Looking for quality produce and drinks? Check out these Sonoma County shops.
Rhone on the Range: The Rhone Room, Sonoma: Anyone looking for “food friendly” wines that branch out from the usual Chards, Cabs and Zins has a new source for bottles and education in The Rhone Room. The 500-square foot tasting room at Sonoma Roadside is the latest offshoot from the talent behind The Girl and The Fig restaurant, whose menu has featured Rhone-Alone wines since its beginning in 1997. (Courtesy photo)
Sondra Bernstein, the woman behind The Girl and The Fig and The Rhone Room, decided to serve Rhone-alone wines at her restaurant after an inspiring trip to France's Rhone region where, she says, “sipping from a tumbler of wine is part of your day” and doesn’t involve “a $90 bottle of Cab” or a bottle to be “put on a pedestal.” (Photo by Christopher Chung)
Rhone Room guests can take their wine at the back patio bar, overlooking The Girl and The Fig's own garden, which supplies herbs, fruits and vegetables to the restaurant and catering service. Farmers will be available to answer questions. Future pairings at the Rhone Room will include a partnership with Windsor-based Volo Chocolates (think lavender chocolate), gourmet bag lunches from the The Girl and The Fig, and savory fennel pollen shortbread from Crisp Bakery. Rhone Room (open 12:00 p.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday or Monday by appointment), 20816 Broadway, Sonoma, 707-935-1233, therhonerooom.com
Home Farm Advantage: Healdsburg SHED: Slow food bites and house-made kombuchas and shrubs are paired with high-end shopping at Healdsburg SHED. The sleek design, with its floor to ceiling windows and blonde wood tables, is an Instagrammer's dream and the house-made line of pantry items will have your inner locavore doing a grocery shopping victory dance. (Photo by Mariko Reed)
How slow can you go? Spices, pickles, preserves and other products from the SHED line are grown at the “Home Farm” a few blocks away from the store and produced there or on the store’s premises. The collection of SHED wines and foods is accompanied by local options from other producers. Makers using organic and biodynamic farming methods are a priority in SHED’s careful curation of quality staples.
While you’re getting some pantry essentials at SHED, you can grab some blocks-away sourced produce, and enjoy some coffee or kombucha from the fermentation bar. Oh, and chicken salad, and great spins on hummus and… this store requires multiple visits. SHED, 25 North St, Healdsburg, 707-431-7433, healdsburgshed.com. (Photo by Heather Irwin)
Alley-to-Internet, Bergamot Alley: Just when you’ve found your unique spot for tasting champagne and Italian wines (yes, Euro pours in Sonoma), they announce they’re closing. Bergamot Alley is taking its zany-vintage charm (school chairs-turned-bar stools and fabric pattern-piece art on the bathroom wall), packing up its impressive vinyl record collection, and moving its cool vibes and Old World wines online. (Photo by Erik Castro)
Bergamot Alley has been a favorite among winemakers and oenophiles eager to explore wines that aren’t made from the eight grapes that make up 93 percent of the wine produced in Northern California. Bergamot Alley’s storefront will be in operation until March 31, so check it out inside its actual brick and mortar walls before it moves to a laptop near you. The same lesser known wines (at least to Sonomans) and education will be offered online after the transition. Bergamot Alley, 328 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 707-433-8720, bergamotalley.com
Crushing On Olives: Figone's, Sonoma: California-grown olives are milled in an H-press just a few blocks off the Sonoma Plaza to make tasty olive oils full of dimension and flavor. Add to that balsamic vinegars made from a 20-year old starter and you’ve got a taste you just can’t replicate in a hurry. Figone's Olive Oil, 483 1st St W, Sonoma, 707-282-9092, figoneoliveoil.com
Seed-to-Table, Petaluma Seed Bank: If locally grown produce isn’t local enough for you, move it to your own backyard. Petaluma Seed Bank, the west coast offshoot of Missouri-based Baker Creek Seed Company, carries an impressive stock of seeds: 1800 varieties of heirloom, open-pollinated, non GMO varieties of herbs, grains, garden berries, and vegetables (and flowers, too). (Photo by Conner Jay)
The Petaluma Seed Bank is soon moving from the iconic 1920s-era bank it has inhabited since 2009 to a smaller store down the street, and will re-focus on its original concept of quality seed banking. The store remains fertile ground to grow your knowledge in sustainable gardening, landscape regeneration and canning and preserving, with a little help from two-dozen garden books for sale and the knowledgeable staff at the store, including a Master Gardener. Petaluma Seed Bank, 99 Petaluma Blvd N., Petaluma, 707-773-1336, rareseeds.com/petaluma-seed-bank
Good wine and food is so plentiful in Sonoma that stocking your kitchen with quality goods is easy, if not automatic. Options are everywhere: tasty wine selections, slow food and farm-to-fork treats from local producers. Here are a few independently-owned shops to help fill the wine cellar, the pantry and, hopefully on a daily basis, the table. Click through the gallery above for details.
