A
TASTE OF SONOMA AND THEN MY “HOME”:
NAPA VALLEY, CA
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| Sonoma, CA |
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| Picture from our Private Tasting at 750 Wines in December 2012 |
As many of you
know, I've been to the Napa Valley for over 50 times. It really is
my second home. I love the people, the feel, of course the wine and
food and the beauty. Periodically, people ask me about Sonoma and
while I've visited the Sonoma Valley many times, I had not
experienced it for a few days together. For this trip, I wanted to
discover a few gems that Sonoma had to offer and then return to My “home”: Napa.
My good friend
Monica from 750 Wines (in St. Helena, CA) helped arrange a few wine tastings in Sonoma
and Napa.
The first day, we went to Arista Winery and then LimmerickWines. I preferred Arista. We decided to stop for lunch at
Chacuterie and enjoyed their friendly service and great soup and
ribeye sandwich. They had my favorite chocolate pot de crème that
Jeff “forced” me to try. All I can say was it was worth the
calories! We walked around the city square to get a feel of 2013
Healdsburg.
While we were
in Healdsburg, I went over to do a site visit at Hotel Le Mars. Hotel Le Mars is a Relais and Chateaux property in the heart of
Healdsburg. It is a lovely property with 16 spacious rooms on 2
floors and I would recommend it to anyone who wants experience a
day/evening in Healdsburg. It has a country french feel (my personal favorite interior design style) and is known
for its wonderful service.
We checked into
Farmhouse Inn in the late afternoon. Farmhouse Inn is 15-20 minutes
south of Healdsburg off a country road. The Inn has 16 rooms in all. Two above the restaurant which are really small and only good for 1
night. There are 6 rooms along the path from the road toward the back of
the property which were cozy and had wood burning fireplaces. If you
are okay with “road noise” (white-noise), then these rooms are perfect because of
their coziness. The last 8 rooms are their Barn Rooms which were the
most modern and spacious and had gas burning fireplaces. We stayed
in one of the Barn Rooms. The rooms were very comfortable and we
liked our rooms location toward the rear of the property overlooking
the trees.
The following
day, we drove to MacPhail Winery which was my favorite winery in
Sonoma! They had wonderful wines to taste and buy – which we did!
We met our
friends, Jose and Sherri at Barndiva for lunch. We enjoyed our lunch
outside on their courtyard and discussed the rest of the itinerary
with them. After lunch, we stopped at Bell Wines and did an
impromptu tasting at Martinelli Winery then returned to check Sherri
and Jose in at Farmhouse Inn. Farmhouse Inn was having a dining
event, “Dueling Sommeliers” that we had prepaid for. Our dinner
was fun and engaging.
The following
morning, we left Sonoma for “home” in Napa. My takeaway from
Sonoma versus Napa is that I am still a Napa person. Two nights in
Sonoma are plenty to get a feel of this part of the world. I would
add visiting the Valley of the Moon in Sonoma if I had an extra half
day. I would recommend either the Farmhouse Inn and Hotel Le Mars and
would guide you based on the experience you preferred – country
versus city.
Look out for my next blog: Part II, “Back in Napa”!
The World is Our Playground!
Mari
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