When they moved to Sonoma County from Oakland, Geneva Melby and partner Ryan Miller were excited to meet a number of winemakers from the natural wine community.
As chefs at Ramen Gaijin restaurant in Sebastopol, the two were inspired to create a space at the restaurant where they could highlight natural wines and pair them with their food. The result is the occasional pop-up market called The Redwood.
“We would never want to create something that didn’t have our food in it as well, but we really wanted to focus on the wine,” Melby said. She said she was inspired by the organic and thoughtful production of natural wines.
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The Redwood sells to-go natural wine by the bottle with food pairings from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every other Sunday. The next pop-up will be held on Aug. 30.
Staples of the pop-up include sourdough bread and Mediterranean dishes such as falafel, hummus, baba ganoush and muhammara. Melby said they plan to serve different types of pickles, hot sauces and homemade jams as well.
Melby and Miller will donate 20% of the wine sales to local organizations. Recent Redwood markets have benefited the Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County, Redwood Empire Food Bank and La Luz Center.
“The whole point of this is to be this community spot. We want to lift up these small winemakers that are in this community. We want to be friends with them,” Melby said.
For more information on upcoming pop-ups, visit The Redwood’s Instagram page (@theredwood.wine) or website (theredwoodwine.com). Ramen Gaijin is located at 6948 Sebastopol Ave. in Sebastopol.