I mentioned the new ramen pop-up, Ramen Gaijin, recently but hadn’t actually experienced it first-hand yet. However..last Monday, I got access to the kitchen, where Chefs Moishe Hahn-Schuman and Matthew Williams were prepping for that evening’s sold-out dinner.
It’s a whirlwind, with trays of buckwheat noodles, pork belly and miso in the hours leading up to the first seating at 5:30p.m. Suffice to say, I was totally wowed at the results. We absolutely loved the donburi ($11, chicken thigh with a 6-minute egg, burnt kale, salmon roe), heirloom tomato salad with creamy tofu and shiso ($9) that was so of the moment in this late August heat, and both the vegetarian and Shoyu ramens.
I won’t claim to be any kind of ramen expert, but nearby slurpers seemed totally sold. With ramen, it’s all about the broth, and chefs often guard their recipes closely. What I can say is the Shoyu ramen is a heartier and meatier (dashi as the base, layered with chicken broth, ham hocks and a dose of pork belly fat) topped with a host of Japanese ingredients like toasted rye noodles, pork belly, bambo, leeks, woodear mushrooms and wakame. Miso ramen is a lighter, brighter, tangier flavor.
Leave room for dessert, though. Though they change up weekly, we were fairly swooning over a blackberry sorbet with yuzu curd, coconut and sesame granola and blackberries.
One of the first grower and vintner responsible for the first appellation of Napa Valley grapes, Randy Dunn, holds his harvest of cabernet grapes in Angwin. (photo by Conner Jay)
For those who think they want to be a winemaker, Round Pond Winery in Rutherford offers a taste of what it’s like before any career commitment is made.
The Rutherford winery’s “A Day in the Life” experience is a pampered version of a shift during harvest. It begins with a hearty breakfast at 9 a.m. — hours after those actually harvesting hit the vineyards — and a meeting with winemaker Muiris Griffin and vineyard manager Chris Pedemonte.
After two hours of picking and sorting grapes, participants are involved in pressing, punching down and pumping over the fruit as it makes its way toward becoming wine. There’s a bit of lab work, too.
Time in the cellar also includes barrel tasting and blending, with Griffin giving insight on what he looks for when putting together a final wine. Before lunch, there’s a tour of the winery’s estate olive mill and an in-depth look at how olive oil is produced.
The second half of the day focuses on enjoying the fruits of many labors during a sumptuous alfresco lunch served with Round Pond wines. Many of the ingredients are sourced from the winery’s organic gardens and olive mill.
The 2014 “A Day in the Life” is scheduled for Oct. 18. Reservations are required, and there is space for only 20. Contact the winery at 888-302-2575 or concierge@roundpond.com. The cost is $200 for club members, $250 for non-members.
San Francisco photographer Chris Gill shoots the waves at the Point Arena-Stornetta public lands. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat)
The wide-open bluffs and distant horizon provoke a sense of vast possibility. The chiseled cliffs and sculpted chunks of rock battered by the surf below connect us to an ancient land mass transformed by forces that continue to reshape these shores.
This is Stornetta Lands at Point Arena, a place of such spectacular beauty and abundant wildlife that it was proclaimed part of the California Coastal National Monument in March. The piece of land, on a remote stretch of the southern Mendocino Coast, is now poised for high-profile discovery after a decade of luring locals seeking refuge and recreation.
Seabirds skim the water and curious seals poke their heads above the waves, beckoning visitors to descend the cliffs onto terraced rock that reaches into the ocean. Inlets, caves and tunnels carved into the stone make for mesmerizing interplay of rock and water.
The former Stornetta ranch land provides the first mainland toehold for the expansive national monument, a collection of more than 20,000 sea stacks, islands and reefs. The Bureau of Land Management operates the 1,665-acre property, which is undeveloped except for cow trails, portable toilets and new signage. Planning is underway for permanent trails, additional parking and bicycle routes.
Abutting Manchester Beach and the Point Arena Lighthouse, the site is easily accessible from Highway 1, with parking along Lighthouse Road on the north and at Point Arena City Hall on the south.
It’s an easy stop, “even if you only have 15 minutes,” said Merita Whatley, gift shop manager at the lighthouse. “You’re going to see this amazing scenery.”
Kids set their own game rules at the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County, a colorful new addition to the playscape.
Young visitors are free to invent their own games and activities, so they “can really make it their own,” Rohnert Park teacher Lori Stark said during a recent visit. “It leaves a lot of room for creativity.”
Built to inspire creative fun and imaginative discovery, the museum in Santa Rosa offers engaging activities for little ones, including water play, fort building, art studio, marble run construction set, play market, even a boulder-studded “Russian River” filled with fish to net and set in a flowering landscape.
Water tables with hand pumps, tubing, water runs and sluice gates invite youngsters to learn about the forces that generate hydroelectric power.
The outdoor garden features interactive stations illustrating the life cycle of the butterfly, which introduces children to solar power and crank mechanics, with colorful wings for them to wear and a kid-sized chrysalis to duck into.
Initially existing as a collection of mobile exhibits, the museum opened at its permanent location in March. A second phase is under construction and will house a Science and Imagination Gallery and TOTtopia, for toddlers. Colored viewing bubbles set into the wall allow visitors to see what’s to come, generating excitement in advance.
The museum is open daily except for Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Admission is $7 for nonmembers, and free for members and those under 12 months.
1835 West Steele Lane, Santa Rosa,
707-546-4069, cmosc.org
Napa Valley winemakers Marisa Taylor, left, Kimberlee Nicholls and Elizabeth Vianna star in a PBS documentary about the challenging harvest of 2012. (photo courtesy Terlato Wines)
Harvest every year is a months-long adrenaline rush for winemakers, a Vita-Mix blend of blood, sweat, sleepless nights, carb-heavy meals, buckets of beer and a lot of what-could-go-wrongs.
In 2012, the yields were of incredibly high quality and also voluminous, amplifying the high-wire act of turning grapes into wine. Three Napa Valley winemakers share their endurance feats in “Vintage: Napa Valley 2012,” a six-part documentary airing this season nationally on PBS television stations.
“For people who don’t have the opportunity to come to Wine Country, it brings harvest to life,” said Marisa Taylor, winemaker for Rutherford Hill Winery in Rutherford, of the series. “They get to see what goes on in the winery, that it’s not all glamorous. It’s a lot of physical work.”
The three protagonists — Taylor, Kimberlee Nicholls of Markham Vineyards in St. Helena and Elizabeth Vianna of Chimney Rock winery in Napa — were recruited separately, but just happen to be longtime friends.
The episodes shift among each of their stories, showing Vianna at her first pick of the season, while Nicholls is still sampling grapes at several of her source vineyards to determine when to harvest. In the second episode, the action picks up when 150 tons of grapes arrive at Markham, 30 more than expected.
“It became less about us and more about the crew getting recognition they never get,” Vianna said. “Now that I look at it, it’s a treasure to have. It captures harvest.”
Check local listings or vintagetvseries.com for air dates.
George Webber plays Count Agoston Haraszthy for Buena Vista Winery. He is the ambassador for the winery, bringing the founder of the winery to life (photo by Jeff Kan Lee, 2012)
Winemaking in California is “new” compared to Old World Europe, begun some 200 years ago and kicked into higher gear by monks, Mexicans and military commander Mariano Vallejo. Yet no single figure had more gumption and vision than Agoston Haraszthy, the Hungarian who founded Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma in 1857 as the first commercial winery in California.
Agoston Haraszthy founded Buena Vista in 1857.
Through Haraszthy, historian Charles L. Sullivan delves into California’s early wine struggles and successes in “Sonoma Wine and the Buena Vista Story,” a book published by the Wine Appreciation Guild. In the introduction, Sullivan writes that he was asked to author the history of Buena Vista Winery by its owner, Jean-Charles Boisset, and agreed to do so if the book’s scope was expanded to all of Sonoma County.
It follows a straight line through Haraszthy and his global travels, the impacts of which are still felt in Sonoma’s thriving wine industry. Prohibition is detailed, as are the various boom-and-bust periods of the industry.
The “Passing the Baton” chapter covers 1980 through 2011, vaulting the Sonoma wine business to where it is today. The final chapter discusses the arrival of Boisset from France in 2003 and his ongoing restoration of the Buena Vista property, complete with his own “Count of Buena Vista” played by George Webber.
As Joel Peterson, winemaker at Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, notes in the foreword, “Imagination, depression, boom, recession, ambition, chutzpah, luck and wisdom all add to the narrative.”
Sommelier Joel Francisco Chacon Valdes of Casa Del Habano soaks in the sunshine and the view while Juan Jesus Machin Gonzalez, sommelier and maitre d’ of Presidente Hotel snaps a photo of him. (photo by Alvin Jornada)
The Sonoma and Napa hosts who wined and dined a delegation of Cuban sommeliers and other hospitality professionals from the slowly emerging island nation performed admirably at making the visitors feel as satisfied and at-home as in Old Havana.
“I was dreaming of this moment, and I got it,” exulted Osiris Oramas, manager of Havana’s La Barca Restaurant, as he lifted into the sunlight a glass of Blanc de Noirs at Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards in Sonoma. He eyed the color, clarity and bubbles, and sipped. “Spectacular!” he declared.
Sommeliers Orlando Pe’alver, left, and Orlando Blanco taste a Klinker Brick 2012 Old Ghost old vine zinfandel from Lodi during the Cuban Sommelier Summit at Ramekins in Sonoma. (photo by Alvin Jornada)
Oramas and 21 fellow travelers on this first collective journey by wine-savvy Cubans to California sampled premium wines, often accompanied by hand-rolled Habanos cigars from home. They also toured and tasted at Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen, Healdsburg’s Seghesio Family Vineyards and MacMurray Ranch, overlooking the Russian River southwest of Healdsburg.
All through the week of July 20, the visitors paired wines with food and spoke with knowledgeable sorts from nearly every aspect of the California wine industry. They kept a brisk pace and jammed their minds with details of the state’s myriad appellations, labels and growing export market.
Then they unwound over leisurely meals at Ramekins and Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma, Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Kitchen, and in the Napa Valley as the guests of Michael Mondavi. The sommeliers also learned about matching wine and chocolate at Sonoma’s Sebastiani Vineyards.
Arranging their visit was Californians Building Bridges, a group created by Sonoma’s Darius and Sarah Anderson to strengthen trade and cultural ties between Cuba and California. Darius Anderson, a principal of Sonoma Media Investments, which owns Sonoma magazine, hailed the visit as the nonprofit’s opportunity “to return the kindness and warmth that has welcomed us to Cuba on our many missions over the last 12 years.”
Salvador Gonzalez cuts Sauvignon blanc grapes during harvest at the David Coffaro Estate Vineyard in Geyserville. (photo by Beth Schlanker)
They call it “la Pisca” — the pick or the harvest — and for the workers who flood into vineyards every August and September, this is crunch time. They make more money during this long sprint into November than any other time of the year.
The work, they say, is all in the lower body. Their legs bending over and over to lift bins that can weigh 30 to 40 pounds, they often duck under trellised vines to get back to the tractor three or four rows away, where they dump their bins of grapes into larger gondolas.
Chardonnay wine grapes bask in the late evening fall sun in a vineyard off Piner Road in Santa Rosa. (photo by Kent Porter)
The workers’ loyalty and diligence are crucial when grapes have to be harvested immediately. A delay of even a day or two in picking can alter the keen balance of sugar, tannin and acidity that winemakers seek in the grapes they’ll turn into wine.
Most winemakers want grapes harvested at night or in the early morning, when the clusters are cool and crisp — ideal for starting fermentation. The pickers stay cooler and more productive, too — and happier, as they’ll make more money.
In a typical harvest season, different varieties ripen at different times, so the work spreads out over two or three months. Grapes for sparkling wine are picked first, prized for their bracing acidity and low ripeness levels. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris usually come off the vines next, followed by Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The hearty red grapes Zinfandel, Merlot and especially Cabernet Sauvignon are late-ripeners and in cool years can keep crews working fast and furious into late October and early November.
The 2014 harvest began on July 30 — some two weeks earlier than normal, spurred by a warm, all-too-dry growing season. Depending on the vagaries of Mother Nature, it will likely end in late October.
From left: Bob and Delores Allen and Kathy and Chris Cutshall, the parents of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall, on Tuesday visit the bluff overlooking the beach north of Jenner where their children were murdered ten years ago. (Kent Porter, file)
Our reader feedback this issue comes from the online conversation started by a particularly powerful story. A devout young couple from the Midwest were murdered on a Jenner beach 10 years ago in a haunting crime that remains unsolved. Our story, “Lost & Found,” detailed their parents’ search for understanding and evoked these strong responses from readers.
On Lost & Found
Jason Allen, 26, and Lindsay Cutshall, 22, took this photo of themselves days before they were found shot to death in August of 2004 on Fish Head Beach near Jenner.
Terri DuVal Riffle: Thank you for this article. We must always keep the memory of Lindsay and Jason alive. It is so good to know the Sonoma County detectives are actively working the case.
SRmom: I have thought about this crime off and on for 10 years. My heart goes out to these families and I pray that this cowardly murderer is caught and brought to justice. And I’m glad that law enforcement is diligent in solving this terrible crime. God knows who did this and everything is in His timing, not ours. Excellent article, compassionate and informative.
Jane: The father’s immediate reaction to his child’s death stunned me. It is not normal, even for a very religious person to behave the way he did. Any normal parent who believes in God would be devastated by that tragic news. I doubt if believing in a god had anything to do with this father’s view. God did not take their child from them: She was killed. Perhaps the father just couldn’t accept her death and dealt with it in his own way by denying it?
Kathy Cutshall (mom): My husband was in no way glad when he heard that our daughter was murdered. Our grief is so great that you could never imagine unless this happened to you. … He merely stated that he would rather know that she was safe in heaven than suffering at the hands of some crazy person. We know that we will be safe in heaven when we die. … Too bad that bothers some of you, because some day the truth will be known to you as well. Well written, Jeremy Hay.
mattnorcal: I thought the suspect in this case died in a shootout with cops in Nevada? Another rumor was that the guy who did this killed himself shortly after the crime. Either way, it’s sad that in today’s society we can’t even go sleep on the beach. …
Mary: I cannot believe it has been 10 years since these horrible, puzzling murders. Deep Peace to the victims’ families.
Immortal Illumined: Every time I go to the ROCK I think about them. How can we not find the killer?
Jane: The more I see this couple’s picture, the sadder I become. They look very happy and had everything to live for and the hope of a fabulous future together. Our northern coastal areas can be the most romantic place to be, especially when you are young and in love. Scary thought that there are brutal killers out there.
Santa Rosa Mom: I, too, still think of this story often. I do hope that the police find the person(s) who killed this beautiful couple. Back in the day, I always suspected that it may have been some gang initiation.
****
Chanell Adamson and her daughter, Tilly, 3 (photos by Chris Hardy)
Also in the July/August was a feature on Glamping, aka Glamour camping. Here is what readers had to say about that.
On Glamping
Jennifer Wagers: Give me the good ole way any day over glamping. Much better. Just my opinion. If you’re outdoors enjoying with others then it’s great any way. 🙂
Dennis Penny: I’m strictly old-school, I guess. If I’m going camping, I’m pitching a tent and truly camping, not this glamping nonsense. lol
Stephanie Merrida-Grant: We were die-hard dirt campers, but with three small children, we were limited to spring and summer camping. As a mom, I felt guilty taking my kids on off season camping trips in a tent. We bought a deluxe tent trailer with heated mattresses and a heater. … We love our new accommodations and the seasonal versatility we now have. We just returned from a monthlong adventure that took us to Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon and several sights along the way. There’s nothing sweeter than the memories we build and cherish together. …
Wine Country Weekend brings out the party in everyone
Wine Country Weekend brings out the party in everyone
Sonoma County is no slouch when it comes to putting on world-class events. But the one that’s on everyone’s annual to-do: Wine Country Weekend.
The three-day event starts with winemaker dinners and barbecues throughout the county and a gala dinner at Francis Ford Coppola Winery on Friday, August 29 from 6:30 to 10p.m. Locals know that the poolside stage and million-dollar vineyard views make this Geyserville destination worth the drive, but with Chef John Toulze of the girl & the fig in the kitchen and more than 25 wineries pouring, this kick-off sets the tone for a weekend of indulgence.
Saturday’s Taste of Sonoma at MacMurray Ranch is gastro-overload with 65 restaurants and more than 150 wineries sampling gourmet bites with Sonoma’s best wines. Let’s just say you have to work very, very hard to get to even half of the goodies on hand. Other Saturday events include wine and food pairings with Kendall Jackson, wine tours with Sonoma’s Sommelier Stars, a self-guided tour of the MacMurray estate, a Steel Chef competition (BiteClub will be judging!) and plenty of bubbly in the Bubble Lounge.
If you’re still able to stand upright by Sunday, the Sonoma Harvest Wine Auction raises some serious cheddar (last year it was $700,000) for literacy, mentoring, health and housing, arts and nutritional programs right here in Sonoma County. Auction items include an 82-bottle collection of iconic Sonoma County wines, a luxury tour of Hong Kong with winemaker Jean-Charles Boisset, a once-in-a-lifetime vertical tasting of exclusive Sonoma County pinot noirs and a private fly-fishing excursion at the ultra-exclusive Teller Wildlife Refuge in Montana.
