my mom, sister, cousin and her dear friend) from Homeaway with plenty of room in the house as well as a large, terraced yard with a jacuzzi, several sitting areas and it’s own vineyard!

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We were all starving when we arrived, after forcing ourselves to not give in to the $12 sandwich at the airport, and we found an Indian/Nepalese restaurant called Yeti, probably 1/4 mile down the road with outdoor seating on a deck over looking the Jack London State Historic Park. A perfect place to start our vacation! We were served excellent food and a bottle of B.R. Cohn Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon that I became obsessed with during the trip because none of us could remember the name, only how the label looked, and it was unusually delicious (I’m sure it had nothing to do with being starved and jet-lagged!).  I say “unusually” delicious because I am usually a “white wine in summer” girl because the white wine is served cold and crisp and goes well with summer food. However, on this trip all the white wines tasted the same and I was totally pulled towards the red wines. When I drink red wine in the summer at home, it usually feels like I’m throwing a damp wool blanket over my shoulders when it’s 90 degrees out and makes me sweat and seems very high in alcohol. But, in California, the red wine went really well with the temperature, food and ambience. My sister, on the other hand, usually only drinks red wine no matter the season, was really drawn to the white wines.

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My little sister. Isn’t she cute?

For some reason the red wines and I were getting along nicely both during the warm days and the cool nights. I know this will sound weird, but the reason I think I was drawn to the reds was because of the smell in the air. I’ve never noticed being persuaded by the smell of an area, but I could smell that the air was different from home because of the different trees and I could taste that smell in the wines. I know, weird. I’ve never heard of that before, but I wonder if it’s because I was tasting the wine in it’s home turf. Really, tasting it in my kitchen in Michigan is very different than tasting it in a little garden area surrounded by the grapes growing in the surrounding hills. It reminds me of when my sister landscaped her yard with those cocoa nibs in place of wood chips and every time I went to her house I was craving chocolate because of the smell of her landscaping. Anyways, as soon as I got home I didn’t feel like the red wines anymore and went back to my “white wine in summer” mantra.

So, the next day we ended up hiring a driver who drove us around in our own car to different vineyards from Napa Driver Tours. There are so many options to tour the wine region from an all-inclusive mini-bus tour to hiring Uber drivers in between each vineyard that there is no need for a member of your group to sit out the fun and be the designated driver. Even with a full day starting at 11 am we were only able to visit 4 vineyards and our driver only chose wineries that were close to our house so we wouldn’t waste time being in the car. All of them charged a $15 tasting fee (so different from the Michigan wineries that were free) and most were waived if you purchased a certain amount of wine to take home.

If you haven’t been to a wine tasting before, usually what they do is give you a small sample of several of their wines. Most of the vineyards we visited poured anywhere from 5-10 small tastes as they explain the wines and winemaking process. They start with their lightest wine, usually their sweetest too, and move on to the heavier, drier wines.   Now, I will say, I am extremely susceptible to suggestion when tasting wine. When they say “taste the oak finish” I can taste oak. When they say “note the plum and raspberry flavor” I can taste the plum and raspberry. I also think being on vacation, feeling relaxed and being in a beautiful setting all affects how the wine tastes. With all that in mind, I did not taste a bad wine this trip. There were some I steered clear of because I knew I didn’t want to taste a sweet white or a heavy port, but really they were all very good.

Our first stop was Imagery Estate Winery. Besides excellent wine and a beautiful setting this winery has an art gallery showcasing art that has been used for their labels. The woman who poured our wine at Imagery (forgive me I have forgotten her name and am writing this two weeks after the visit) was extremely knowledgeable about the wine and I felt like I was really getting an education in wine from her.

Our second vineyard was VJB Vineyards that poured an excellent prosecco, which caused my mom to join their club and to receive several cases of this bubbly for all of us to enjoy twice a year. In fact, a case is scheduled to arrive next week — can’t wait! They also have a deli and wood-fired grill where we were able to order lunch and sit in their courtyard to re-fuel for more wineries.

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Such a crisp blue sky — no photo editing needed!

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Our driver then took us to a cave tasting room at Deerfield Ranch Winery for our next stop. Because it was a hot afternoon, this tasting room, in a cave under a hill, was extremely comfortable. Again, another very friendly and personable woman poured our wine for us and made our visit so much more than the wine, and I’ve forgotten her name. Ugh! Peri-Menopause Brain Fog, I curse you! It was such an unusual experience to drink wine in a cave underneath a hill. I love new experiences!

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Our last stop of the day was at a large winery called Benziger. The grounds were beautiful and they are a bio-dynamic grower so they grow their wine in an eco-friendly way that they feel gives their wine added character. I will say they were delicious and I applaud people who farm with sustainability in mind.

We finished up the day with a meal at the Fig Cafe and Wine Bar. Because we had purchased wine at the wineries we were able to bring our unopened bottles into this cafe for no fee. They opened the bottles and poured for us as we had a wonderful meal, so good in fact, we came back the next night. This was such a nice spot for fresh food and within walking distance to our house.

Our next day we decided to head to the ocean. Us, land-locked midwesterners, didn’t realize the 30 degree difference between the inland and coast and as we saw the smoke in the distance…oh…no…I mean the fog in the distance…we knew we were not prepared for the weather.

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Quickly exploring the coast in Bodega Bay while wearing every item of clothing we could find in the car!
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It really was beautiful and I wished we could stay longer!

We quickly got out of the car and took pictures and retreated inland to this little seafood diner called Fisheterian for a delicious, casual lunch.

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So delicious!

It was a beautiful drive getting to and from the coast with rolling hills and farm animals dotting the hills. While driving through these hills though, we came upon one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen. It was a large cow (female? male?) standing on a large pile of dirt, probably 12 feet high, surveying the herd and standing watch so stoically. Sort of like Mufasa from Lion King on Pride Rock. Not moving or eating or looking around. Just like a statue, though it wasn’t one. Even though I grew up on a farm, I’ve never seen a cow standing watch over a herd, if that was in fact what it was doing, or if it was thinking deeply about the meaning of life. Either way, it kept me chuckling for awhile.

On our way back we just had to stop in at a winery that served champagne-style wine since my sister has acquired a taste for it during one of the tastings. Muscardini Cellars had delicious wine, which I tasted, but my sister tried their bubbly, champagne-style wines and loved them tremendously. I love their tagline “bottled with love for the joy of living”. We definitely were enjoying living!

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Our last day we decided to head into the town of Sonoma. I had read about the great shops and food there but, honestly, it was so busy with tourists and the shops seemed very touristy that as soon as we had eaten lunch and found this adorable purse…

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we headed back to our quiet town of Glen Ellen.

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The downtown area of Glen Ellen. Very old west feel to the area.

We did have to make a stop though at “The Mayo Clinic” as we were calling the Mayo Family Winery for a quick taste of their offerings. Again, delicious wine and helpful staff and lovely setting to sit outside at a picnic table and enjoy a glass of wine. This was our final evening so we had to drink all of the wine we had purchased that week (such a tough job!) and ended up enjoying dinner out at the Glen Ellen Inn and bringing our own wine again. Such a nice perk!

I read somewhere that wine is “sunshine in a glass” and it definitely seemed that way on this trip. It was fun but over way too quick. We hardly got to know our little town of Glen Ellen, let alone Sonoma Valley. I would recommend Sonoma because it was laid back and casual and the wine was so tasty. I also would recommend getting someone else to drive you around so you can just relax and enjoy the wine. I read there are over 900 wineries in the Napa and Sonoma region and I may just have to start a life list, like the bird-watchers do, and start knocking them out! Overall, a fun trip with great people focused on one of my favorite things…wine! I hope you enjoyed this little bit of armchair traveling and as soon as my daughter and I can get organized and do a photo-shoot of outfits we’ll be back to the fashion focus. Take care!

I do not have any affiliation with any of the brands or stores nor do I receive any compensation. I’m just sharing what I’ve learned.

 

 

 

 

 

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11 Comments

  1. Welcome back — I loved this post!

    I think you’re on to something in your comments about drinking red wine. I think terroir is the key — it means “soil” in French, but like most French words, includes far more than the literal translation! Rainfall, sunshine, wind, vegetation, minerals, water. Perhaps in Sonoma, you were smelling the various woods and soils, with a sprinkling of Northern California salt air. I, too, would prefer red wine in this setting, esp a red aged in oak!

    You’ve got me thinking. When I was stationed in Cadiz, Spain, while in the Navy, I spent my off-time tasting all the sherries in this renowned sherry region. Sherry was my drink! I loved it! And, I haven’t had any since, LOL. It just doesn’t “go” with life in DC. Concrete and sherry — no!

    Super interesting — thanks for the ideas.

  2. Glad that you had such a great time on your visit. We live in the area and just had lunch at the Fishetarian yesterday. Hope you are able to come back soon.And now I’ll think of the Mayo Clinic whenever we pass the winery!

  3. What a nice trip! I’ve passed through that area of CA but was always on my way to or from somewhere and never had the luxury of time to stop.

    We do have many wonderful wineries here on the east end of Long Island but I’ve never gone on a tour!

    And I enjoyed hearing your trip details, feel free to share more!

  4. Thank you so much for visiting the fig cafe!! It looks like you had a wonderful visit and we hope you’ll come see us again on your next (hopefully longer) trip to wine country! 🙂

    Durae
    the fig cafe

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