You know those tools at your local coffee shop, the ones that holler into their iPhones while holding court at that prime table over by the window, and generally behave as if the place is a private office? Well, hopefully I’m not one of them, because, surely, I’m not without sin. The thing of it is, I work out of a home office, and that turns island fever into an occupational hazard; it’s a matter of when, not if, I meander inexorably toward the nearest watering hole for the vaguely self-employed, in search of caffeine and a free WiFi connection, entangled by their gravitational clutch like a planetary body in search of its sun…
I live in Healdsburg, where you can count the freebie hotspots on one hand. Which means, more often than not, when I feel compelled to escape the moronic drone of the talking heads over at CNBC or Fox Business, I end up at the Flying Goat, purveyors of outstanding espresso (which, to the Goat’s undying credit, they serve ristretto by default).
But sometimes, my partners on the East Coast have all gone home, it’s a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in wine country and I’m off the clock, or for whatever set of reasons I’m just plain done, and what I really want is a sip of some tasty wine to wash down my Internet addiction, and that’s when I head down the block to to the Vintage Wine Estates tasting room, home to cozy couches, fast and free WiFi, a particularly smoking-hot Chardonnay from Sonoma Coast Vineyards, and – on the second Sunday of every month – sweet jazz from guys like local guitar wizard, Christian Foley-Beining. In fact, now that I mention it, I’ll be there next Sunday, so come on by and dig it.
