At least I know we’re in Sonoma.
Hubby and I are in Santa Rosa for the 2017 Wine Bloggers Conference. As y’all know, this used to be a much more active blog, but then I got my first fiction contract with Samhain Publishing, and between that first contract in 2013 and Samhain’s demise this past spring, I published seven books with them and three on my own. While I did try to update my blog occasionally, it didn’t happen with the regularity I’d previously had.
So what am I doing at a wine bloggers conference? Hoping to get inspiration and updates on what’s going on in the wine world so I can get back to blogging more regularly. I’ve found through my writing career that I enjoy connecting with readers, and what’s better to do that with than food and wine?
Here’s a quick summary of our adventures so far. We flew into Oakland on Wednesday night, when it was pouring rain, and our GPS took us through what was likely picturesque scenery to avoid traffic going into the town of Sonoma. It was dark, so we couldn’t see the scenery, but I did enjoy some of the road names, especially Stagecoach Gulch road. Doesn’t that say Old West? We did not, however, see any stagecoaches.
We ate dinner – light since it was our fourth meal of the day – at The Girl and the Fig and spent a comfy night at the El Dorado Hotel. The highlight of dinner was the cheese plate, two goat and one sheep cheese, all from California. Since I can’t do cow dairy anymore, cheese plates where I can eat everything have remained elusive, so I was excited.
Hubby managed to make it to almost midnight. I conked out by 10:45, a still respectable time for this East Coaster, who’d been up since 7:00 Atlanta time and only got a brief nap on the plane. Then we were both awake early enough to go for a run. It was a somewhat humid 55 degrees, so we thought it was great, but the natives were all bundled up like winter had arrived, zombies and all. An older woman stopped us as we were walking to cool down to ask why we weren’t wearing jackets.
Before we left Sonoma, we decided to stop by the Rancho Maria tasting room, which is right on the Plaza down the block from the hotel. This was a good and fast transition for our palates since the list is heavy on Zin and with no Pinot Noir. Phew. Pinot Noir and I are on a break, and that would’ve been awkward. Everything was good, and they have a vertical Zin tasting, which you definitely don’t see everywhere. The highlights were the Zinfandel Rosé, the 2013 Zinfandel, and the 2013 Petite Syrah.
We got recommendations from Sebastian, who is the winemaker and who, lucky for us, was working the tasting room that morning, and headed over to the Sonoma Market, an upscale grocery store with a good deli, to pick up lunch. Then it was on to the hamlet (I’ve been wanting to use that word) of Glen Ellen, where we enjoyed eating our sandwiches on the patio of Kivel Stadt Winery. We ended up across the street from the Village Market, the Sonoma Market’s sister store, as we ate, and we realized we don’t take directions well since that’s actually where Sebastian had recommended.
After our lovely lunch, we tasted the old world-style wines at Kivel Stadt and particularly enjoyed the Father’s Watch red, a blend of syrah, carignan, grenache, and mourvedre. Yep, it’s a Rhone blend, but like if an Old-World wine had decided to have a scandalous liaison with a new world wine. I also liked the Mother of Invention, a marsanne-roussanne-viognier blend that would be perfect for Thanksgiving.
Our next stop was Muscardini Cellars, where we found the one northern Californian who wasn’t freezing. In fact, he seemed more to be melting:
As you can probably guess from the name, Muscardini focuses on Italian varietals. Our favorites included the 2012 Barbera, which had strawberry as part of its flavors, and the smooth 2012 Tesoro blend of sangiovese, syrah, and cabernet. That one might not make it back to Georgia.
Our last stop before heading to Santa Rosa was B Wise Vineyards, which is known for its high-end cabernets and pinots. We tasted the cabs and came away with a lovely red blend of zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, merlot, and petit verdot.
The evening started off with the Wine Expo and reception for the conference. I’ll be honest, I had a bad case of palate and introvert fatigue – not a great combination – but I did have a nice conversation outside the reception with other people who were like, “Phew, chairs!”
Stay tuned for more wine blogger conference adventures, and be sure to follow me on Twitter (@ceciliadominic) and Instagram (randomoenophile).