Wineries, Breweries, and Hills Oh My!
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2009
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3
11
Trip End
Jun 21, 2009
Where I stayed
Fairfield Inns & Suites, Sebastopol, CA (Santa Rosa)
Healdsburg, California
Saturday, June 13, 2009
So just to keep up the geekie tourist, we head towards Calistoga CA and their version of "Old Faithful" geyser. I know that it is nothing like the one in Yellowstone, which I haven't seen yet, and still feel compelled to check it out. But lo and behold, the beauty of MarSher traveling is flexibility. As we head in to Calistoga we see a sign for a farmers market. This is one of those things I can't pass up, you never know what you will find there. What I found was some fresh squeezed olive oil that was out of this world. "Judy" had 5 samples of her olive oil. She explained how she does blind tastings and that most people are drawn to either 'green' or 'rancid' olive oil. The word rancid disturbed me but she explained most of what we buy in the grocery stores as olive oil, is actually rancid. As I progressed through the tasting, I have to say there was a decided difference in the flavors of the oils. I really didn't taste olives, like eating one, but tasted a greenness almost akin to a raw vegetable flavor -vs- the traditional olive oil. I was converted and bought a bottle of the green stuff. What I will do when I run out and have to go back to 'rancid' will be a painful reveal.
While we were following the signs to the farmers market, my sharp eye just happened to spot a sign for the "Calistoga Inn and Brewery" right in the heart of Calistoga downtown. Their downtown is like so many small communities with quaint little shops closely knit together with style and grace and a few restaurants tossed in. Since the farmers market was around the corner and down the block and we had a good parking space, it just seemed natural to walk the street and end up in the brewery,,,,I mean Inn. It was a charming place. As a former B&B owner, I appreciated the understated style of the place. Inside was a restaurant with white washed wood walls, simple table coverings and timeless style, Outside on the patio were table clothed tables under white shady pergolas. We pulled up a stool at the bar and had a thoroughly enjoyed a sampler platter and conversation with Ted the bartender. Beyond was a beer garden with laid back tables, picnic tables, and landscaping. We got there just after 11am and even though we were on east coast time -:)- knew we had to check it out so we ordered one sampler and shared it just so we could taste their wares. There were six beers including a Belgian Tripel.. They also go by Napa Brewing Company. We ended up buying 22oz bottles of the Red Ale and Porter. Ted also told us about Hydro (pub) further down the street and their selections so since we are on vacation, we wondered our way down there and pulled up a seat at the bar. Rita gave free tastings of their 16 beers on tap (we each had 1 or 2) then settled on Pliny the Elder for Marshall and Napa Smith Pale Ale for me. We felt compelled to ask what the sign in the window adverting "Wednesday Hanging Beef" meant as it conjured up pictures of the lovely California cows being paraded in and hung. But it meant a side of beef, hung up and sliced...whew California cows are still happy...okay somewhat.
We head on out of Calistoga and blow off the Geyser deciding to wait on the real thing at Yellowstone. We are feeling a little hungry and start searching for a winery to have our picnic. Many wineries here advertise picnic spots and encourage you to do so....of course I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you purchased their wine to go with your picnic. We found "Fieldstone Winery set among beautiful rolling hills with a tasting room set in 'fieldstone' and buried into the side of a hill. The tastings were $5 each for six wines which were all excellent. We ended up purchasing two bottles for the MarSher collection. Outside were picnic tables shaped from wine barrels where we enjoyed our lunch overlooking the vineyards. So relaxing and peaceful that all I needed was a hammock to take a siesta. But we still have more to do.
We meander down curvy windy hilly roads towards Geyserville in search of Clos Du Bois winery. It is one of the few wines we consistently look for so we felt compelled to check it out. We find a hip place with enthusiastic wine servers who are a wealth of information. Tastings are $10 each (we had coupon from their website for a 2fer1) and you get like 8 wines white to red. Talk em up and they give you the reserves which are extra special. Now I know what you are thinking, but they are little tastes and frankly some of them I didn't care for and dumped them out (Marshall drank it all because well you know ..he is a man). So we ended up buying a couple bottles of their Merlot which we like as a rule.
From there we head south into Healdsburg for Bear Republic Brewery. They offer a six beer sampler for $9 which we shared. We liked all of their beers. We laughed our you know whats off with two guys who showed up at the bar next to us. They shared a story of a fancy limousine pulling up at a winery they were at today and a woman getting out and relieving herself between the doors. All the men seemed to get a great kick out of this. I guess even people in limos can lack class. I noticed they had garlic fries as an appetizer and after yesterdays sorry offering and after many alcoholic 'samples' think it might be a good idea to have something to absorb it all so I order em up and THEY WERE OUTRAGEOUSLY good.. OMG I had to push the basket over to Marshall to stay out of them. Every bite was full of garlicky goodness. Now I have to figure out how to make them baked so I can have another fix.
By now it is late in the day, we have ate, drank and been merry with strangers and head back to our hotel to refresh before dinner. For dinner I have chosen ZaZu restaurant near Santa Rosa. It is the true definition of "farm to table" dining in that they have their own farm to furnish the restaurant and supplement with area farms when needed. It is small, maybe 20 tables with low ceilings but a friendly warm staff who see to every need. We order the flat iron steaks with balsamic glaze, garlicky swiss chard, and for me roasted tomato orzo and Marshall blue cheese ravioli (sadly I don't do cheese). It was delicious, fresh with an emphasis on the natural flavors of the foods rather than enhancing them with herbs and spices. In hindsight, I might have been just as happy somewhere else for less money but I was intrigued by their website and it was the one 'splurge' restaurant I wanted to go to and I don't regret it.
We head back to Sebastopol and spy the HopMonk Tavern which I had read was a small microbrewery. Since we were 1 mile from our hotel we head in and enjoy a Hopmonk Tavern Ale (pale ale) for Marshall and I had a hoblin chouffe tripel -YUM!. It has been a long and yet wonderful day. The weather was perfect -sunny, cool, and dry, the scenery outstanding, the traffic non-existent and the traveling partner the best in the world.
Comments
OK I'm officially jealous
Sounds like you're having a wonderful time. And might I say a LOT of beer! Goes hand-in-hand I suppose.