Summer is here!!

Like most of everyone summer signifies outdoor activities, al fresco dining, picnics and hopefully some vacation time. Eating very seasonally awesome foods and possibly fresh goodies from the garden, yours or others. Lazy days reading, camping or road tripping. Summer to me means fun in the sun and chilled wines.

For us it's not quite that easy to take time off. We can't just pack up and go, we have a business to run. And with harvest looming, Mat is already visiting vineyards and scoping out the situation. Bottling is also typically mid August to clear the cellar of barrels.

                But we definitely get into the summer foods, grilling, corn on the cob, tomatoes....

The week of  July 4th, we celebrated a friends birthday request of fried chicken. This is usually made once a year using the Thomas Keller, Adhoc cookbook recipe, a lot of work but super yummy!

                                                        Pool shenanigans, backyard chilling.

      

And our Annual Backyard BBQ is always a winner!

Mat's favorite foods to prepare family style

We pulled out a 5 liter library bottle for the event. Only one of each single vineyard bottled per vintage from 2009 - 2016. This 2010 Horseshoe Bend Pinot was a hit. Perfect for a big crowd of our wine family!

                                              

      

And after all the flavors of summer BBQ are consumed, we continue the Jenga competition tradition!

Summer is truly the best!!!

Next up....

                            Annual Library Tasting happened the weekend of July 26/ 27th

cheers

 Read a book

The stages of reading in life is interesting. 

How the current state of mind determines the books we read. We are in a huge reading curve and seems like many friends are in the same mode.

                                       

Today I'm searching for inspiration in memoirs, personal stories and uplifting fiction. Chelsea Handler, Marc Benioff and Melinda Gates to name a few.

Currently we are both reading a lot of books in replacement of watching the news. Both Mat & I will prepare our morning beverage and sink back into bed or the recliner with our book of choice.

                             Mat loves the Dan Brown / Michael Connelly, keeps him distracted from                                                                          the Washington Post and the NY times.

 For years all I read was wine books and anything food, travel and wine related. Some of my all time favorite books. 

In my 30's, the bulk of my intense wine studies, I had 3 or more wine books open all the time. When Mat & I bought our home, we combined our books and of course we both had the Jancis Robinson encyclopedia, so I had to get one signed on my 3rd personal sighting of my mentor.

                                      

To spend a couple of days in Italy or France, as the book places your mind in the location ( sign of a really good book ) and definitely the best books for me. Head to the hammock and enjoy an afternoon away! Blood, bones and butter by Gabriel Hamilton is an all time favorite as well as all of Ruth Reichl and Julia Childs books!

      

                                               

   

Cork dork, Red white and drunk all over are super fun reads!

Cookbooks are another favorite, inspiration for many of our events. Chef specific, season or protein/ veg driven. Our cookbook collection is eclectic, focused and very personal. The Joy of cooking has always been Mat's 'go to' book and chef written are great for tasting room events. Like the Hog Island cookbook when we featured oysters for an evening. Charles Phan Slanted Door is a super popular one that we have done twice. Plus often our club parties feature a CP dish, Thomas Keller and many others.

  

     

Reading menu's is a combined love of ours too. If it's a dinner menu, a wine list and even wine labels, there is a conversation to be had. Both Mat & I clearly enjoy our chosen industry and have a shared passion.

                     

Sometimes silly inspiration for the tasting room is also needed!

We try to support local news paper especially when they mention us and give us high accolades on our wines!

     

I never thought of us as book people but this year has been the year to prove that clearly we are. In the current climate of life, it is so important to have time to remove day to day weight, pick up a book and read. 


                                       

Cheers to books and keep on keeping on!

Spring has SPRUNG

So much has happened already this year!!

We hosted our 'in memory of ' Charles Phan dinner, we had a very fun hands on pressed flower class, our Spring Wine Club party the 1st week of May, Green Valley Wine Festival in Graton and a trip to celebrate Mom's 90th.

All this mixed in with getting in weekly hikes, bike rides and work.

And I thought my life was kinda slow and boring but, when I put it down on paper, I feel exhausted!

Charles Phan dinner was not just a special night honoring the dishes of the Slanted Door, it was truly a celebration of food and wine.

Everyone seated had 3 glasses with 3 wines to taste with every dish, Rose' of Pinot, Muscat Blanc and Pinot Noir from library magnums.

It was meticulously prepared, perfectly timed and just an all round best evening! Plus the Muscat proved to be a favored pairing wine.

Chicken satay with peanut sauce, lemon grass soup, spring rolls and mama's meatballs.

His recipes are awesome!

  

Rose' 2024 released officially end of April. Only 135 cases which will go fast.

 This years rose' is 100% Pinot Noir from a single vineyard owned by our Bohemian Vineyard growers.

This means high quality, beautiful fruit flavors, a perfect rose'.

                                                                           Wine Club party

We served Goat Curry, Toma Rashi cheese biscuits and strawberry goat cheese crostini for the club party. Mat was so excited to serve goat as it is one of his favorite proteins, lean and flavorful, a huge wine, everyone loved it!

New Wine Club releases included the 2022 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, 75 cases produced. This will never be seen on the tasting room menu, there's just not enough and I LOVE this wine. Delicate strawberry fruit, wild raspberry, creamy texture.

Pressed flower class was a huge treat! Just happened that I discovered a local lady that does flower pressing as a hobby and started teaching. I thought it would be a great offering to our local wine family so I booked Jan and send the info to a group of artistic friends. The afternoon sold out and was so enjoyed by all, we're offering a Fall class. Look for it if you think you'd enjoy joining us.

 

The constant discussion of food pairings and trying new recipes. My love of salads was this inspiration. Easy, healthy and perfect for our Sauvignon Blanc and summer season coming up.

And then mid March we received this incredible painting of our Tasting Room by our friend and wine club member. Such an honor to have this on the wall in Graton.

Memorial Day weekend is here and it really feels like we're kicking off the summer spirit. Lots of fun will continue in 95444

cheers

 

2025

It's here and so are we. Not my favorite time of year and yet we have some really great stuff going on: our annual tasting room closure break, mushroom foraging, local Dungeness crab season and cold but often beautiful sunny days.

   

Our annual break lead us on the road to Palm Springs. We're looking for sun, warmth, good food and outdoor activities. This trip did not disappoint. We hiked part of the PCT, we took the tram up to snow and hiked the 1.8 mile loop, we walked all over the Palm Springs strip and had fun doing it.

Hiking on the Sonoma Coast on sunny days in winter is a true pleasure. There might be one or two people on the trails, can be wet and muddy but this year Red Mountain was already dried up from the December rains. The sky has been so crisp and clean that one can see all way to the Farallon Islands.

The warm sun can almost make us feel like it's Spring.

     

Crab season is especially favored because we have to wait for the season to officially open. We feast for the first few weeks on cold, hot, sandwiches, salads, cakes, you name it, we try it all with crab and the the seasons winds down.

   

Our annual crab dinner brings smiles, joy and laughter to the tasting room. A good thing for January.

The biggest news for our start to 2025 is a new POS ( point of sale ) system.

We finally made the BIG jump in technology. Anyone who visits the tasting room in Graton will see it. It is an obvious change and we're basically having to reenter every customer into the new software.

It is an incredible improvement and will pay off for all of us ( no more double charges ).

Although it is an adjustment for our old brains, I'm slow at it still.

Next up, we're looking at staying positive and joyful in February!

Tasting barrel samples of the 2024 wines.

Mushroom season can start in the fall but is totally dependent on weather. We expected this year to be amazing with all the rain fall in November and December. unfortunately it hasn't really happened. The weather from pretty much January 1st has been sunny. I do prefer the sun to anything so I'm fine with that.

cheers to making 2025 good for friendship.

1st puzzle of 2025 complete