Page 312 – Sonoma Magazine

Sonoma Fires: Hope Amid the Ruins in Valley of the Moon

January 2018

By Meg McConahey

A metal scultpure of an egret remains at the Bouverie Preserve in Glen Ellen. (Photo by John Burgess)

Those used to gazing up at the deeply forested mountains framing the Valley of the Moon now look to the east in shock. The Nuns Fire that blowtorched through the upper Sonoma Valley at the end of harvest has transfigured the multimillion dollar views that inspired writers like Jack London and made it one of the most prized destinations in Wine Country.

The firestorm vandalized the landscape, scorching hillsides and leaving haunting bald patches that look like iron burns.

Hummocks, once green and now the color of shale, rise denuded above vineyards. Stands of oak and other deciduous trees still standing wear crowns of brittle burned leaves. Many evergreens are now brown.

More heartrending are the ashen homesites eerily strung like Pompeian ruins along Warm Springs Road and Highway 12, and tucked back on country lanes between Kenwood and Glen Ellen. The loss of some 500 homes in the Sonoma Valley broke up tight-knit neighborhoods and placed a massive strain on a community already shy of affordable housing.

But there are signs of life. With the first fall rains, grass shoots poked through the blackened fields, repainting the landscape as nature began the inevitable process of reparation.

And that has given residents and businesses grieving lost homes and property, and the sight of burned ridge lines, reason to believe that the valley’s scars will eventually fade.

“The contrast between these lush, brilliant green juicy sprouts and the dead black ash on the ground surface is inspiring,” said Caitlin Cornwall, a biologist and research program manager for the Sonoma Ecology Center. Flames came within 100 feet of their offices at Sonoma Developmental Center.

“On one hand it’s very much a visceral, human disaster. We all know people who have lost their homes and just being on these burn sites is shocking,” she lamented. “The smell is bad. There are toxics in the ashes and debris left behind. And it’s been a big hit to the public in terms of the economy and their routines. A lot of us were evacuated and stressed out. But on the other hand, we all know the land has been waiting for and wanting and needing fire ever since European settlers stopped the regular Indian burning that the land is used to.”

Tensions Tamed

Before the fires, as another harvest launched in September, the valley’s biggest challenge centered on the pace of growth in the wine industry, the strain of increasing traffic along the storied Valley of the Moon Scenic Route and the loss of residential housing to vacation rentals for tourists flocking from around the world to take in the region’s charms.

But that seems like another lifetime. While there has been an increase in utility and construction trucks for cleanup and rebuilding, those who depend on the wine economy now worry that tourism will drop. Despite the fact that none of the valley’s wineries suffered major damage, the images of smoke and flame that played out in the national media for weeks are seared into the minds of many people.

“Traffic is down at all of our locations,” said Josie Gay, head of the Heart of the Valley Association, which markets 29 wineries between Kenwood and Glen Ellen.

“The general misconception out there is that everything is destroyed,” said Steve Ledson, whose Gothic “castle” winery barely escaped the inferno. “People are calling and asking, ‘What is the landscape like? I don’t think I can bear to see the destruction.’” He acknowledged the widespread perception that Sonoma Valley “is not a fun place where anyone would want to go on vacation.”

The number of visitors to his Kenwood winery, as well as his hotel and restaurant on the Sonoma Plaza, are down. Damage to vineyards with fruit still on the vine will amount to millions in losses, he added. He said he already has cut the number of wine club events from six to two for 2018 and has all but halted the weddings that were a signature of his winery.

One Glen Ellen resident reflected that a silver lining in the tragedy is that it provided a timeout to the mounting tensions over growth in the tourism industry and the quality of small town, rural life cherished by residents.

“Certainly I wouldn’t want this to happen to anybody but it does make everyone step back a little. I know a lot of people taking VRBO’s off the market and now renting them full-time so people have places to live.”

Ledson was one of them. He said he made two of his vacation rentals available long term to residents.

“In times like this you’ve got to be helping each other,” said Ledson, who before the fire had dropped plans for a new 50,000-case winery off Highway 12 on Frey Road in Kenwood. He added he now plans to make the 18 new homes he’s building on West Spain Street in Sonoma, available as rentals to ease the shortage.

Recovering

As the new year begins, valley residents are showing grit and not giving in to their losses.

Chris and Sofie Dolan spent more than five years turning 10 acres along Highway 12 into the picturesque Flatbed Farm. Their country home and pool house was spared but a 7,200-square-foot barn designed by noted Wine Country architect Howard Backen is in ruins along with fencing and infrastructure.

“To see it in its current state is pretty emotional,” Chris Dolan conceded. “For us and the community it was much more than a barn.” It was, he said, a community gathering spot, and the centerpiece of their business. But he said they’re moving ahead with plans to rebuild and are looking forward to spring, using their vintage truck as a mobile produce stand.

“We won’t have a barn but we’ll be planting our spring crops and taking inventory of what survived in our orchard,” he vowed.

Farther up the highway, Rebecca and Gary Rosenberg also plan to rebuild and replant their lavender farm in Kenwood. Barely a trace of the bucolic spot remains next to Chateau St. Jean Winery where they raised their family along with fragrant fields of purple lavender. They’ve taken emotional refuge for the time being in a temporary rental in San Diego, until initial shock wears away in the valley. But they, too, remain optimistic.

“The character of Sonoma will not change,” Gary said. “The whole community is getting closer and neighbors are cooperating on the fenceline. There’s going to be a wonderful sense of pride. The wineries will always attract people and the natural beauty will be back.”

Bouverie Preserve

When Sasha Berleman surveys the scorched wildlands of Glen Ellen’s Bouverie Audubon Preserve, she doesn’t see devastation, but renewal. The 28-year-old fire ecologist worked through the night of the firestorm with two others to save the historic homes of David Bouverie and writer M.F.K. Fisher. Virtually every other structure on the 535-acre preserve burned to the ground, including a historic barn that served as an educational center.

The fire, she lamented, was “absolutely a human disaster.” But the effect on the landscape is not catastrophic.

Come spring, the fire will deliver an unexpected gift. Fire poppies, which need wildfire to germinate, will paint the meadows. Non-native grasses that suppressed other wildflowers have been burned off, clearing the way for a breathtaking wildflower bloom. The spring will be lush and green.

“This all has a silver lining for me,” she said, “knowing that in a lot of ways, the fire benefited our very loved open space. So even in the face of all the human suffering, you can look to spring and know there is going to be this incredible rebirth process we can all witness and lean on, as a vision of hope in the future.”

Forgotten Fire Victims: Farmworkers and Day Laborers Face Harsh Reality After Fires

January 2018

By John Beck

“I sleep where I fall,” said Salvador with a weary smile one early evening during the October fires.

He was standing in the doorway of La Luz Center in Sonoma after eating a free dinner of pasta and salad. At dusk, the smoke had lifted for a brighter sunset than the hazy days before. Families came and went around him, carrying free supplies — diapers, canned food and bottled water.

Too embarrassed to go to a shelter, Salvador had been living out of his car for the eight days since the fires started in Sonoma and Napa counties.

“Thank God we have La Luz,” he said. “Here we can eat, thanks to God. This is like home.”

Behind him, mulling over their meal in the dining hall, Glafira and Rodrigo were weighing their next move.

“Three nights ago we were living in the car,” she said. Immediately after the house they were renting in Santa Rosa burned in the Tubbs fire, they lived out of an SUV with their three children — daughters 6-year-old Joatsi and 3-year-old Jade and 8-month-old son Gael. Glafira cleans houses for a living, but the houses of her clients had been destroyed in the fires. Now, they were living in Rodrigo’s mother’s living room.

Along with Salvador and countless others, they are the often forgotten fire victims — those who cleaned the houses that went up in flames, who worked the land that burned, who cooked the food and made the beds in restaurants and hotels that no longer exist — many of whom may never qualify for federal aid because they’re undocumented.

They were living day to day before the fires, and now they’re looking for their next paycheck. The people who landscaped the lawns of those vanished hillside homes are among those wondering how they will pay next month’s rent or move into a new apartment.

For many, La Luz, a community nonprofi t focused on the needs of Mexican immigrants, has been the last resort. “We don’t ask if they’re documented or not —they need the service and we provide the service,” says La Luz board president Marcelo Defreitas, who helped his staff serve free lunches and dinners every day during the fires and after. By early December, they had served 2,000 hot meals to more than 500 families, donated 5 tons of supplies (diapers, clothing and canned goods) and helped more than 250 families with rent assistance totaling over $400,000. By Jan. 15, La Luz is required to spend all of the $750,000 passed on by Redwood Credit Union to the La Luz fund to help with fire victims.

Earlier that same day in October, as more than a hundred people lined up at the weekly free Food Pantry at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Sonoma, Father James Fredericks explained, “At first there’s fire, OK, but we don’t think about going for days and even weeks afterwards. There’s one complication after another.”

That afternoon at First Congregational Church in Santa Rosa, Augustin, his wife and three children met with Davin Cardenas at North Bay Organizing Project, which has joined with other Sonoma County grassroots organizations to start UndocuFund to raise money for undocumented fire victims.

“My concern is we’re not going to get enough help,” said Augustin, his children sitting at his feet. His family barely escaped their house on Riebli Road before it burned. A carpenter by trade, he hadn’t worked for weeks.

“It’s hard to think, I don’t have nothing,” he said, holding his wife’s hand. “And I don’t have a job. And I don’t know where to start again.”

Turning a Corner

Two weeks later, Glafira returned to La Luz with her daughter Jade for a 10 a.m. appointment with her case manager. Her husband Rodrigo stayed outside in the SUV with their son and older daughter.

“We decided not to go back to our house because we knew there was nothing there,” she said, waiting in the crowded lobby with several other families.

After meeting with Defreitas and case manager Veronica Vences, Glafira received a check for $1,920 to pay for the first month’s rent on a new apartment in Agua Caliente.

“It’s a start,” said Defreitas, giving her a phone number for a woman in Sonoma who needed house-cleaning help, as well as his cellphone number in case she had any questions. He explained that La Luz will likely help out with the following month’s rent, too.

“We’ll see where you are in a month — if you have jobs or not.”

Outside, beside the SUV they once called home, Glafira gave her husband a big hug and told him the good news. Soon they would drive to Petaluma where he was applying for a job at Petaluma Poultry. But first she smiled a smile that had been missing for weeks.

“It’s nice to have hope again,” she said. “It feels good.”

Guided February Hike Offers Glimpse at Nature’s Renewal after Fires

January 2018

By Nate Seltenrich

LandPaths will lead a hike along with fire ecologist Sasha Berleman and biologist Peter Leveque through a 72-acre property off Calistoga Rd. that was burned by the Tubbs Fire. (Photo by John Burgess)

Fire destroys, and fire creates. At least that’s true in the parks and wildlands of Sonoma County affected by last fall’s fires. Native plants that evolved for millennia with frequent lowintensity burns aren’t merely equipped to overcome fire. Often, they require it.

Coast live oak trees are considered fire resistors because their evergreen leaves, thick bark and vigorous sprouting allow all but the youngest specimens to survive and recover quickly. Meanwhile, many species of the chaparral shrub Ceanothus, commonly known as California lilac or soap bush, have leaves coated with highly flammable resins and seeds that germinate only under intense heat.

Rare is the opportunity to witness this ecological magic in our own backyard, however, as landmanagement practices and development along the urban-wildland interface — not just here but throughout the West — have resulted in less frequent, more severe wildfires.

To help offer insight into fire’s role in the landscape, Santa Rosa-based conservation group LandPaths will host an intimate, guided walk of one of its preserves in eastern Sonoma County in February. The 72-acre property off Calistoga Road saw spotty, low-intensity burning in October, leaving a checkerboard of greenery and charred ground rich with educational opportunities.

Five weeks after the fire, smoke wafted from holes in the earth as roots slowly smoldered underground, and the first green shoots of winter emerged from the soil where fire hadn’t touched.

By late February even the burned, blackened patches should be blanketed in green, says fire ecologist Sasha Berleman, one of two leaders of the 3-mile hike, which culminates with stunning ridgetop views of Fountaingrove, Sebastopol and beyond. She’ll be joined by esteemed Sonoma County field biologist Peter Leveque.

“In burn areas we’ll expect to see a bit of ferns and irises and soap root popping up, so that’ll be lots of fun,” Berleman says. “And some madrone will probably be here, too.” The ancient process of renewal is underway.

Saturday, February 24, 1 to 4 p.m. Advance registration is free but required, due to limited capacity, at landpaths.org. Exact location and additional details will be provided to registered participants approximately five days before the hike.

Fire & Wine: How Sonoma’s Winemaking Community Survived Its Toughest Test

January 2018

By Linda Murphy

Helicopters drop water on a fire on the flanks of Hood Mountain above Leson Winery in the Sonoma Valley on October 14, 2017. (Photo by John Burgess)

To the rest of the world, it briefly appeared that Sonoma’s wine industry had gone up in smoke. Heart-stopping images of a demolished Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa, video of air tankers dropping retardant on flames raging on the hillside behind Ledson Winery & Vineyards in Kenwood, and early reports that Gundlach Bundschu Winery in Sonoma, one of California’s oldest, had been destroyed, gave outsiders an ominous impression.

But ultimately, surprisingly few Sonoma wineries suffered significant damage when the catastrophic fires ripped through the region in October.

And the local winemaking community begins a new year resolute in their intention to continue honing their craft, to put their talents to work for fire victims and rebuilding efforts, and to make sure the world is well aware that Sonoma is open for business.

The industry did not emergefrom the firestorm unscathed;most notably, the Byck family’s Paradise Ridge buildings were destroyed. But their 15-acre vineyard and metal art sculptures remained intact. Firebreaks and aerial strikes saved Ledson and several otherHighway 12 wineries, and within days of the fires, Jeff Bundschu, president of “Gun Bun,” was enthusiastically welcoming visitors to the winery, tales of its demise proving false (though his parents, Jim and Nancy, lost the family home on the property).

Jeff Kunde evacuated family, horses and dogs from Oakmont to his Kenwood winery, Kunde Family Winery, and hunkered there for nine days. He knew if he left, he wouldn’t be allowed back in.

Family and staff slept in the tasting room, and winemaker Zach Long took advantage of a generator installed in 2016 to keep the fermentations, and the business, going.

Kunde grilled meat from the winery freezer and cooked farm eggs on foil to feed the troops. “It was surreal,” he says, “eating steak and eggs and drinking wine from our cellar, as fire crews battled the flames all around us. Helicopters were a constant, the pilots using our irrigation reservoirs for firefighting.

“It was a fateful decision for me to evacuate to the winery and not Santa Rosa. We saved ourharvest.” A few Kunde vineyard blocks were singed, but as with most Sonoma vineyards, the majority of grapes had alreadybeen harvested — 90 percent, according to Sonoma County Winegrowers president Karissa Kruse — at the time of the fires.

More positive news: The Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley and Petaluma Gap wine regions were largely unaffected by the fires, except for smoky skies and evacuation advisories that never became mandatory. Northern Alexander Valley had a few scares, east of Cloverdale and Geyserville, but firefighters kept flames away from homes and wineries.

Vineyards as Firebreaks

An early November drive on Highway 12 from eastern Santa Rosa through Glen Ellen showed scorched hillsides, intact wineries and startlingly alive, green-leafed vines, with only a few rows burned. “Grapevines play a fantastic role in slowing down fires,” explains Santa Rosa’s Rhonda J. Smith, viticulture farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension.

“There typically is a lack of fuel load in a vineyard, compared to structures and landscaping. Most growers had mowed their vineyard rows down to a stubble after the June rains, leaving no easy fuel for the flames.”

Paradise Ridge co-owner Rene Byck says he will rebuild his Fountaingrove winery, known for its breathtaking views and art installations. He takes heart from the fact that the estate vineyards survived, bottled wines were secure in a warehouse, and that wine sales continue at a satellite tasting room in Kenwood.

On Sonoma Mountain, Bettina Sichel of Laurel Glen Vineyard lost one acre of Cabernet Sauvignon vines to flames, although she found an upside.

“Those vines were planted in the 1970s and suffered from eutypa, a trunk disease,” she says. “We were getting just one ton of grapes from that block and were scheduled to replace the vines at some point. Mother Nature speeded things up for us.”

Sichel and her husband, Brian Dickson, and their two children lost their Soda Canyon home to the Atlas Fire in Napa Valley. She marvels that most of her Sonoma vineyard was saved, and that the

Laurel Glen tasting room in downtown Glen Ellen also escaped damage.

She rues, however, “losing two weeks of the biggest tourism month of the year” while her tasting room was closed. “That’s a cash hole we’ll have to fill.”

That’s a concern shared by many others in the Sonoma wine industry — and the county as a whole. A study commissioned by Sonoma County Winegrowers and Sonoma County Vintners, released in 2014, found that grape-growing, winemaking and related businesses contributed $13.4 billion to the local economy — nearly two-thirds of the county’s gross product.

“If I had just one thing I’d like you to write, it’s that Sonoma remains open for business,” Kunde said in November. “The biggest impact of the fires on us is that people aren’t coming. We’ve had parties cancel their trips. But look around our property and you wouldn’t knowwe had a major fire here a month ago.”

Vintage 2017 in Sonoma is truly “the harvest from hell,” a phrase commonly used in the wine business for difficult years. Yet Kunde remains astonished at how relatively little physical damage was done to his grapevines, his wines and other wineries.

“We have remarkable firefighting efforts to thank,” he says. “And we met neighbors, people we didn’t know before. One woman evacuated from her home wandered in and ended up helping us soak oak barrels so they wouldn’t burn. We made new friends. And the generator I bought last year, which kept the winemaking going for nine days before electricity was restored? I actually got it for fire protection. But it ended up saving our bacon for winemaking, providing the power we needed.”

Fundraising Kicks In

Winery people have always known how to throw a good party for a great cause, and the fires brought out the best in them.

Hamel Family Wines in Glen Ellen, which was threatened by flames on three sides but survived major damage, hosted a concert by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer John Fogarty, raising $1.2 million for fire victims relief. Kelly and Noah Dorrance, owners of Reeve Wines in Dry Creek Valley, raised more than $222,000 in a drawing for vacation stays in Healdsburg, Laguna Beach and Hawaii.

E. & J. Gallo Winery, which owns several North Coast brands — among them Sonoma’s J Vineyards & Winery and MacMurray Estate Vineyards — pledged $1 million, to be shared by the American Red Cross California Wildfires Relief Fund, Community Foundation of Sonoma and Napa Valley Community Foundation. Numerous wineries have waived tasting fees and offered discounts to fire victims, and have promised

percentages of sales to firerelated causes. The John Jordan Foundation and Jordan Winery, in Healdsburg, teamed to donate $25,000 to the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation to establish a housing recovery fund for farmworkers and their families displaced by the fires.

Says Noah Dorrance, “It’s been an amazing, heartening silver lining — but not surprising — that our community has rallied, that people are marshalling their resources to try to help out.”

The Wedding Saviors: How Four Women Salvaged Seven Weddings Following the Fires

January 2018

By Meg McConahey

The cellphone, set on vibrate, buzzed insistently 17 times in the middle of the night October 9 before Brittany Rogers-Hanson finally woke up in her newly rented home in Fountaingrove and picked up the message to evacuate.

She had 20 minutes to gather up her husband, Eric, her three kids, her daughter’s friend who was with them for a sleepover, her son’s service dog, her father’s watch and her aunt’s heirloom sapphire ring, and get into the car.

An eerie drive to the bottom of Fountaingrove Parkway, during which they hit a fallen tree, ended at the on-ramp to Highway 101, where they faced another freakish sight — 50 cars headed straight for them scurrying south in the northbound lane. The Fountaingrove Inn and historic Round Barn had not yet burned. Thirty minutes after they left, their own home would be engulfed.

One motorist rolled down his window and shouted “Turn around. The freeway is on fire!”

That’s how Rogers-Hanson’s week began. For the 38-year-old wedding planner there would be no opportunity over the next two weeks to even contemplate her own loss. She had seven weddings to salvage immediately — 27 before the end of the year.

In the two weeks after the fires broke out, Rogers-Hanson and her tiny team from Run Away With Me weddings, including chief wedding planner Kalika Ansel, who was burned out of her townhouse across from the Luther Burbank Center, worked like bats out of hell. They scrambled to move two weddings from Napa and Sonoma to Novato at the last minute as the fires raged, graying the skies with strangling smoke even over areas unaffected by flames.

“Our phones,” Rogers-Hanson said, “were blowing up.”

Hit with three cancellations, Rogers-Hanson’s team of four kicked into gear to salvage what was left and keep any more from canceling. In one day alone she worked the phones to soothe the fears of 37 brides wondering if their weddings were still on. Each canceled event had the potential for setting off a cascade of suffering for the florists, cake bakers, hair stylists, photographers, caterers, musicians and other people whose income depends on Wine Country weddings and events.

In the case of one relocated wedding, the officiant who was supposed to preside over the ceremony lost her home in the fires — so Ansel stepped in and did it herself. And as the relocated and reconfigured events continued in the days that followed, the wedding team continued to come together as smiling couples shared vows and toasted love.

“My team is very powerful,” Rogers-Hanson said. “For some reason survival kicked in, because we’re wedding planners. Our normal job is dealing with chaos. But it’s also keeping us sane. Because once we stop and think about what happened, we’re a mess.”

More information about elopements and wedding packages at runawaywithme.com

Hometown Love Letter: How Kenwood Came Together in the Face of Adversity

January 2018

By Abigail Peterson

A sign made by kids hangs from a fence during a community potluck to thank the Kenwood firefighters at Plaza Park in Kenwood, on Sunday, November 12, 2017. (Photo by Beth Schlanker)

Sonoma always felt like home to me, even before it was actually my home. I grew up in a rural town back east, and Sonoma’s rambling farm culture felt familiar: the neighborhood feed store, the extra pears and persimmons left out on fences for passersby, the goats and horses along Highway 12. Vineyards were new, but I loved their twisting tendrils and regimented, row-by-row design. Even the valley oaks, so different from the year-round green of the pines I’d known, had a scruffy, wise presence in the landscape. I couldn’t get enough.

My family and I moved to Kenwood four years ago, and we think it’s the best small town in the world. Really, truly. Our first friends in the village were fellow beekeepers we met after they helped us give a home to a springtime swarm. We love how preschoolers ride their strider bikes down Los Guilicos to school, how villagers rally for an old-school Fourth of July with nearly as many parade participants as watchers, and how the best part of any day is reading the highly entertaining police blotter in the bimonthly Kenwood Press (bonus points if you can figure out which neighbor called the sheriff on the rowdy vacation rental). Villagers know to give a wave as we pass in our trucks, and we can always tell if someone’s up from the city by the speed they drive on our curvy country roads.

It seems we all know each other at least by sight, and longtime local families are leaders at the school, the community clubs, and our two churches. Many at Kenwood’s volunteer fire district are second- or third-generation firefighters as well as parents at the school. For the 1,200 or so people who live here, the roots really do run deep.

Late that Sunday night, the first night of the fires, it was a crushing fear of the loss of my kids’ school that undid me. We left pretty quickly, and in the disorienting rush of grabbing keepsakes and checking on neighbors, I remember seeing huge flames in the direction of Kenwood School and thinking it had to be gone. Through about a million group texts Monday morning, we started to hear about homes being lost, but we had little other specific Kenwood news until Tuesday, when my husband and I were able to sneak back in for a few hours to check on the chickens and bees and evacuate our bunnies.

But even after seeing blackened fields and thick yellow skies for myself, I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the severity of the fires. I told myself that surely we’d be home in a couple more days.

A few close neighbors stayed in Kenwood after Tuesday, gathering at the Muscardini tasting room to share information and working together to clear debris from the school that could spark another fire. At night, they barbecued steaks from the deep freezers that many of us keep in our sheds (with the power out long-term, everything was about to go bad anyway).

The folks who stayed behind texted us when they could, sending photos of fire lines creeping down from Sugarloaf Ridge State Park toward the valley floor. They cheered the arrival of helicopters and worried for the safety of the firefighters. They asked for diesel, for jugs to water animals, for more planes to help out if they could. A beloved local mechanic found his way into town on a motorcycle to help fix equipment. Vineyard owners helped bulldoze firebreaks. The owners of the feed store handed over the keys so that animals could be fed. And a neighbor spread word that he had both a working well and solar power, and that anyone was welcome for hot food, charging phones and showers.

Neighbors like these are the reason my friends and I can’t imagine ever living anywhere else. So many were willing to help and are helping still, even as we begin to understand how deeply the fires have affected our tiny town. Over 80 percent of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park was impacted by the fires; 35 percent of the acreage in the Kenwood Fire Protection District burned and dozens of homes, including several belonging to school families or staff, were lost. Importantly, Kenwood School came through the fires intact, though it was three weeks before students got back to class. (At least five schools in the county, including Cardinal Newman High School and the Anova School for students on the autism spectrum, lost campus buildings in the fire.)

In the parts of Kenwood that were not affected, residents still stayed away up to two weeks, and those who returned to damaged properties faced long waits for professional restoration. Those bright green Servpro trucks were everywhere you looked.

The focus here in the valley has now turned to recovery, to honoring our first responders and making sure locals can find places to stay during rebuilding. As a dear friend says, if we can’t keep our people here, then the magic is gone — and we can’t imagine that. The fires are both a tragedy and a coming together, a realization of how much our community matters. How much people matter. And how together, our community will come out on the other side.

High Profile Chef Opening New Healdsburg Restaurant

January 2018

By biteclub

Fried chicken sandwich at Duke’s Commons in Healdsburg. Courtesy photo from the restaurant.

Healdsburg’s sidewalks are about to roll up a little later thanks to a new late-nite spot featuring global street food and killer cocktails. Amen.

Chef Shane McAnelly (Chalkboard, Brass Rabbit) and the owners of Duke’s Spirited Cocktails will open Duke’s Common in the former Scopa space in early February 2018. The news answers two burning questions we’ve been chewing on all winter — who would take over the tiny-but-mighty Scopa space (the restaurant closed last summer) and what exactly McAnelly was keeping up his sleeves.

The merger of the downtown Plaza neighbors brings together the farm-to-glass cocktails of Duke’s with the culinary prowess McAnelly brings to the table – literally. Tapping into the flood of millennials who are tres charmé with the town, the casual global street food should resonate, including dishes like Disco Fries (a sort of poutine), shrimp skewers, pizza by the slice and sandwiches.

“The menu is meant to be an affordable option on the square to grab a quick bite either on the go or in the space itself,” said McAnelly.

Duke’s Common will serve food daily from 4 to 9p.m., but the entire menu will also be available two doors down at Duke’s Spirited Cocktails from 4 to 11p.m. weeknights and 4-midnight on weekends.

Duke’s Common, opening in February at 109a Plaza St., Healdsburg.

Cupcake Queen Opening Santa Rosa Wine and Oyster Bar

January 2018

By biteclub

The founder of Sift Dessert Bar is one of the forces behind Santa Rosa’s forthcoming Jade Room wine and oyster bar.

Andrea Ballus, who founded Sift in 2008 and took it to national fame on the Food Network, plans to open a bubbles, wine and small plates gathering spot at 643 Fourth St. in the coming weeks (fingers crossed for February). The menu will feature oysters, cheese, charcuterie and shareable plates along with wine and beer.

Andrea and Jeff Ballus, owners of Sift Dessert Bar, at their Petaluma store in 2014. Other Sift locations are in Napa, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Cotati. Sift Dessert Bar Christopher Chung — Andrea and Jeff Ballus, owners of Sift Dessert Bar, at their Petaluma store in 2014. Other Sift locations are in Napa, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Cotati. Sift Dessert Bar
Christopher Chung

Working with husband Jeff Ballus and managing partner Jeremy Vassey, Ballus said they’re focused on both local and international wines by-the-glass or bottle, along with wine cocktails, coolers, and spritzers. The Jade Room will also have a “Bottle Service” option for bubbly served with fresh fruit purees, herbs and citrus to concoct your own creations.

“The Jade Room was founded as a result of our obsession to create a cool, casual place where folks can gather, share a bottle, share a plate, taste and compare local and international wines, and just have a good time!” said Ballus.

No word whether the Jade Room will serve cupcakes and frosting shooters, but really, why not?

8 Sonoma Artisan Producers That Aren’t Just Great, They’re Good

January 2018

By biteclub

Photo credit: Michael Woolsey, fieldsonoma.com

Here’s a look at Sonoma County’s 2018 Good Food Award winners, a high-profile award for producers of conscientiously-made artisan foods. For many small producers, this award boosts their products into a national spotlight. Photo of Ned Lawton by Michael Woolsey, fieldsonoma.com

Ned Lawton of Ethic Cider. Photo Michael Woolsey, fieldsonoma.com

Ned Lawton of Ethic Ciders didn’t plan to become a cider-maker. In fact, it wasn’t until his family moved to a fallow apple farm near Sebastopol that making hard cider making occurred to him at all. But just a year into production, his dry-farmed Golden Rule organic cider has been selected as one of 279 Good Food Award Winners chosen from around the country. The Good Food Awards celebrate biodiverse, clean, artisan foods from New York to California, with more than 2,000 entrants for 2018.

“We were blown away,” said Lawton. “We love that we were acknowledged by food people, and not just the beer and wine folks. We are about pairing our ciders with food, so this is just a huge thumbs up,” he added.

Along with Ethic Ciders, seven Sonoma County producers were tapped in 2018, including Thistle Meats, Bellwether Farms, SHED and Spiritworks Distillery.

“We inherited a bunch of apples that were planted before we got there, so the journey for me is what it takes to make a good cider blend,” said Lawton of his introduction to farming. When Lawton realized his orchard was producing not only the coveted Gravensteins, but Golden Delicious, Rhode Island greens and several other heirloom varieties, he made it his mission to find the mix of apples that would show the terroir, and the expression of his land.

Apples from the Lawton's farm. Heather Irwin/PD — Apples from the Lawton’s farm. Heather Irwin/PD

Early on, the former tech exec experimented with small tanks bubbling away in a bathtub. Then on to bigger containers in his barn, then into stainless steel tanks, and now, his 1200 annual case production is made in a specialized facility in Petaluma. Lawton works with Ryan Johnston as his orchardist and cider-maker and Shea Comfort as a consultant and mentor.

“We work to figure out how the cider best comes together in the bottle. It’s a life journey to figure out how to do this each year,” he said.

Ethic Ciders can be purchased at Andy’s Produce in Sebastopol, Bohemian Market in Occidental, Oliver’s, Bottle Barn and Healdsburg SHED.

Congrats to all of this year’s Sonoma County winners of the Good Food Awards. Click here for a full list.

Salami from Thistle Meats in Sebastopol. Facebook

Charcuterie

Thistle Meats, Milano Salami, California

Bellwether Farms whole milk ricotta. Sonoma Magazine.

Cheese

Bellwether Farms, Whole Milk Basket Ricotta, California

Laura Chenel’s, Taupinière, California

Cider

Ethic Ciders, Golden Rule, California

Confections

Baci Artisan Chocolatier, French Silk, California

Laura Chenel's Taupiniere. Courtesty photo — Laura Chenel’s Taupiniere. Courtesy photo

Elixers

Backyard, Citrus and Juniper Shrub, California

SHED, Plum Shiso Shrub, California

Fish

SHED, Smoked Trout & Smoked Black Cod, California

Pickles

SHED, Pickled Shiitake Mushrooms, California

Spirits

Spirit Works Distillery, Sloe Gin, California

We appreciate borrowing several photos of Ned and Ethic from photographer Michael Woolsey. Check out the great article on Ned and other interesting local producers at fieldsonoma.com.

Pride on Tap: Russian River Brewing Company Close to Raising $900,000 for Wildfire Victims

January 2018

By John Beck

Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo, of Russian River Brewing at their brew pub in Santa Rosa with Sonoma Pride beer they are brewing to help fire victims

It’s something Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo swore they’d never do: let privileged hop heads jump to the front of the line that stretches around the block for the world famous February release of Pliny the Younger at their Russian River Brewing Company.

“But that all changed after the fires,” says Natalie “If ever there was a time, it was now. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

So less than a week after the October fire storm ravaged Sonoma and Napa counties, the Cilurzos began actively encouraging line cutters, selling $25 raffle tickets for the right to jump to the front of the line each of the 14 days (February 2-15) of the coveted triple IPA release.

Drawing loyal fans from around the country, the high-alcohol (around 10 percent) and super-hoppy (think triple the hops) ale took on a mythic quality when the Beer Advocate website ranked it No. 1 in the world in 2010. Crowds have lined the street ever since, and Santa Rosa hotels now sell special Pliny vacation packages for beer aficionados making the trip to beer mecca for the annual tasting, now in its 14th year.

Chalk it up to compassion for the fire victims and that ardent Pliny following: The Cilurzos raised nearly $250,000 for displaced fire victims in less than a month. Teaming up with bicyclist Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge Foundation, the couple spun their existing Sonoma Pride beer series, which they’d launched two years ago, into a Sonoma Pride fire relief fundraising collective.

“We were lucky, our house was OK, but we kept hearing from friends who lost everything, and we had three employees who lost their homes,” Natalie says. “So we thought, what can we do to help? Being business owners, we knew the thing people are going to need most in the long run is money.”

The next step was to craft a special Sonoma Pride brew, with all proceeds from its sale going to victims. Vinnie Cilurzo contacted his suppliers, who donated the entire cost of goods — malt, hops, labels, glass bottles, bottle caps, you name it. When word got out, others in the craft beer community jumped on board, eager to cook up their own batch of benefit brew.

“It wasn’t just a few, it felt like hundreds of breweries from around the world,” says Natalie. “We ended up having to limit it to 50 breweries just to keep it manageable.”

Enlisted breweries spanned as far as Beavertown in London and Cigar City in Florida, and as close to home as Bear Republic of Healdsburg; St. Florian’s of Windsor; Cooperage, Fogbelt, HenHouse, Moonlight, Plow and Seismic of Santa Rosa; Sonoma Springs of Sonoma; Crooked Goat of Sebastopol; and 101 North of Petaluma. Big corporate breweries like Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, Boston Beer Company and St. Archer also joined in.

“We have friends at St. Archer, and even though they’re now owned by Miller, we certainly weren’t going to turn them down for wanting to help out,” says Natalie. “If you want to help our community, we’ll take it where we can get it. There are no lines in the sand right now.”

For Russian River’s first batch of Sonoma Pride, Vinnie brewed 100 barrels of a hoppy blond ale that clocked in at 4.5 percent alcohol. It’s similar in character to Russian River’s year-round roster beer Aud Blonde, “but a lot hoppier.” Adds Natalie, “We wanted to make something that was more crowd pleasing, that everyone could enjoy.”

One of the first local brewers the Cilurzos contacted was longtime volunteer firefighter Richard Norgrove Jr., owner of the Bear Republic in Healdsburg.

First they wanted to make sure he was safe, with fires quickly encroaching on the ridge overlooking his Cloverdale production facility. Norgrove and his wife and the Cilurzos had just hung out together, sharing an airport shuttle on the way back from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver the night the first fire screamed down the hill from Calistoga to Santa Rosa.

“I was talking with Vinnie and Natalie, and we decided let’s not make something that’s super ‘high test’ and high alcohol,” Norgrove says. “Let’s focus on something that might be approachable to all folks.”

It’s no accident the Bear’s Sonoma Pride offering is called “Hoppy Blonde Ale.” Norgrove had some input on the hops, but really it was a project for Bear Republic’s head brewer Rob Kent, who lost his Fountaingrove home in the Tubbs fire. Kent formulated the recipe, and Norgrove worked with suppliers who donated all the ingredients.

“It was like, ‘Hey Rob, we gotta get you back on the horse and thinking about other stuff,’” Norgrove says.

There was another local brewery down the road that needed help to keep beer running through the tanks and to fill orders during the crisis. At St. Florian’s, where the patron saint of firefighters watches over an independent brewery that has always donated at least 5 percent of its profits to fire-related causes, owner Aron Levin had left his barrels behind to fight fires on the front lines. As a Windsor fire captain, he started the first Sunday night, banging on doors to alert evacuees in Larkfield, and didn’t take a break until the following Friday.

Aron’s wife, Amy, was left to run the brewery, stuck with beer in tanks and a big order to fill. As a fellow firefighter with a strong sense of the challenges the Levins were facing, Norgrove asked, “What can we do to help?”

A Bear Republic rescue crew drove down to St. Florian’s to empty tanks and bottle and package beers for orders. And when Aron returned on Friday, Norgrove and Kent proposed something they’d been talking about for years — a special brew made by firefighters to benefit firefighters.

“Firefighters are a really, really close-knit group of people,” says Norgrove. “So for me to actually brew with Aron and let him unload about his experiences out on the fires as we’re brewing together was really special.”

They’re calling the new beer Mutual Aid — an after-hours collaboration between St. Florian’s and Bear Republic. Brewed in a small batch of 20 barrels at 6.5 percent alcohol, Mutual Aid is a “shoot from the hip” hoppy pale ale. It’s made with donated malt from Admiral Maltings out of Alameda and what Norgrove likes to call “cool-kid hops” —Mosaic, Azacca and Citra — adding floral notes that Levin as a smaller brewer doesn’t often get a chance to use in his beers.

“It was definitely like being a kid in a candy store,” Levin said.

Funds raised from Mutual Aid are going specifically to first responders who lost their homes, says Norgrove, who is also teaming up with fellow Cardinal Newman High School alum and basketball teammate Joel Johnson, brewmaster at 101 North Brewing Company in Petaluma, for a beer that will help rebuild their alma mater.

By early November, long after the fires were extinguished and Sonoma Pride was filling pints, growlers and shelf space at grocery stores, yet another job remained.

It was by design that Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo had made the Pliny raffle winning tickets “totally transferrable.” But they were still surprised when the winner of the February 12 line-cutting privileges asked if he could donate his two tickets to a first responder who was out fighting fires while his own house burned down. His girlfriend’s house and ex-wife’s house were also destroyed.

“I just felt that someone more deserving of it should get to skip the line,” said Matt Merner, a 32-year-old network engineer at sonic.net who bought two raffle tickets. A Cardinal Newman grad as well, Merner had been scheduled to speak at his former school two days after the Tubbs fire leveled half the campus. “There were so many first responders who put their lives on the line and worked for many days straight to help save our community — I just thought they could use it more than me.”

A serious beer connoisseur with more than 100 bottles in his cellar, Merner has been to at least eight Pliny the Younger releases over the years.

“We’d hoped that somebody would be moved enough to donate their line-cutting privileges,” says Natalie Cilurzo. “And of course it turned out to be the local guy — there was only one local winner. They understand because they live here, and they know.”

PLINY THE YOUNGER RELEASE, February 2-15

Even though Pliny the Younger was first tapped in 2005, mobs didn’t start crashing the party until 2010 when Beer Advocate ratings crowned it the No. 1 beer in the world. That same year, Russian River Brewing Co. owners Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo were totally blindsided and sold out in hours.

By now, they have the hoppy two-week procession down to a science.

Here are the rules (or regula, in Pliny’s Latin):

Pub capacity is 135 people.

Once you’ve braved the lines, you can hang in the pub for no more than three hours with a max of three 10-ounce pours per person.

Pliny is never bottled or sold in growlers.

No drinking or smoking while in line No tents allowed, but chairs, umbrellas and rain gear (it’s been known to rain in February) are encouraged.

No cuts (unless you’re one of the 14 daily line-cutting raffle winners!)

SONOMA PRIDE: Drink for Relief

While supplies last, Sonoma Pride beers are available on tap and in growlers at Russian River Brewing Company (725 Fourth St., Santa Rosa), Bear Republic Brewing Company (345 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg and 5000 Roberts Lake Road, Rohnert Park), St. Florian’s (7704 Bell Road, Windsor) and many more local breweries.

The benefit brews are also available in bottles at Bay Area grocery stores like Oliver’s, Whole Foods and Safeway. All proceeds go to fire relief victims through Sonoma Pride and the King Ridge Foundation. Check out sonomapride.com for a list of all participating breweries.