Page 495 – Sonoma Magazine

Vignette Pizzeria Sebastopol

August 2014

By biteclub

CLOSED
There are only a handful of meals that I can describe as life-changing—so perfectly executed at exactly the right moment in time that they forever stand out in memory as best-in-class. Fatty tuna belly nigiri at Hana Japanese, chocolate pot de creme at Francis Ford Coppola Winery’s Rustic, chilled pea soup with Dungeness crab at Chalkboard, beef bourguignon at Chloe’s, foie gras at Cyrus.

This week, I’ve added another: Fire-roasted heirloom carrots with eggplant and buffalo mozzarella ($10) at the recently-opened Vignette. Oh.my.god. A stack of perfectly yielding, caramelized baby carrots stacked atop bits of roasted eggplant and green onion with two spoonfuls of Ramini buffalo mozzarella (not easy to find), made even more decadent with olive oil and black pepper. Just one of a frequently changing line-up of daily roasted vegetables from Chef Mark Hopper (former executive chef for the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group).

Not that the rest of the menu isn’t nearly as stunning. We can’t help but hope that the Kale Cocio e Pepe ($10) is as healthy as it sounds. A heaping pile of chopped kale, sweet Peppadew peppers, smoked mozzarella, toasted walnuts and Greek yogurt makes other salads wilt with shame.

The brief menu orbits around Hopper’s painstakingly-researched Neapolitan pizzas. Having traveled to some of the best pizzerias in the country, he honed both the dough and the wood-fired cooking method (very hot, very fast) that results in a chewy crust with crispy bubbles throughout.

What to order, however, depends on your familiarity—and perspective—on Neapolitan pizzas.
A quick public service announcement about this style of pizza. Neapolitan pizza isn’t like American pizza. They’re usually small enough for one person, minimally topped, slightly wet in the middle (you’re unlikely to be able to pick up a piece without everything sliding off) and authentically served uncut. The “char” can range from light brown to charcoal-like, with the ideal pizza ending up somewhere win the middle.

With that said, Hopper keeps things authentic with San Marzano tomato-topped Margherita (mozzarella, Grana Padino cheese, basil and olive oil, $16), to heartier “meatball parm ($19) with house made meatballs, Parmigiano Reggiano, mozzarella and garlic, the Manhattan ($18) with chopped clams and our favorite, the **Red Eye ($17)** with Calabrian chili pesto, eggs, buffalo mozzarella, charred mortadella and Grana Padano cheese. We left the Mushroom Alfredo ($18) with garlic cream, roasted mushrooms, stracciatella cheese, grilled tomatoes and herbs for next time.

Dessert is an authentically Italian affogato. Steaming espresso is poured over buffalo milk gelato.
On a warm summer night, the glass walls roll up for a cool breeze, and a small patio is perfect for afternoon lunching.

Life is short, so its worth finding those life-changing meals. Or at the very least, life-affirming. Vignette does that with aplomb.

Vignette, 6750 McKinley St., Sebastopol (at the Barlow). Open noon to 10p.m. daily.

CLOSED Earth’s Bounty Restaurant | Santa Rosa

August 2014

By biteclub

There’s a reason you’re not going to see “America’s Top Caterer” anytime soon on the Food Network. Not because catering chefs aren’t as talented as the blustery toques waving chef’s knives and pork tattoos for the cameras. It’s because hard-working caterers—the amazing culinary wizards who can somehow make dinner for 400 inside a pop-up tent, with two broken burners and a crying bride —aren’t in it for the glory. They’re in it to make the food that make the event.

And that’s why I have a special place in my heart for folks like Chef Christopher Ludwick, a longtime caterer (Grapevine Catering) who recently opened Earth’s Bounty Kitchen and Wine Bar in the former Fresh by Lisa Hemenway (5755 Mountain Hawk Way, Santa Rosa, 827-9700). Yeah, the name’s a bit of a mouthful, but so’s the food. Meaning there’s plenty to stuff your face with—and then some.

First off, the massive interior has been radically transformed. Where Hemenway’s combined restaurant/market/coffeeshop space felt a bit, well, confusing, Ludwick has created distinct spaces: A deli and retail shop in front, the cozy wine bar/restaurant to the right and an enviable catering kitchen taking up much of the back.

But the food is really the star here. BiteClub fell to pieces over nearly everything on the compact and well-curated menu. A charcuterie board ($13) with a changing lineup of salamis, fight-over-the-last-bite pate, pickled veggies and Cabernet mustard (ours also featured duck rillettes and head cheese); a tiny iron skillet with pork cheeks, charred tomatoes and Vella Dry Jack ($10) cooked the wood oven; the Earth’s Bounty Burger with violet mustard, Cabernet onion jam and Vella cheddar on a Village Bakery English muffin ($13); “Mac and Cheese” ($12) which is less like Kraft and more like a creamy, dreamy dish of orecchiette, mushrooms, shallots, melty cheese and buttered crumbs; chicken and waffles ($18) with rosemary-bacon waffles, country gravy and collard greens (we could eat the collard greens for weeks); and most especially the ever-changing desserts, which include a homemade “Ding Dong” (Devil’s food cake, ganache, marshmallow cream and other wickedness) or a warm fruit crumble with mascarpone.

Perhaps we should mention the pizzas. The wood-fired oven has been moved into the restaurant, with its incredible heat doing double duty as pizza cooker and meat and vegetable roaster. Neopolitan-style, thin crust with just a hint of bubbly burnt bits, the pizzaiolo spins everyday nibblers like the margherita or mushroom (with chevre and olive oil, natch) as well as pepperoni and specials like maitake mushroom, truffle oil, prosciutto and Toma cheese ($13-$16)

Don’t call Ludwick’s restaurant farm-to-table, though, he says with an eye roll. “We’re Sonoma Farm Country Cuisine,” says Ludwick, which turns out to be 53 local farms and producers bringing of-the-moment ingredients to his doorstep. And your mouth.

Earth’s Bounty Kitchen, open for dinner from 5 to 9p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday 11a.m. to 4p.m. 5755 Mountain Hawk Way, Santa Rosa, 827-9700

Southern Comfort Kitchen: Alligator at the Fair?

August 2014

By biteclub

Fair fare is, well, usually fair. But at this year’s Sonoma County Fair, there’s crawfish etouffee, fried alligator and (noms) crab fries with Old Bay aioli at Southern Comfort Kitchen (Magnolia Avenue inside the fairgrounds).

The Brill brothers are tried and true New Orleans natives with roux in their veins, serving up some tasty twists on the usual fair food. Worth a special trip, but if you miss them this time, they’ll be at Art & Soul in Oakland and various other public and private (they’re headed to Google in the coming weeks) events.

The Rest of the Story: Party fun

July 2014

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

In the May/June issue of Sonoma Magazine, 8 local experts shared their favorite restaurants.

(Read the story)

As a follow-up event, Sonoma Magazine’s hosted a Rest of the Story food and wine event on July 17, 2014, at The General’s Daughter in Sonoma.

Were you there? Spot yourself in the video mash-up below!

Mateo Granados

July 2014

By John Beck

Mateo Granados (photography by Chris Hardy)

For a former Mexican highway patrol officer and soccer player who landed his first American job washing dishes, Mateo Granados has come a long way.

Working his way up from the soap and suds at Julie’s Supper Club in San Francisco to more refined kitchen gigs at Bay Area institutions including Masa’s, Manka’s and Dry Creek Kitchen, Granados now runs Mateo’s Cocina Latina in Healdsburg, with its summer-popular patio. Signature dishes range from bistec Yucateco with local potatoes to slow-roasted chochinita pibil and whole fish of the day over pumpkin-seed pepper sauce.

Just don’t ask him for generic “Mexican food.” Sworn to sustainability and local farms, Granados describes his “new Latin cuisine” as a culinary Pangaea: “I’m putting the continents together. I can take from Argentina or from Chile or a part of Portugal where they speak Spanish. If you read about the history of Yucatecan cuisine, it’s Lebanese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish crossed with Mayan.”

When he’s not in the kitchen, Granados is busy driving one around, bringing street food to the people through his Tendejon de la Calle catering business, or bottling hot sauces, or catching a Mexican national team soccer game.

Then: Born and lived in Oxkutzcab on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, with two sisters, his butcher father and high school teacher mother

Now: Lives in Healdsburg with his girlfriend of 10 years, Circe Sher

On love and life: “I said to her, ‘If I were a woman, I would never marry a chef.’ She just laughs. She is my muse. She keeps me inspired.”

Age: 49

Age he first learned to butcher a cow: 8

Time spent as highway patrol officer in Mexico City: Three months

Favorite hobby: Mushroom hunting

Favorite breed of pig: Mangalitsa

On carrying giant salmon through the restaurant: “Food is not something you want to hear about. You need to see it to believe it. I show them the eyes, how clear they are, how fresh it is.”

Position in soccer: Right wing

What he loves about soccer and cooking: “You have to play as a team, just like in the kitchen. You may hate someone in the kitchen, but it can never show in the food. And on the field, you still pass them the ball because you all have the same goal.”

Feudal Japan Inspires Sturdy, Lovely Style

July 2014

By Meg McConahey

Fredric and Brucye Frye built their pole house on their La Primavera farm in southern Mendocino County. (photography by Chris Hardy)

They appear to sail like boats on an ocean of air. Yet traditional Japanese pole houses are so firmly anchored in the ground that they have withstood centuries of floods, earthquakes and savage winds and multiple generations of use.

These rustic, open-timbered homes, whose architecture dates to the high culture of 16th-century feudal Japan, have a practical and timeless appeal that makes them a fit for the casual Northern California lifestyle that celebrates the outdoors and natural materials.

“Our only regret is that we didn’t do this 15 or 20 years earlier,” said Fredric Frye, who lives with his wife, Brucye, in a pole house they built a dozen years ago on a farm between Cloverdale and Yorkville, near the border of Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

It is a house, he said, that is exceptionally smart in its simplicity, with soaring 24-foot spruce ceilings under a hipped roof and a floor plan so open that only the guest bathroom is completely enclosed. That means that everywhere you go within the house, you can look up in awe at those golden timbers.

The center of the home is the great room, an open expanse unobstructed by load-bearing walls. Perhaps the best feature, however, is the grand engawa — sliding pocket doors that open completely to a covered wraparound veranda where the samurai of the house — in this case Fred Frye — can regard the vast sweep of the landscape and declare it all good.

Although early 20th-century California architects Green & Green and Frank Lloyd Wright were inspired by ancient Japanese architecture, it was the late Gordon Steen of Southern California who brought pole houses to the U.S. in a more commercially visible way, starting in the 1970s. Several of his “Japanese folk homes” are tucked away in Mendocino County, including the Fryes’ home and one built for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker.

The Fryes’ pole- house compound is nestled in a wooded landscape.

Now the man who milled the lumber and provided the timbers for some of those homes, including the Frye compound, is carrying on Steen’s vision, but with his own designs and ethos.

Gordon Martin’s Sonoma Pole Houses are completely milled in Healdsburg and shipped in kits complete with hardware, roofing and windows. Instructions for assembly also are included, although all but the most skilled do-it-yourselfers are advised to hire a contractor to set them up properly.

Martin was inspired by Bay Area architect Michelle Kaufmann, who 10 years ago pioneered a new era of high-quality, factory-built homes.

The elegant post-and-beam joinery of his pole houses is stronger than conventional stick framing, said Martin, whose company for years has milled the materials for industrial cooling towers around the world. His Sonoma Millworks in Healdsburg also does re-milling of fine salvaged wood. Among his projects was salvaging and re-milling some 25,000 board feet of old-growth redwood that became part of the new Boudin SF bakery in Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village shopping center.

Pole houses like the Fryes’ typically are built on heavy poles inserted into the ground. While some people choose not to bury the poles out of concern for rot, Martin maintains that by pressure-treating and encasing the formidable Douglas fir poles in concrete, they can remain safe and sturdy for generations.

With the structural framework anchored so deep in the ground, the building is able to move separately, Martin said, and absorb tremors without breaking. With the living level set so high off the ground, the homes are protected from floods, rot and vermin.

The style felt natural for the Fryes, who made several trips to Japan and were enchanted by Kyoto, a jewel of ancient Japanese architecture. The couple for a number of years lived in a Japanese-style home in Davis, where Fred, a former cancer researcher and comparative pathologist who is regarded as an international expert in reptiles, served on the faculty of the University of California.

He admits his affinity for Asian culture began simply out of necessity.

“When I first got married, Brucye and I didn’t have much money,” he said. “I was going to school on the GI bill. One of the least expensive ways to survive was an Asian diet.”

As they moved up, they began collecting Japanese and Chinese art, a lifetime of treasures that grace the 1,200-square-foot home, a mirror image of their son Erik’s larger, 2,000-square-foot pole house set within what amounts to a family compound.

Together, the Fryes work a farm they call La Primavera, raising chickens and maintaining orchards of antique apples, pears, apricots, peaches, plums and nectarines.

Sonoma Millworks’ Martin has worked on pole houses in Calistoga and Hawaii. But the acquisition of a German-made, computer-operated joinery machine called a Hundegger, which takes up an entire warehouse, now allows him to produce easily and with extreme precision the components for pole-house kits.

The house can be designed in the traditional architect’s CAD software. The Hundegger reads the plans from a flash drive and makes all the adjustments to automatically cut large pieces of wood robotically. The pole houses are available in three sizes: 12 by 12 feet for use as a bonus room or guest quarters, 16 by 16 feet, and 32 by 32 feet. They can be used modularly to make a larger residential cluster and start at about $80,000 for the smallest, most basic kit. That doesn’t include construction or interior finish work.

Ilene Paul describes the home’s interior as akin to a temple, a place of “deep peace and calm.”

Ilene Paul first laid eyes on a Japanese country-style building at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County. She was so taken by it, with its big overhanging roof and wraparound decks, that she began searching for a way to build one as her own personal retreat.

She and her husband, Don, a contractor, had the perfect piece of land waiting, spectacularly situated above Jenner, looking out at the ocean and some 5,600 protected acres of the Jenner Headlands.

“It’s a world-class location,” Ilene said. “We decided it deserved a world-class house.”

She found a company in Oregon that at the time was selling pole-house kits. Hauling 15 giant poles up the dirt road to their property was so precarious that one trucker refused to go up. Don wound up pulling the big rig up the hill with his little tractor.

It took five weeks to get the foundation in. The couple chose to set the poles deep — three rows of five poles, set 16 feet apart. In process, it looked, Ilene said, a little like Stonehenge.

When finished, the house was 2,800 square feet of living space beneath 22-foot ceilings held up by rough-hewn poles so large that the Pauls can barely put their arms around them. A dramatic open bridge with copper-tube railings leads from a master suite to a second bedroom to Ilene’s
artist’s studio on the “second floor.” Materials are warm and earthy, from the hickory floors to the clay walls.

The Pauls’ deck offers a sweeping ocean view.

“There is a Japanese term, wabi-sabi, and it means rustic elegance. The house is not glitzy and shiny, but we consider it has rustic elegance,” explained Ilene, who added Japanese elements such as a stained-glass door she made, inspired by Japanese brush strokes, Asian art and shoji screens.

She described the interior as akin to a temple, a place of “deep peace and calm.”

To Martin, there is something both protective and primal about being in one of these serene homes anchored into the earth and with roofs reaching to the skies.

“It feels like leaving the earth,” he explained. “You are out on the veranda, yet feel protected by the overhang. But when you step inside and look up, you feel exalted.”

Of Purpose and Passion – The Weinstein Family

July 2014

By Carole Kelleher

At the Weinsteins’ Sonoma home, a table in the poolside arbor is set for a twilight dinner. (photography by Rebecca Chotkowski)

The Weinstein family has a stately home on a picturesque property in Sonoma that’s not at all about being posh. It’s a place with a purpose:
solar-powered, pesticide-free and food-producing, allowing the Weinsteins to donate 2,000 pounds of produce to Valley of the Moon seniors last year.

They keep chickens, tend bees and have 52 fruit trees and 65 raised beds of Biodynamically farmed vegetables, everything from asparagus to zucchini and carrots in three different colors. Everyone who visits leaves with a basket of the land’s bounty.

Hailey, left, Kathleen, Paul and Jack pose for a casual family portrait.

Paul and Kathleen Weinstein built this haven in 2005, not long after learning that their young son, Jack, had a rare eye disease, juvenile retinoschisis, which threatened his vision. Their action plan was to get him cutting-edge medical care and provide him with a nurturing environment and excellent education. High-energy entrepreneurs who once worked on Wall Street, the couple were living in San Francisco and thought home schooling in a country setting might be best for the family. The Weinsteins purchased 5 acres and began building what they then called “Jack’s house.”

They found Stanford University ophthalmologist Deborah Alcorn, who was able to save 25 percent of Jack’s waning vision. She’s now his godmother. The family lives primarily in Ross in Marin County, so that Jack, 16, and his sister, Hailey, 13, could attend private schools that made home schooling unnecessary. But the Weinsteins return to their hillside Sonoma house, which they consider their true home, on weekends and for much of the summer.

“We try to spend 50 percent of our time in Sonoma,” Kathleen said. “That defines a good year for us.”

From the very beginning, they designed their home with an emphasis on having only what they needed, using materials and building methods that were environmentally sound. The U-shaped house is 4,000 square feet and has exterior walls that are 14 inches thick for maximum insulation. There’s a huge, high-ceilinged great room that reaches to 23 feet at its peak.

One wing holds the family bedrooms and bathrooms. The baths’ floor tiles are from Paris Ceramics, which had a once-in-a-lifetime shipment of stone excavated from the streets of Jerusalem. The stone had been laid around 2,000 years ago and may have been walked on by Jesus.

“To us, it celebrates the children’s Christian and Jewish heritage, and the miracles of faith,” Kathleen said.

The other wing has a guest suite, an office for Paul (a partner in a venture capital firm) and a TV room with an extra-large screen and comfy seats up close so Jack can see.

The Weinsteins cook and eat together in their well-equipped kitchen, pulling up leather stools around the stone peninsula where conversation is a vital part of every meal.

Paul and Kathleen team-cook on a six-burner Wolf cooktop, with a pantry, Sub-Zero refrigerator and sink in easy reach. The family eats together on leather stools pulled up around a stone peninsula, where conversation is paramount. The dark, swirly stone is from Sweden and looks almost like lava. They chose it because on the hill behind their kitchen there is evidence of a long-ago volcano, and the stone symbolizes lava flowing on, through their home. There’s also a guest house for visiting East Coast relatives, built over a garage that houses an eco-friendly electric Tesla car.

Outside is where the Weinsteins’ true selves are revealed. There’s a loggia made of Montana fieldstone with a built-in fireplace where they love to relax. Phantom screens enclose it if they so choose. There is a Sunbrella-fabric-covered arbor that hovers over weatherproof wicker furniture, with trucked-in sand underfoot. The lounge chairs and 54-inch dining table are by Positano. Redwood picnic tables under the arbor can seat up to 20 for large get-togethers. The arbor’s 10-foot support columns anchor a retractable sunshade that shields the 20-by-45-foot, solar-heated pool.

“The sun was too strong for Jack and we needed to figure out a way to shade the pool,” Kathleen explained. “Arbor Fence (in Sonoma) tackled the project and the owner was so committed to helping get Jack back outside to play. It was a real heartfelt mission. Now we string hammocks between the columns and have sand in our toes. It’s where most of our family talking happens.”

The arbor is a favorite setting for poolside dining and conversation, with a sandbox floor made for wiggling toes.

Kathleen, Jack and Hailey each swim 11/2 miles every day in the summer. Jack trained in this pool for the swim he made from Alcatraz to San Francisco in 2013. He raised $44,250 for No Barriers, a nonprofit with the motto, “What’s within you is stronger than what’s in your way,” a concept that Jack personifies. Paul and Hailey were alongside him in a Zodiac inflatable boat when Jack jumped into the 59-degree bay waters. Kathleen, who once completed the swim herself, guided his way in a kayak.

Hailey and Jack are key players in caring for the garden.

The Weinsteins’ orchard and gardens have grown into a philanthropic enterprise. The first thing they planted was tomatoes, “As an homage to my grandfather, who loves tomatoes,” Jack said. In 2005, they had 13 beds and 10 fruit trees. When they found themselves faced with 100 pounds of plums, they started thinking about a sharing plan that went beyond friends and neighbors.

The family started delivering produce to Vintage House senior center in Sonoma, both for use at the center and for people to take home. The seniors loved seeing the kids arrive with bushels of kale, garlic, radishes, peaches and pears — healthy and fabulously fresh.

Kathleen is teaching Hailey about beekeeping as a way to increase the productivity of their garden.

Jack and Hailey have spent many early summer mornings pulling weeds. They respect water, striving to never waste it. With this year’s drought, they will not plant the usual flower beds.

“It needs to produce something for us to water it,” Hailey said. “Flowers we don’t need, and they will stay dormant until next year.”

Gardening, she said, has shown her how she can give back to her community. Jack shares his sister’s sentiment. “This garden has given me a feeling of connectivity, both to my family and the people we help. When I was younger, I didn’t realize the full extent of what we were doing, but it always felt good and right. I understood the importance of being kind.”

The 5-acre property had plenty of space for a sand volleyball court next to the produce garden’s raised beds.

They’ve added Sonoma Hills Retirement Community to their donation list. On a regular basis, the kids supply enough produce to serve 80 meals there. They studied the property and devised a planting plan, so that fruits and vegetables can be grown on-site.

“I get goose bumps when I think about what those kids did,” Sonoma Hills executive director Mark Nilsson said. “They drew up a very professional schematic plan, and then gave me a check for $750, which was a gift from their grandmother, to buy trees.” Raised beds for vegetables have also been added.

The Weinsteins don’t call it “Jack’s house” anymore, because it is such a part of each of them. It’s where Jack and Hailey learned perhaps their greatest life lessons thus far: Love the land. Provide for your elders. Pursue your passions.

The Vines are Lush, It’s Time to Chill

July 2014

By Virginie Boone

B Cellars, 400 Silverado Trail, Calistoga, 877-229-9939, bcellars.com. Book ahead for special tasting experiences at this expansive winery off the Silverado Trail and relax on the outdoor patio. Single-vineyard tastings and a production tour and tasting are particularly popular, and the winery has its own chef on hand to showcase the red blends, Syrah, Sangiovese and Petite Sirah with food.

Black Stallion Winery, 4089 Silverado Trail, Napa, 707-227-3250, blackstallionwinery.com. Posh and hospitable, Black Stallion offers luxury and comfort in equal measure, with plenty of outdoor seating to enjoy the winery’s Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

B.R. Cohn Winery & Olive Oil Co., 15000 Highway 12, Glen Ellen, 800-330-4064, brcohn.com. Surrounded by olive trees and meandering gardens, B.R. Cohn is a peaceful place to enjoy a sunny day, taste through Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon and sample the estate’s own olive oils and vinegars. The lovely grounds are among the most worthy for picnics and afternoon naps, and double as a show ground from time to time for classic cars and founder Bruce Cohn’s summer concerts.

Charles Krug-Peter Mondavi Sr. Family Vineyards, 2800 Main St., St. Helena, 707-967-2200, charleskrug.com. Where Peter and Robert Mondavi first got their start, Charles Krug remains an impressive blend of old and new, with its historical Redwood Cellar now ready for tastings. A prime producer of crisp Sauvignon Blanc and elegant Cabernet, Krug visitors enjoy a slew of tasting options and tours, and can take a bottle and ponder life on the Great Lawn.

Chateau Montelena, 1429 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga, 707-942-5105, chateaumontelena.com. A wonderful place to picnic, with a Chinese garden and lake and views of Mount St. Helena, Chateau Montelena remains a Napa Valley stalwart, the winner of the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting and a consistently great producer of elegant Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Special tastings and tours abound.

Chateau St. Jean, 8555 Highway 12, Kenwood, 707-833-4134, chateaustjean.com. With a sprawling, picture-perfect lawn, bocce courts and gorgeous location, Chateau St. Jean is also worth a visit as it celebrates the 40th anniversary of Cinq Cepages, its proprietary Bordeaux-style red blend. The tasting room carries many picnic goodies.

Drew Family Cellars, 9000 Highway 128, Philo, 707-895-9599, drewwines.com. Among the finest producers of Anderson Valley and Mendocino Ridge Pinot Noir and Syrah, family-run Drew operates this small tasting room Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s also just about the only winery in Mendocino County where you’ll find Albarino, a crisp white that’s just right for summer.

Frank Family Vineyards, 1091 Larkmead Lane, Calistoga, 800-574-9463, frankfamilyvineyards.com. Frank Family is a popular Napa Valley stop because of its gardens, picnic spots and affordable tasting fees: $20 for a sampling of four wines, which include sparkling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and age-worthy Petite Sirah. It also happens to inhabit the former Larkmead Winery, third-oldest in the valley.

Freemark Abbey, 3022 St. Helena Highway, St. Helena, 800-963-9698, ext. 3721, freemarkabbey.com. Established in 1886, Freemark Abbey’s winery is a peaceful place to enjoy a classic tasting of a wide range of its wines, or settle in for a one-hour Cabernet Comparison Tasting ($30) that demonstrates the range of vineyard sites sourced for the wines.

Geyser Peak Winery, 2306 Magnolia Drive, Healdsburg, 800-255-9463, geyserpeakwinery.com. This venerable winery has new digs near downtown Healdsburg, after decades of calling Geyserville home. It’s now an easy bike ride from the plaza. Premier tastings start at $10, reserve tastings at $15. Summertime picnic options and seated wine and cheese pairings are also available, by reservation.

Gloria Ferrer, 23555 Highway 121, Sonoma, 707-933-1917, gloriaferrer.com. There may be no better hillside patio from which to take in the Carneros views than the one at Gloria Ferrer, known for its lively sparkling wines. From the sun-soaked deck, enjoy wine flights and bites of cheese and chocolate, or take a tour of the cellar and vines, offered three times a day ($20) with wine. Private food and wine pairing seminars can also be booked for groups.

Goldeneye Winery, 9200 Highway 128, Philo, 800-208-0438, goldeneyewinery.com. The Duckhorn family’s outpost in Anderson Valley, Goldeneye is devoted to Pinot Noir and also produces small amounts of Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Vin Gris of Pinot Noir. Picnic tables in the gardens are available to guests, and tastings of current-release wines are $10 to $20.

Grgich Hills Estate, 1829 St. Helena Highway, Rutherford, 800-532-3057, grgich.com. The mighty Grgich Hills, a producer of wonderful Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, offers a range of visitor experiences, including barrel tastings every Friday (2 p.m. to 4 p.m.), seated wine tastings with cheese ($40), a rustic vineyard adventure ($125) and grape stomping ($30, Labor Day to Halloween). On any day, box lunches can also be ordered to enjoy on-site.

Gundlach-Bundschu, 2000 Denmark St., Sonoma, 707-938-5277, gunbun.com. This 1860s winery, still family-run, offers a courtyard tasting menu in good weather, with flights of five current-release wines or the option to indulge in five library Cabernet Sauvignons. A board of local cheeses, hummus and almonds might accompany the wines. Vineyard excursions go all summer.

J Vineyards & Winery, 11447 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg, 888-594-6326, jwine.com. A glass of bubbly is always a good thing, and this is a well-appointed spot at which to have it, as well as taste J’s Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Don’t miss having a sip of Pinot Gris, among its most popular, summertime-perfect wines. The J Bubble Room pairs wines with exquisite, locally sourced dishes; chef Erik Johnson is a huge proponent of sourcing locally.

Jordan Vineyard & Winery, 1474 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg, 800-654-1213, jordanwinery.com. By appointment, Jordan welcomes visitors for walking tours through its beautiful compound, which includes the estate’s gardens from which executive chef Todd Knoll sources a cornucopia of produce for winery meals. Tours and seated tastings are available Monday through Saturday throughout the year and on Sundays most of the summer.

Monticello Vineyards, 4242 Big Ranch Road, Napa, 707-253-2802, corleyfamilynapavalley.com. Come to the Corley family’s Napa winery and sit down to a Jefferson House Reserve Tasting ($30) held in the Jefferson House Reserve Room and dig deep into single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Or sign up to be winemaker for a day ($90), a two-hour blending session and walk through the vineyards that ends with a tasting of more wines.

Murphy-Goode Winery, 20 Matheson St., Healdsburg, 800-499-7644, murphygoodewinery.com. Recently refreshed, the Murphy-Goode tasting room feels akin to a redone barn, with ample room to relax, play shuffleboard or linger on the back porch. It also houses a vintage photo booth for taking funny pictures in between sips of wine.

Navarro Vineyards, 5601 Highway 128, Philo, 800-537-9463, navarrowine.com. The wide selection of crisp white wines and bright, mellow reds is worth the drive to Anderson Valley, where Navarro’s homey picnic grounds inspire taking one’s time. Plenty of picnic items are stocked in the tasting room, including winery principal Sarah Cahn Bennett’s fine farmstead goat cheeses made down the road at Pennyroyal Farms. Tours into the vineyard happen twice a day, by appointment.

Patz & Hall’s Sonoma House, 21200 Eighth St. E., Sonoma, 877-265-6700, patzhall.com. In a well-appointed house in the Carneros region, this chic tasting spot showcases Patz & Hall’s single-vineyard Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Taste four wines for $25, served with truffle nuts, or go for the sit-down discussion and tasting of six to eight wines with meticulously prepared small plates ($50). Chances are the day will start off with a glass of bubbly.

Ram’s Gate, 28700 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, 707-721-8700, ramsgatewinery.com. Ram’s Gate was designed for lingering, with a host of spacious sitting areas. Then there’s the food, prepared to order by the on-staff chef for seated, guided tastings. Order a picnic lunch to take into the vineyard or out by the pond. The wines alone are a reason to stay, a collection of single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, Syrahs, Chardonnays and even a brut bubbly.

Red Car Wine, 8400 Graton Road, Sebastopol, 707-829-8500, redcarwine.com. Red Car makes fine cool-climate wines, from crisp Chardonnay to nicely rendered Pinot Noir and Syrah. The whimsical labels alone are worth the trip.

Robert Biale Vineyards, 4038 Big Ranch Road, Napa, 707-257-7555, biale.com. A producer of elegant single-vineyard Zinfandels and Petite Sirahs, Biale works with a wide range of old-vine vineyards throughout Napa and Sonoma. Enjoy the outdoor patio and views of the surrounding vineyards while sipping the winery’s signature Black Chicken Napa Valley Zinfandel, an ode to bootlegging in Prohibition days.

Robert Mondavi Winery, 7801 St. Helena Highway, Oakville, 888-766-6328, robertmondaviwinery.com. The place where much of modern Napa Valley tourism began, Mondavi remains a vital place to visit, gorgeously alive and airy. Concerts are hosted on the vast lawn throughout July. Check the website for the schedule.

Rodney Strong Vineyards, 11455 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg, 800-678-4763, rodneystrong.com. For a comprehensive taste of Sonoma County with expansive views of vines, look no further than Rodney Strong, which offers an estate wine tasting daily as well as the option to try single-vineyard and reserve wines. From its staunch Alexander Valley Cabernets to Davis Bynum Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, there’s a lot to like. Picnickers are also welcome on the winery’s lawn and vineyard terrace, with food items for purchase inside.

Roederer Estate, 4501 Highway 128, Philo, 707-895-2288, roederestate.com. Take a tour ($6) of the Anderson Valley home of Roederer Estate and see how some of America’s best sparkling wines are made, then sit on the balcony and breathe in the cool coastal air. Picnics for two can be ordered ahead of time for $25.

Schramsberg Vineyards, 1400 Schramsberg Road, Calistoga, 800-877-3623, schramsberg.com. Among the first in California to specialize in sparkling wine, Schramsberg occupies hallowed, historic ground, home to the oldest hillside vineyards in Napa Valley and some of the first caves dug for storing and aging wine. Take a tour (by appointment) and don’t miss the Mirabelle Brut Rosé and other gorgeous sparklers before moving on to taste the J. Davies Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.

St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, 100 N. Pythian Road, Santa Rosa, 888-675-9463, stfranciswinery.com. Named the No. 1 U.S. restaurant by Open Table, St. Francis isn’t a restaurant per se but does offer a gourmet food and wine experience, as well as a monthly interactive experience in its tasting room, Sonoma Tastemakers, whereby the best bites from Sonoma producers and purveyors are paired with St. Francis wines. Past months have featured cheese, savory and sweet jams, and pie.

Tamber Bey Vineyards, 1251 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga, 707-942-2100, tamberbey.com. Recently opened, Tamber Bey is located within the grounds of Sundance Ranch, a 22-acre equestrian facility with horses galore and a tasting room fit into a former barn clubhouse. Taste and hang with horses at the same time. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (by appointment) for tours and tastings of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Tasting Room on the Green, 9050 Windsor Road, Windsor. A partnership of the Deux Amis and Mutt Lynch wineries, this dog-friendly spot pours Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and a red blend called Ducks a Miss, made by Deux Amis winemaker Phyllis Zouzounis. Brenda Lynch’s Mutt Lynch lineup includes Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and a limited series of vineyard-designate wines under the Man’s Best Friend imprimatur.

Twomey Cellars, 3000 Westside Road, Healdsburg, 800-505-4850, twomey.com. Owned by the same family behind Silver Oak, Twomey specializes in Pinot Noir with two locations, one in Calistoga and this tasting room in Healdsburg, the former site of Roshambo. With beautiful views of Mount St. Helena, the tasting room offers daily sampling of current-release wines, and tours by appointment. House-cured salumi and cheese boards can be ordered ahead of time.

Dining Out

July 2014

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

Summer brings out the best dishes with the freshest ingredients…

Here are spoon-size portions of previous restaurant reviews by Jeff Cox, accompanied by the date they originally appeared in The Press Democrat. Reviews will appear on a seasonal basis.

Bistro 29, 620 Fifth St., Santa Rosa, 707-546-2929, bistro29.com. We’re fortunate to have a restaurant in our area that serves the food of Brittany in northwestern France. The cuisine features beautiful buckwheat crepes, both savory and sweet, with myriad choices of fillings. Brittany is known for its excellent chicken and seafood, and chef Brian Anderson makes delicious entrees with locally sourced versions of both. Great wine list of French and local wines, too. Reviewed 5/19/13. $$$

Bistro Des Copains, 3782 Bohemian Highway, Occidental, 707-874-2436, bistrodescopains.com. This very authentic Provencal-style bistro in the charming village of Occidental is the kind of place that a tourist, stumbling upon it, would write home about. Real-deal onion soup, raclette melted cheese, feuilleté of escargot, great pissaladière, mushroom crème brulée, braised rabbit in mustard sauce, steak frites with sauce Béarnaise, and so much more. Reviewed 3/17/13. $$-$$$$

Bravas Bar de Tapas, 420 Center St., Healdsburg, 707-433-7700, starkrestaurants.com/bravas. Owners Mark and Terri Stark traveled to Spain and fell for the wine-loving, snack-munching, pal-schmoozing culture of the tapas bar scene there. So they brought it back home to join their four other Sonoma County restaurants. The backyard of the bungalow that’s home to Bravas is transformed into an al fresco venue for tapas-style conviviality. The snacks are extraordinarily diverse and delicious. Scads of Spanish and local wines — and sangrias — await. Reviewed 12/16/12. $$-$$$$

Burgers & Vine, 400 First St. E., Sonoma, 707-938-7110, burgersandvine.com. The old Sonoma Mission Creamery building is now an up-to-date bar and grill, featuring burgers, brisket, ribs, salads, sandwiches and more. House-brewed beer joins many craft beers on tap. The long bar is made of rescued old-growth redwood. Big-screen TVs shower you with sports, live bands are booked, and the grub is pretty much pub. Reviewed 3/23/14. $$

Café LaHaye, 140 E. Napa St., Sonoma, 707-935-5994, cafelahaye.com. Here’s a restaurant that has its act together. Chef Jeffrey Lloyd features a different risotto and pasta dish each night, along with the best roast chicken ever. The vegetables on his plates are not given short shrift, and are cooked with intelligence and care. The appetizers are as carefully prepared as the entrees and uniformly delicious. The wine list is a tour of the region’s best wineries. Highly recommended. Reviewed 3/30/14. $$$-$$$$

Café Lucia, 235 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, Suite 105, 707-431-1113, cafelucia.net. The same highly flavored Portuguese food that has made LaSalette such a hit over the years in Sonoma is now available in Healdsburg. The kitchen turns out dishes created by executive chef Manuel Azevedo, and his sister, Lucia, hosts and runs the business. The siblings are co-owners. It’s a bright and tasty addition to Healdsburg’s already-superior food scene. The caldo verde is perfect, seafood stew is terrific, and all the entrees shimmer with intense flavor. Reviewed 1/20/13. $$$

Chalkboard, 29 North St., Healdsburg, 707-473-8030, chalkboardhealdsburg.com. This hideout for tired tourists and thirsty, hungry locals is a refreshing break from the insistent gentrification going on around it in Healdsburg. A full bar offers cocktails in a comfy setting, and the rustic décor encourages patrons to relax. The small-plate dishes of chef Shane McAnelly are modestly priced and tasty, and include the best sliders in town, raw items, house-made pastas and seafood. Reviewed 6/23/13. $$

Empire, 1400 First St., Napa, 707-254-8888, empirenapa.com. An upscale, contemporary hangout cocktail lounge with small plates of excellent international-style food with influences from Europe, Asia and the Americas. Sit on comfy couches and sip beautifully made cocktails from low tables, enjoy watching the jellyfish in their tanks, snack around the menu, and stay until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The carrot cake is highly recommended. Reviewed 7/7/13. $$-$$$

FlipSide Steakhouse & Sports Bar, 138 Calistoga Road, Santa Rosa, 707-539-7700, flipsidesteakhouse.com. Two big dining rooms serve up Certified Angus beef as steaks and prime rib, and there’s also chicken, salmon and lots of crowd-pleasing sides, all priced a la carte, steakhouse-style. There are raw oysters and crab cakes to start, and a delicious slice of chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and a scoop of vanilla to finish. The adjoining sports bar has 27 huge, flat-screen TVs. Reviewed 3/9/14. $$-$$$$

Heritage Public House, 1901 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 707-540-0395, heritagepublichousesr.com. The perfect place to hang out, sample two dozen beers and ciders from all over California (exclusively), and enjoy pub grub that’s a cut above in provenance and quality. The focus is on good ingredients prepared well: fish tacos, a big, beefy burger (natch), salads, sandwiches, fish and chips and nightly specials. Reviewed 10/6/13. $

Hiro’s Japanese Restaurant, 107 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma, 707-763-2300, hirosrestaurant.com. Hiro’s is an exceptional Japanese restaurant. It goes beyond just fresh and lovely versions of the usual Japanese dishes — although it does have them on the menu — to bring true gourmet Japanese cuisine to Sonoma County, including hard-to-find, interesting seafood specialties. From the arty décor to the swift and smiling service, it’s a real pleasure to dine at Hiro’s. Reviewed 8/25/13. $$-$$$

Jackson’s Bar and Oven, 135 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, 707-545-6900, jacksonsbarandoven.com. This beautifully designed restaurant in the Railroad Square district is the place for meeting friends and hanging out. There are a wide array of drinks and a menu chockablock with well-crafted American dishes including burgers, pizzas, braised short ribs, fish tacos and great desserts. Don’t miss the beignets. Reviewed 9/1/13. $$-$$$$

A half-chicken is served over bulghur with spigariello greens and Jerusalem artichokes at The Kenwood Restaurant. (Beth Schlanker)

The Kenwood Restaurant, 9900 Highway 12, Kenwood, 707-833-6326, kenwoodrestaurant.com. The focus is on organic meats and vegetables from local family farms, used in dishes that give a Sonoma twist to sophisticated American cooking. The result is wonderfully flavored food that’s as good for you as it is tasty. The chef will buy a whole carcass and use it in many different recipes. It’s farm-to-table cooking in a beautiful Sonoma Valley setting. Reviewed 3/2/14. $$$$

Le Bistro, 312 Petaluma Blvd. S., Petaluma, 707-762-8292, lebistropetaluma.com. Chef Corey Basso has prepared classic French and Italian dinners at this small neighborhood bistro since 1988, refining and improving the dishes as he went. Now, they’re just about perfect, with each expertly prepared. They menu items are not complicated (fettuccini with prawns, chicken breast, grilled lamb loin, a fresh fish of the day) but they are thrillingly delicious. Reviewed 4/20/14. $$-$$$

LoCoco’s Cucina Rustica, 117 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, 707-523-2227, lococos.net. Joe LoCoco’s restaurant is a traditional Italian place with all the classic dishes one associates with Italian-American cooking. There’s the full range of pastas, veal, the chicken under a brick and chicken parmigiana, and the most wonderful cannoli for dessert. The portions are large, the wine list is heavy with good Italian bottles, and the waiters may break into song (but not in a corny way). The place is usually full of customers, for a good reason. Reviewed 9/29/13. $$-$$$

Pamposh Restaurant, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 110, Santa Rosa, 707-538-3367, pamposhrestaurant.com. This small but mighty Indian restaurant occupies a nondescript corner of the Mission Circle Shopping Center, but the food is anything but dull. It’s full-on Indian and Kashmiri cooking, with lamb, chicken and vegetable curries; a signature dish of lamb in an apricot and coconut sauce; marinated and flash-cooked tandoori chicken; house-made yogurt drinks; perfect creamed spinach and soft cheese, and much more. Highly recommended. Reviewed 7/21/13. $$

Press, 587 St. Helena Highway (Highway 29), St. Helena, 707-967-0550, pressnapavalley.com. Owned by the same family that owns Dean & DeLuca and the Oakville Grocery, Press focuses on high-quality beefsteaks and a huge list of Napa Valley wines from current releases to bottles stretching back to the 1960s. The cocktails are superior, too. While many good dishes come from the wood-fired oven, it’s really the steaks that are the superstars here. They include Wagyu beef from Japan, and extravagantly good American beef. Reviewed 10/20/13. $$$$

Rustic, Francis’s Favorites, at Francis Ford Coppola Winery, 300 Via Archimedes, Geyserville, 707-857-1485, franciscoppolawinery.com/rustic. Francis Ford Coppola needs no introduction, but at his winery/restaurant/resort/watering hole in Geyserville, you’ll get one anyway. The restaurant, called “Rustic, Francis’s Favorites,” features the Italian dishes of his childhood and his adult love of the Argentine grill, from which come big portions of beef with chimichurri sauce. The wine list is mostly from his winery, and that’s OK. A wood-burning oven makes wonderful pizzas, too. Reviewed 11/10/13. $-$$$$

Santé at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, 100 Boyes Blvd., Sonoma, 707-939-2415, www.fairmont.com/sonoma. This classic restaurant sets the standard for high-quality spa food, not only in Sonoma County, but anywhere in the world. The ingredients are mostly local and treated with respect so that the basic flavors shine through. The chefs use techniques and carefully measured herbs and condiments to glorify the ingredients. The service is impeccable. Luxury doesn’t come cheap, but indulge yourself and go. Reviewed 6/16/13. $$$$

Sazon Peruvian Restaurant, 1129 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa, 707-523-4346, sazonsr.com. This small and inconspicuous yet clean and sunny restaurant in southwest Santa Rosa is a treasure, serving authentic Peruvian food that’s packed with flavors from the worldwide cultures that have made Peru a melting pot of a country. The dishes are delicious and beautifully presented. The ceviches are particularly good. Highly recommended. Reviewed 5/5/13. $$

Scopa, 109-A Plaza St., Healdsburg, 707-433-5282, scopahealdsburg.com. Here is an Italian restaurant with a strong influence of southern Italy and food that’s surpassingly delicious. Nonna’s Tomato-Braised Chicken with polenta keeps fans coming back. Chef Ari Rosen’s Sugo Calabrese is a perfect plate of meat-sauced thin spaghetti. But this is not Italian-American cooking, it’s authentic and soulful. A fine list of Italian wines lets you accompany this food with something from the Old Country. Reviewed 3/16/14. $$-$$$.

Seared, 170 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma, 707-762-5997, petalumaseared.com. It’s kind of a steak house, but the menu is more varied than that, with lots of seafood and a range of good appetizers. The beef tends to be the Japanese breeds, often aged and sometimes grass-fed. The vegetables are handled with care. Chef Joe O’Donnell displays his skill by adding complexity to the food. It’s a whirlwind of flavors. The restaurant knocks 25 percent off the wine prices on Thursdays. Reviewed 4/6/14. $$-$$$$

Shige Sushi Japanese Kitchen, 8235 Old Redwood Highway, Cotati, 707-795-9753, shige-sushi.com. A small but cozy room in the heart of Cotati, it has a big surprise for lovers of Japanese food. The appetizers alone are worth the trip: albacore with thin rounds of jalapeño peppers, poke salad, fried chicken karaage and much more, all well-prepared by chef Shigekazu Mori. Reviewed 3/10/13. $$

The pulled pork sandwich comes with a side of beet salad from chef Jeff Young of Twist in Forestville. (John Burgess)

Twist Eatery, 6536 Front St., Forestville, 707-820-8443, twisteatery.com. The place is tiny, with nine stools at the counter and a patio that’s open in cheery weather, but the owners are friendly, the vibe warm, the portions satisfying. It’s a great place for lunch or early dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. The food tends to be organic and locally sourced, with soups, salads, sandwiches, pastas and daily specials on the menu. The short wine list has some real gems. Reviewed 7/14/13. $$

Pink Lady Apple Pie is the perfect way to end a meal at Wishbone in Petaluma. (Alvin Jornada)

Wishbone, 841 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma, 707-763-2663, wishbonepetaluma.com. If you remember Humble Pie restaurant in Penngrove, you’ll connect with Miriam Donaldson’s rustic country take on California cooking. She and Josh Norwitt are now at Wishbone, the former site of Three Cooks Café, and once again serving up food that’s a locavore’s delight. Donaldson puts a lot of her personality into dishes such as chicken jalapeño pie, a buckwheat crepe pizzetta with gravlox and preserved lemon, and trout wrapped in house-cured bacon. The wine list is full of treasures. Reviewed 11/24/13. $$$

zazu restaurant + farm, 6770 McKinley St., Sebastopol, 707-523-4814, zazukitchen.com. While many restaurants claim to cook farm to table, Duskie Estes and John Stewart take the concept to a new level at their restaurant, located in a spacious room in The Barlow in Sebastopol. They have a small farm at home where they raise animals, gather eggs and grow produce, and a kitchen garden by the restaurant, too. Stewart makes great bacon and salumi, Estes ferments vegetables, and the kitchen turns out American comfort food that’s impossibly tasty. Reviewed 9/15/13. $$$-$$$$

Three Days of Wine and Food

July 2014

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

At Taste of Sonoma at MacMurray Ranch, tents offer shade from the late summer sun for eager sippers. (photo by Kent Porter)

In all of Wine Country, it’s hard to find many venues as charming as the MacMurray Ranch outside of Healdsburg.

Once a getaway home for TV star Fred MacMurray and actress wife June Haver, and still home base for their daughter Kate MacMurray, the beautiful property has its own personality.

Monica Yost of Sonoma and Brian Reagan of San Francisco share the culinary delights at last year's Taste event. (Kent Porter) — Monica Yost of Sonoma and Brian Reagan of San Francisco share the culinary delights at last year’s Taste event. (Kent Porter)

Owned by the Gallo wine family since 1996, the former cattle ranch is now planted with vineyards and has played host since 2006 to the annual Taste of Sonoma event during Labor Day weekend. Huge white tents pitched on the vast MacMurray lawn, arranged by wine region, provide shade for 2,500 attendees who jostle for a splash of crisp Sauvignon Blanc and hearty Cabernet Sauvignon, and bites of heirloom tomato salad, sushi and barbecue. With more than 200 wineries pouring and 60 local chefs creating perfect food pairings, Taste of Sonoma has become a high point of the annual three-day Sonoma Wine Country Weekend.

The ranch, with its low hills, evergreen woods and rows of vines, is an ideal setting for the casual, convivial Taste of Sonoma on Aug. 30. Sundresses, shorts, Hawaiian shirts and sunscreen are the dress of the day, contrasting with the ultra-high quality of the wine and food. Celebrated Living magazine named Taste of Sonoma one of the “10 Best Wine and Food Events in the United States.” Tickets cost $165 to $195 per person.

In addition to Taste of Sonoma, Sonoma Wine Country Weekend includes the Aug. 29 Sonoma Starlight gala dinner at Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville and the Aug. 31 Sonoma Harvest Wine Auction at Chateau St. Jean in Kenwood. The auction is an unpretentious affair attended by growers and vintners who host tables and mingle with attendees.

The Grand Lawn at Chateau St. Jean will be transformed into an African plain to suit the “From Sonoma to Serengeti” theme. Expect funny skits along with the bidding. The atmosphere is classy but casual, with some partiers showing up in elaborate costumes, others in shorts and staw hats. Admission is $500.

Fueled by community spirit, a sense of fun, good food and fine wine, lively bidding produced $1.4 million last year, almost doubling the amount raised for charity the previous year.

Tickets are available at sonomawinecountryweekend.com.