Sonoma (07/06/10 – 07/07/10)
Quick mini-vacation. First “real” time vineyard hopping! See photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pipsyrules/sets/72157624507375138/
Went with MP and CI and stayed at the Renaissance Lodge at Sonoma. We had a fun and relaxing time. Somehow my schedule and planning was successful! 
Things that were amazing:
- Sonoma — being what it is, a gem! So close to SF, just a quick hour-drive away!
- We didn’t have to rush nor felt rushed and the day went by surprisingly, quick.
- We beat the crowd wherever we went.
- All our tasting room attendants were super nice and held entertaining conversations (esp. Joe @ Cline!)
The one thing that I learned this trip is that I really like white wine…perhaps even more so than red. So most of my trip consisted of tasting white wines while CI tried a mix and MP stuck w/her reds.
Below is a recap of our successful schedule:
10:00am - MP and I met up with CI and began complimentary wine tasting any 4 that we wanted from Jacuzzi. My favorite was the Moscato Bianco – Alexander Valley, 2009. “Also known as Muscat Canelli, the wine offers delicate floral and peach aromas with lovely citrus notes.” Afterward, we walked a few feet to the free olive oil tasting where we seriously tried ~10 different olive oils! Gulping them down, our palettes were just getting warmed up! We explored the beautiful, picturesque estate thereafter and randomly decided to hit up Viansa.
11:00am – Went to Viansa and had more complimentary olive oil, balsamic, and honey tastings. We then went to the counter to create our own flight of 4 wines for $5. Our tasting room attendant happened to be from Chico State, so he and I ::high fived:: Small world! Older gentleman though, he says Whitney Hall was just being built when he was there! Anyway, my favorites were the Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (vino bianco), “100% stainless steel fermented, prominent notes of nectarine and citrus. 13.8% abv,” and Frescolina Tocai Friulano 2007 (vino dolce), “93% Tocai Friulano, 7% Moscato. Aromas of honeysuckle, tropical fruit, apricot, wildflower honey and ripe peaches.” See picture of bottle: http://store.viansa.com/2007Frescolina It’s quite beautiful. I ended up purchasing it too!
12:30pm – Headed to Cline (across the street from Jacuzzi). While most people were wine tasting inside the house, we got pretty awesome timing and serving from Joe who served a large group outside and just finished up! He ended up pouring us 4 or 5 wines (can’t remember) and we took our last red wine to the 1pm tour. The tour was interesting and a great way to really get the history on the estate. Of course, by this time we were quite giddy and happy, so it seemed interesting! What was absolutely shocking was meeting two North Carolina folks that just climbed Half Dome the day before, and it only took them 3 hours going up!!! I’m still speechless. The husband is training for his second Ironman triathlon and the wife runs pretty regularly — so guess what they did? Yes, they ran up! Ahhh — crazy! Anyway, after we took the estate tour we grabbed the lunch I prepared and picnicked out in the sun. We had turkey, smoked gouda, brie, swiss, water crackers, seedless organic red and green grapes, organic roma tomatoes, dijon mustard, and Ghirardelli dark chocolate. CI also brought artichoke hearts and bread! We scarfed everything down pretty well. We were sooo hungry!
3:30pm(?) – I think this is about the time we left and checked into our hotel. We lounged around for about a half an hour and then headed to Roche winery via complimentary shuttle from our hotel.
4:00pm – Complimentary tasting of 3 wines at Roche (also went there last year as part of the Russian wedding!). Our server has retired from the CEO life and “works” at the winery 2 days a week, boats around the bay area, Australia, and New Zealand, and travels to countries such as Kenya and Tanzania for 2 full months. Quite the life to aspire to! After the tasting we walked to the Sonoma Cheese Factory and tried about 8 different cheeses. The two memorable ones are the habanero and hot pepper. One tiny square sets your mouth on fire for a little while. Super addicting, might I add. Addicted to the pain! 
We kept walking around Sonoma Plaza and saw a sign for a complimentary tasting at Eric and James. We went in and had 4 red wines. They were not pleasant for my palette…
5:30pm – Hit up Sonoma Farmer’s Market and got the famous Uncle Bill’s corn dog. The batter was fresh and dipped solely mustard was heavenly. We also tasted many samples of different olives. We were sooo full by 6:15ish, we decided to cancel our 7:30 reservation at the Girl and the Fig.
We managed to flag down the shuttle to our hotel as we were walking…which was quite relieving after standing all day. We lounged around the pool, enjoyed the sun, and headed to our room when it started to get chilly. CI headed back to the bay around 7:30 and MP and I lounged more. We started getting hungry so we swiped another reservation at the Girl and the Fig at 9pm.
9:00pm - Waited maybe a few minutes after 9 to get a table, even with a reservation it was jam packed. Sat next to an older couple who wanted me to take photos of them. I also asked the gentleman whether his rock cod was good since I wanted to order it. He forced me to try a slice of his, so I did. And thank goodness because I decided against it (too dry and no flavor). He ended up sending his order back and got a salmon appetizer in replace. I ordered the duck confit (one leg) with a frisee salad and potato fingerlings. Everything was tasty except the frisee salad, as it lacked seasoning. MP ordered the scallops and seemed to enjoy everything but the scallops! The restaurant was reasonably priced compared to other French restaurants (less than $50 for the both of us).
We got back to the hotel at 10pm and ended up passing out before 1am. Luckily, I woke up with no hangover! 
Wednesday we went to the Sunflower Caffe for breakfast. I think the alcohol from the prior day had residual effects. We were both relaxed and enjoyed just sitting out in the warm weather, dining, lounging, conversing, and sipping our coffee and latte’s for a good three hours! I ordered the herbed goat cheese and spinach omelet which came with a side of potatoes, toast, and orange slices. It’s a bit on the expensive side for breakfast (~$12), but it was hearty and delicious. The environment couldn’t be beat either. I was going to order a regular coffee, but the barista asked me twice, “You mean, latte?” and after twice of saying no and him just about to pour the coffee, I said, “Okay! Fine. A latte!” He then says, “It’s the best latte in the world…” and he rambles on and such. He then says he’ll charge me the coffee price instead. That was nice of him! He also said if I didn’t like the latte that he’d refund my money. Well, I don’t drink latte’s. In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many latte’s I’ve had in my entire life…but it was super smooth and tasty (with two packets of sugar!) He came by later and asked me how I liked it, and I just beamed! Now, I’m probably going to order latte’s and expect it to be something amazing. Way to set me up for failure, barista!
After lounging for a solid 3 hours, we walked around Sonoma plaza a bit more and then headed back home. Sonoma proved to be a great, simple, last minute, relaxing vacation!
