Our cottage at Forth Vineyard
We are really lucky here in California that in any given direction we can head towards some good vintage and beautiful scenery. Given all the choices, our hands down favorite place is Sonoma County. Our family discovered it four years ago on our summer vacation and we have been coming back as often as we can. Sonoma is a wonderfully laid back area with a diverse landscape of beaches, rivers, and award winning vineyards set among lush green hills. It's populated by a group of dedicated artisans from winemakers, cheesemakers, organic farmers to oyster farmers. This time Paul and I are going to Sonoma by ourselves to celebrate his 40th, again! It was a spontaneous decision to leave town because our house was going up for sale. We made reservations for dinner at Cyrus Restaurant in downtown Healdsburg and booked a cottage at Forth Vineyard, an organic winery in the local hills. The weekend was wet and rainy, but incredibly beautiful whenever the sun graced us with her brief presence.
I love springtime! And Sonoma was cloaked in full springtime splendor. The daffodils were blooming everywhere; plums, cherries, peaches, and almonds blossoms were putting on a stunning display. I was a giddy fool screaming for Paul to stop the car around every corner because I have to capture all that beauty on my camera. We got into the town of Healdsburg around mid-afternoon on Saturday to find a bunch of people walking around town with empty wine glasses and very happy countenances. Judging from the signs around town, we had arrived just in time for Northern Sonoma's 33rd Annual Barrel Tasting Event. It's an event that allows you to taste the winemakers recent vintage that have not been bottled. Paul and I pulled the car over and headed to the nearest tasting room, Selby Vineyard. The room was packed and in the corner, we see a friend and her husband from Pasadena! They were in town with his parents enjoying a weekend away from their kids also. Julie & Todd recommended the port and mystery barrel tasting that turned out to be a late harvest Zinfandel, which I guessed correctly. Paul and I opted for their excellent Syrah which we were hoping to guzzle down that evening at our cozy cottage. We finally arrived at our cottage very happy and frankly a little tipsy, at least I was. The road to the cottage and vineyard was a narrow lane through a forested canopy of green budding trees and fields of daffodils. The road reminded us very much of the landscape of Tuscany. The owner Jann, greeted us warmly and showed us to our cottage which was a cosy, modern country gem. After exploring the vineyard and surrounding countryside, we headed back into town for a small bite at Dry Creek Kitchen. The dining room was crowded but we sat at the bar and had a lovely meal of Beet Soup, Scallops baked in puff pastry and a delicious cheesecake for dessert followed by mignardises of truffles and mandarin fruit gelees. God! We keep on telling ourselves what lucky bastards we are. It was a lovely start to our weekend.
Our second day was spent barrel tasting at a few vineyards with light rain accompanying us. Our favorite stop was at Zichichi Vineyard where we tasted their incredible 100 year old vine Zinfandel and really good Petite Syrah. The tasting staff was very knowledgeable and gracious, we really enjoyed the entire experience at this small family owned winery. We went wild and bought an entire case of futures, which meant we were paying for an entire case of wines that weren't even bottled yet. To compound the craziness, we didn't even have an address for them to send it to. When we came home to our beautiful cottage we realized that the "All Boys" Cabernet Sauvignon from Forth Vineyard on our table was another favorite barrel tasting from the day. A special treat for guests staying at the cottage. We plan to buy some more from their website. Our dinner at Cyrus on Sunday night was another luxurious experience in fine dining that I can't do justice to in this overly long posting. The restaurant was an exquisite ode to understated elegance and the service was impeccable from the sommelier to the entire wait staff. The best part of our five course wine matching dinner was the dessert. We didn't have one, or two but three desserts followed by a cart of tempting mignardises after the dinner. We took home four boxes of hand-made truffles for ourselves and the girls, along with the restaurant's famous brownies and fruit gelees. Our spontaneous weekend was amazing and memorable, reminding us of life before kids when we could indulge in such luxuries more frequently. Monday came too quickly as we took our final walk around the vineyard to say good bye to the Pyrenees Sheep dogs, fat sheep and chickens of Forth Vineyard. Sonoma, you have our heart and our soul.
Happy fools
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