Sonomaluma

I am seriously behind on the blog. I'll do my best to catch up here in the next few days. Two weeks ago, Matt and I headed to wine country. We spent a rainy Saturday at the Cline and Benziger Wineries. Sonoma is beautiful almost any time of year, but I really liked seeing it in the fall. The vines are all turning yellow and things are slowed down a bit in terms of wine production. The Cline winery had a free tasting room (bonus). The wines there were quite good, especially the Carignane (pronounced Karen-yawn but not in a way that sounds silly). We headed up to Benziger and watched the tour go by us, went back south to Gloria Ferrer for a tour (they were not running due to the rain), and then back up to Benziger. I was determined to do this tour because of their biodynamic practices. Biodynamic grape growing is kind of like organic. They don't use pesticides but they do a lot more than that. They have insectaries, which are gardens that attract the bugs and species that eat the bad bugs. They make and use their own compost from the unused parts of the grapes. They are thoughtful about what varieties should be planted where based on soil, sun, and micro-climate. They also grow other crops (on a very small scale) and have animals on the property to keep the land healthy. Matt and I were totally happy at this place, learning about how to take our ideals about how you should treat land and still be able to make a good product for a wide audience. I also like that this winery is educating a lot of people about eco-friendly practices...people who were probably just there for the wine. We tasted a bunch of wines and bought two whites.

We went to Petaluma for the night and found a great restaurant called Dempsey's. They have a farm a bit north where they grow a lot of veggies used in their dishes and I think raise animals for the restaurant (perhaps including Matt's pork chop). I highly recommend this restaurant and hope to return...one of those places whose menu changes with the seasons. We drove back to Tahoe on Sunday and I got to meet some of Matt's "real" friends from Boston who had just moved to Tahoe. I guess there's a bug going around back east that's making people itch for the west. We had a nice big dinner, which made me miss having roommates and friends around. It was a great weekend.