There's no place like wine country, and there's nothing like a few days back in the real world to smack you in the face and remind you. Last weekend, my boyfriend and I treated ourselves to a nice getaway at a beautiful bed and breakfast in Sonoma. I was expecting it to be similar to Napa and Yountville: more concentrated, and ripe with French influence. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by Sonoma's down to the down to earth simplicity. Sonoma definitely has an old country feel. Farmland, livestock, hills, and acres upon acres of land. The downtown area also has the feel of a small town. Quaint with a lot of unique shops, and architecture influenced by the Spanish missions.
During the weekend, we tried to indulge in all of the treats that Sonoma had to offer. With agricultural characteristics and a climate similar to the Mediterranean, Sonoma provides ideal growing conditions for items like olives and lavender. We happened to go during the annual olive festival, so olive oil was everywhere including wine tastings, and olives were a recurring ingredient on the menus. My favorite olive item from the weekend was from Cafe la Haye, which we went to for dinner. I had a wonderful pan-seared quail stuffed with herb-sourbread stuffing over escarole, olives and capers. Even though quail can be a pain to eat, it was well worth it. It was moist and well-seasoned, and all of the produce was so fresh! While the olives weren't the main player in the dish, they definitely helped to accentuate the flavors. The stuffing was also wonderful, and it gave the quail a twist that made it look like it was emulating a turkey.
The one thing I love about wine country is that you know that you're dining experiences will be amazing because of the farm to table fresh ingredients that are seasonal and delicious. During our stay, lavender and meyer lemons were also among the most celebrated ingredients. While I'm not a big fan of lavender, meyer lemons were a nice treat. A bit sweeter than a regular lemon, without that sour pucker meyer lemons are a cross between a lemon and sweet orange. We saw meyer lemons everywhere - at the fruit stands, in cocktails, in compotes and in olive oil.
As much as I enjoyed all of our dining experiences, wine tasting took up the most time during our trip. We went to about 7 or 8 wineries while we were there, including Artesa, which has a gorgeous view of the country side. My favorite vineyard of the trip was probably Buena Vista, which had an outstanding chardonnay - nice and refreshing with a clean finish and an award-winning syrah - a medium bodied red with an interesting spicy fruit flavor profile. While I really enjoy wine, I realize that there's something very pretentious about wine tasting. It's one thing to seek out apricot and black cherry flavors, and completely another to look for the taste of oak barrel and cigars. ;)
Here are a few photos from our trip:
1 comment:
Too bad about the salad. The atmosphere looks unbeatable
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