In the last post, I discussed our recent trip to San Francisco and posted a number of Impossible Project images that I took during our first few days in California. The second leg of our trip was spent in lovely Sonoma, CA. We arrived in Sonoma during the early evening hours of Friday, December 23. We settled into our cottage and took a quick trip around the corner to downtown and dined at a lovely Mexican restaurant by the name of La Casa. The Mexican food was great and it was the perfect way to start our experience in the wine country town. After dinner, we ventured to Whole Foods to stock up on a few grocery items. We then settled in and prepared for our fun filled Christmas Eve activities.
We started our day at Gloria Ferrer Caves and Vineyards. Gloria Ferrer is a winery that produces sparkling wine; in fact, it's touted as the first Sparkling Wine House in the Sonoma region. Established in 1986, it embodies the Spanish wine-making traditions. We were booked for the 11 a.m. tour; in addition to myself, Brittany and my sister-in-law, there were only two other people. It was a small group and our tour lasted a bit longer than scheduled. Our guide was very knowledgeable and he provided us with a great deal of information; not only on wine, but also on some of the sparkling wine making processes. During the tour we enjoyed three different sparkling wines and then we went out to the terrace and enjoyed a couple more glasses as we overlooked the vineyards on a wonderful, sunny, Christmas Eve afternoon.
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar One Step
Film: Impossible Project PX680 Color Shade Gold Frame Edition
After Gloria Ferrer, we headed to Buena Vista Winery. Buena Vista Carneros is the oldest, premium winery in California and is now a California historic landmark. The winery was founded in 1857 and produces a variety of wines, including Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The tasting room and visitor's center was warm and inviting and reminded me of a lodge. We got right into the tasting bar and enjoyed a variety of wines. The reds were clearly my favorite, but we all decided on taking a bottle of Chardonnay home to have with dinner. Afterwards, we had a late lunch at the Sunflower Cafe. It's a quaint little cafe in downtown. I had the grilled duck breast sandwich and washed it down with a poinsettia mimosa. The sandwich was amazing; tender and overflowing with flavor. It was on a ciabatta bun and was served with a bed of greens. For dessert, I had the bread pudding and vanilla ice cream. It was so good, my mouth is watering as I type this. Afterwards, we headed to the grocery store, grabbed supplies for Christmas dinner and a few steaks for the night. We headed back to the cottage, fired up the grill and enjoyed a quiet evening at the cottage with great food, great company and great wine.
Christmas day was super chill and relaxing; the girls headed to the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa for a massage and I ventured around Sonoma taking pictures. Afterwards, we all gathered in the kitchen and began cooking our Christmas dinner. We had quite a spread: ham with a delicious brown sugar glaze, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, broccoli rice casserole, winter squash with roasted pumpkin seeds, cranberry-wine sauce, rolls and Boston cream pie and mini eclairs. It was wonderful; we enjoyed each other's company, exchanged Christmas gifts and watched the Christmas Story.
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar One Step
Film: Impossible Project PX680 Color Shade Gold Frame Edition
The day after Christmas, my sister-in-law's boyfriend was coming into town. We picked him up in a small town about a thirty minute drive from Sonoma. After picking him up and dropping his luggage at the house, we went to the Red Grape Pizzeria for lunch. The place was packed and we had to wait about 30 minutes before being seated. The crust of the pizza was paper thin and crispy and the ingredients were the freshest of the fresh. It was some of the best thin crust pizza I've ever had. Afterwards, we headed to the Gundlach Bundschu for a 2:30 p.m. cave tour. Gundlach Bundschu is a family owned winery that has been producing quality wine over six generations and over 150 years. The have a massive farm/estate; however, they only produce about 25,000 cases a year (if my memory serves me correctly). The tour was much bigger than the one we took at Gloria Ferrer. The guide was super cool and knowledgeable and after our tour and five samples of wine, he took us into the tasting room to sample anything else we wanted. A great way to spend a few hours. We headed back to the cottage to relax. Brittany and I decided to go for a little adventure for dinner; we were in search of the La Bamba taco truck. After a half hour of driving around, we found the little gem of a street food vendor. The menu was entirely in Spanish and Brittany and I were the only non-Hispanic individuals waiting for food. It took about 30 minutes to get our food, but it was worth the wait. The tacos were made to order and were authentic; served open faced on small tortillas with meat, cilantro, caramelized onions and a fresh lime and radish slice. We drove back to the house and enjoyed our little Mexican find.
The next day was our last day in Sonoma (and California for that matter). We set off to the local bike shop to rent bikes for the day. After picking our perfect cruisers, we headed to Bartholomew Park Winery. Bartholomew Park Winery is situated on a historic, organically farmed estate complete with a park and hiking trails. We were greeted by George, a very friendly wine enthusiast. He guided us along our tasting; we talked and ate cheese while we drank. Bartholomew Park is an exclusive winery that produces roughly 4,000 cases a year. The wine is only available for purchase in the winery or via the wine club. We purchased a bottle of Chardonnay and drank it on a picnic table overlooking the estate. Afterwards, we took our bikes to Ravenswood for another tasting. Ravenswood is a "newer" winery in Sonoma and they're known for their Zinfandel. This was my least favorite tasting room experience, but the wines were delicious. Brittany experienced her favorite wine of the trip, their Moscato. We purchased two bottles and headed back to downtown. We had one of the best meals of the trip, at a Sonoma staple: The Girl and The Fig. They didn't have space for four the rest of the day, be we were able to get full service at the couches they had sitting by the door. The food was out of this world; I had a fried pork belly sandwich with frites and a Hemingway cocktail. It was delicious; the flavors of the meat, the egg that was on top of the sandwich, as well as the ranch aioli was mouth watering delicious. I sampled everyone else's food and it was all exquisite. It was the perfect meal to top off our trip. We relaxed the rest of the evening and enjoyed our last night in Sonoma.
Sonoma is a super chill town; the downtown is small and quaint and the wineries produce a small amount of cases per year. From what I hear, it's much more relaxed, less touristy and less developed than the other side of wine country - Napa. Sonoma is not only a town for wine enthusiasts, but it's also a town for foodies. We didn't have a bad meal and there are so many great restaurants around town. They're all using super fresh and organic ingredients and they're providing a culinary experience in such an artisan manner. I highly recommend visiting if you ever get a chance. In addition to top notch experiences with the culinary arts, Sonoma is a great place to take pictures, as I found out. I'll post some additional images in my next post. I hope you enjoyed reading my little photo "travel journal" of our California trip. Stay tuned for more photo specific related posts.
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar One Step
Film: Impossible Project PX680 Color Shade Gold Frame Edition
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