North Bay Winery Listings

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North Bay Winery Listings

07.23.08

Sonoma County

North County

Alexander Valley Vineyards

At family-run Alexander Valley Vineyards, the Wetzels serve as curators of local history, having restored Cyrus’ original adobe and schoolhouse. 8644 Hwy. 128, Healdsburg. Tasting room open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.433.7209.

Arista Winery

Nothing big about the wine list: just style-driven, focused wines. 7015 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Tasting room open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.473.0606.

Armida

The wines are original, and there are three mysterious geodesic domes on the property. Plus: bocce! 2201 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–4pm. 707.433.2222.

Bella Vineyards

(WC) Specializing in Zinfandel, Bella Vineyards farms three vineyards in Sonoma County: Big River Ranch in Alexander Valley, and the Lily Hill Estate and Belle Canyon in Dry Creek Valley. 9711 W. Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am-4:30pm. 866.572.3552.

Camellia Cellars

Like owner Chris Lewand, the wine is just so darned approachable and easy-going. Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon are most consistently strong. 57 Front St., Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–6pm. 888.404.9463.

Christopher Creek

The tasting room is a small, wood-paneled anteroom stocked with bins of wine. There are no fountains, Italian tiles or anything not having to do directly with the business of sampling wines made on the premises. Chard and Cab shine. 641 Limerick Lane, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.433.2001.

Clos du Bois

With picnicking area, friendly staff and knickknacks galore, Clos Du Bois is a reliable treasure. 19410 Geyserville Ave., Geyserville. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 800.222.3189.

David Coffaro Vineyards

Coffaro specializes in unique red blends and Zinfandels. Coffaro keeps an online diary of his daily winemaking activities (www.coffaro.com/diary.html). 7485 Dry Creek Road, Geyserville. Appointment only. 707.433.9715.

Gary Farrell

The namesake is gone but the quality remains. 10701 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–4pm. 707.473.2900.

Fetzer Vineyards

Even as a corporate giant, Fetzer retains its conscience about the earth, the grapes, the land and its wine. Chardonnay is what Fetzer does especially well. The winery also has a small deli and inn. 13601 Old River Road, Hopland. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 800.846.8637.

Field Stone Winery

(WC) Popular with hikers and bikers passing through, Field Stone Winery is an idyllic 85-acre visit-nature. It was also one of the first underground wine cellars, carved into the hill in the 1970s. 10075 Hwy. 128, Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.433.7266.

First Street Wines

Half a block off of the main street, a cooperative of two family wineries, serving Hart’s Desire Wines and Pendleton Estate Wines in an art gallery setting. 105 E. First St., Cloverdale. Open Friday&–Saturday, 11am&–6pm; Sunday, 11am&–5pm. 707.894.4410.

Foppiano Vineyards

Over 100 years old, Foppiano produces wines that can be described as simple but delicious. 12707 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.433.7272.

Francis Ford Coppola Presents Rosso & Bianco

In a fairy-tale setting complete with a castle and friendly, attentive staff, this winery has excellent white wines and an in-house restaurant (currently closed). 300 Via Archimedes, Geyserville. Open daily at 11am. 707.857.1400.

Gallo Family Vineyards

Before there was the box, there was the jug, and among local producers, Gallo has long been a favorite. 320 Center St., Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–6pm. 707.433.2458.

Geyser Peak Winery

In the 1990s, the facility was in thrall to Australian overlords the Penfolds, who brought in winemakers Daryl Groom and Mick Shroeter. When their Shiraz won top awards at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, it was seen as a peak moment in an Aussie invasion. 22281 Chianti Road, Geyserville. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 800.255.9463

Hop Kiln Winery

Both pleasant and rural, Hop Kiln has an extremely popular crisp white wine (Thousand Flowers) which sells out every year. The grounds are gorgeous, right on the Russian River. 6050 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.433.6491.

J Winery

Sparkling and then some. Try the food and wine pairing. 11447 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.431.3646.

Locals Tasting Room

Locals is a high-concept tasting room offering over 60 wines from nine wineries in varietal flights. Corner of Geyserville Avenue and Highway 128, Geyserville. Open daily, 11am&–6pm. 707.857.4900.

Longboard Vineyards

If serious surfers are said to anticipate an approaching wave with focused contemplation, then it only follows that they’d pursue winemaking with corresponding studiousness. That’s the case at Longboard. 5 Fitch St., Healdsburg. Open Thursday&–Saturday, 11am&–7pm; Sunday, 11am&–5pm. 707.433.3473.

Martinelli Winery

Only in the 1980s, after hiring a consultant, did Martinelli begin to make A-list wines, but it’s still a funky red-barn establishment at heart. Martinelli Winery, 3360 River Road, Windsor. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.525.0570.

Mauritson Family Winery

Zinfandels are the hallmark of this fledgling winery. Reserve vintages routinely sell out, including the much sought-after Rockpile Zinfandel. There’s a lot of buzz about wines from the Rockpile Appellation. 2859 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. Tasting room open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.431.0804.

Meeker Vineyard

You might expect Meeker to be more slicked-out, what with its big-time Hollywood origins (co-owner Charlie Meeker is a former movie executive). But that’s clearly not the case. 21035 Geyserville Ave., Geyserville. Open Monday&–Saturday, 10:30am&–6pm; Sunday, noon&–5pm. 707.431.2148.

Michel-Schlumberger

Highly recommended, but by appointment only. The family has been making wine in France for 400 years. Well-known for Chardonnay. 4155 Wine Creek Road, Healdsburg. 707.433.7427.

Mill Creek

While the historically inspired building is just spinning a decorative wheel, quaint is just a footnote to quality. All the wines are above average. 1401 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–4pm. 707.431.2121.

Moshin Vineyards

Like so many other enterprising victims littering the area, former math teacher Rick Moshin fell hard for Pinot somewhere along the way. 10295 Westside Road, Healdsburg, Tasting room open daily, 11am&–4:30pm. 707.433.5499.

Murphy-Goode Winery

Value is a premium. Be sure to try the Brenda Block Cabernet and Fume Blanc. The new tasting room is a classy, low-key experience. 20 Matheson St., Healdsburg. Open daily, 10:30am&–5:30pm. 800.499.7644.

Passalacqua Winery

Family-run, boasting good reds and Chardonnay as well as a fun wine-aroma kit to train your senses to identify common wine smells. Large deck, garden and vineyard. 3805 Lambert Bridge Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.433.5575.

Preston Vineyards

Considered one of the better wineries in Sonoma. Try the Mouvedre and Sangiovese. Limited picnicking facilities, organic vegetables and homemade bread for sale. On Sundays, the bread is fresh and the Italian-style jug wine, Guadagni, flows. 9282 W. Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–4:30pm. 707.433.3372.

Quivira Winery

Hoping to break free from the stereotype that biodynamic wine equals bad wine, Quivira aims high and hits. Picnicking available. 4900 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 800.292.8339.

Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs

(WC) Paul Draper is one of the top five winemakers nationwide. The wines are fabulous and tend to inspire devotion in drinkers. The tasting room is an environmentally conscious structure (at press time, it was also closed for roof repair; call first). 650 Lytton Springs Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–4pm. 707.433.7721.

Rosenblum Cellars

Funky and offbeat with Native American art, rave-review Zinfandels and friendly, low-key staff. 250 Center St., Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.431.1169.

Russian Hill Winery

Simple tasting room, strong Pinots and Syrah, fantastic view. 4525 Slusser Road, Windsor. Open Thursday&–Monday, 10am&–5pm. 707.575.9428.

Sapphire Hill

Sharing a property with such as Camilla Cellars and other boutique wineries on a compound they simply call “Front Street 5,” production is mainly reds, with the exception of an estate Chardonnay. 51 Front St., Healdsburg. Open Thursday&–Monday, 11am&–4:30pm. 707.431.1888.

Sausal Winery

Simple, rural, without corporate cross-promotions and pretense. Good Zinfandel and nice cats. 7370 Hwy. 128, Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–4pm. 707.433.5136.

Sbragia Family Vineyards

Ed Sbragia makes stellar Cab in Zin country. 9990 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.473.2992.

Seghesio Family Winery

Delicious Italian varietals, many of them brought directly from Italy; excellent Zinfandel. 14730 Grove St., Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.433.3579.

Selby Winery

Regularly served at White House state dinners, Selby Chard has been through several administrations. 215 Center St., Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–5:30pm. 707.431.1288.

Simi Winery

Pioneered female winemaking by hiring the first female winemaker in the industry. The tasting-room experience is mediocre, but the wine is fantastic and worth the wait. Excellent Chard, Sauvignon Blanc and Cab. 16275 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.473.3213.

Stryker Sonoma Vineyards

Off-the-beaten-path winery features beautiful views and spectacular wine, the best of which are the reds. 5110 Hwy. 128, Geyserville. Open daily, 10:30am&–5pm. 707.433.1944.

Thumbprint Cellars

Erica and Scott Lindstrom-Dake started Thumbprint in their garage, and recommend vegetarian food parings with their wine. 36 North St., Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–6pm. 707.433.2393.

Timber Crest Farms

Formerly of Lytton Springs Road, Peterson Winery has relocated to Timber Crest, where they pour on weekends right at the cellar door. Also on hand is Papapietro-Perry and the six Family Wineries of Dry Creek. Dashe Cellars crafts mainly powerful Zinfandels and other reds. At Kokomo Winery, it’s about the reds. Also look for Mietz Cellars, Lago di Merlo and Collier Falls. 4791 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. Tasting rooms generally open daily from around 10:30am to 4:30pm. 707.433.0100. Peterson Winery is open weekends only. 707.431.7568.

Toad Hollow

A humorous, frog-themed tasting room begun by Robin Williams’ brother Todd Williams and Rodney Strong, both now passed. Refreshing and fun. 409-A Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Open daily, 10:30am&–5:30(ish)pm. 707.431.8667

Unti Vineyards

Very friendly and casual with an emphasis on young Italian-style wines. Yum. 4202 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. By appointment. 707.433.5590.

Wilson Winery

Friends should never let friends drink shitty wine. Do you have a truck? After all, friends don’t let friends drink alone. 1960 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.433.4355.

South County

Adobe Road Winery

Award-winning Cab, Pinot, Zin, Cab Franc, Syrah and Petite Sirah. Their tasting room is located in Petaluma at the Racers Group Porsche race headquarters. 1995 S. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma. 707.939.7967.

Kastania Vineyards

Who knew that here on the border of Marin we’d find one of the most hospitable, no-nonsense, family-winery experiences in the county! 4415 Kastania Road, Petaluma. By appointment. 707.763.6348.

Keller Estate

Nestled in the “Petaluma gap” and specializes in creating artisan, handcrafted Pinot, Chard and Syrah. 5875 Lakeville Hwy., Petaluma. By appointment. 707.765.2117.

Mid County

Baletto & Dutton-Goldfield

They’re making some good stuff over at Dutton-Goldfield and Balletto. Being out of the touring loop, it’s generally a low-key place that picks up a bit on weekends. 5700 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa. Open daily, 10am-4pm. 707.568.2455.

De Loach Vineyards

In the 1970s, Cecil De Loach established this pioneering producer of Russian River Zinfandel and Pinot Noir par excellence. 1791 Olivet Road, Santa Rosa. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.526.9111.

Harvest Moon Winery

Modest, comfortable tasting room showcases estate-grown Zin and Gewürz. 2192 Olivet Road, Santa Rosa. Open daily, 10:30am&–5pm. 707.573.8711.

Hook & Ladder

Having sold the brand to a Burgundian clan, the De Loach family reorganized their operation and Hook & Ladder is a favorite. Here’s a place where they’ll proudly serve up estate-grown white Zinfandel. 2134 Olivet Road, Santa Rosa. Open daiy, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.526.2255.

Kendall-Jackson

Amazing gardens and produces the popular wines gracing most American tables. A great place to explore food and wine pairings. 5007 Fulton Road, Fulton. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.571.8100.

Martin Ray

Focus is on mountain Cab. And continuing the old tradition, folks can pick up a gallon of hearty Round Barn Red for $13. 2191 Laguna Road, Santa Rosa. Summer hours, daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.823.2404.

Matanzas Creek Winery

Matanzas Creek Winery features a peaceful tasting room overlooking its famed acres of lavender. 6097 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.528.6464.

Novy Family Winery

Daily tastings by appointment in a no-nonsense warehouse, and is better known as a celebrated member of the “Pinot posse” by its other moniker, Siduri. 980 Airway Court, Ste. C, Santa Rosa. 707.578.3882.

Paradise Ridge Winery

A gorgeous, provocative sculpture garden with annually changing exhibits set amid a pygmy forest. Stay for sunset Wednesday evenings April-October. 4545 Thomas Lake Harris Drive, Santa Rosa. Open daily, 11am&–5:30pm. 707.528.9463.

Siduri Winery

A Pinot-heavy slate. 980 Airway Court, Ste. C, Santa Rosa. By appointment. 707.578.3882.

St. Francis Winery

Simple but cozy, inspired by the monk St. Francis and styled as a California mission. Beautiful views and food pairings. 100 Pythian Road, Santa Rosa. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 800.543.7713, ext. 242.

West County

Atascadero Creek Winery

Produces mostly red wines and specializes in small lots of single vineyard Pinot and Zin. It shares a tasting room with host winery Graton Ridge Cellars and Occidental Cellars. 3541 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Sebastopol. Open Friday&–Sunday, 11am&–5pm. 707.823.3040.

Dutton Estate Winery

Vineyard-designated Pinot, Chard, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc. 8757 Green Valley Road, Sebastopol. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.829.9463.

Freestone Vineyards

The casual, airy space is furnished in a whitewashed country French theme. Visitors are encouraged to sit down at long tables and even have a picnic. 12747 El Camino Bodega, Freestone. Open Friday&–Monday, 10am&–4pm. 707.874.1010.

Iron Horse

Despite the rustic tasting room, Iron Horse produces sparkling wine and Pinots for the elite. A brilliant view for winetasting. 209786 Ross Station Road, Sebastopol. Open daily, 10am&–3:30pm. 707.887.1507.

Korbel Champagne Cellars

A large, ivy-covered winery with a huge tasting room, fun staff, excellent deli and hourly tours, a perfect stop on the way to the Russian River. 13250 River Road, near Rio Nido. Open daily, 10am&–5pm daily. 707.824.7316.

Lynmar Winery

Produces world-class Pinot and Chard in elegant rural setting. Look for fun food pairings. 3909 Frei Road, Sebastopol. Open daily, 10am-5pm. 707.829.3374.

Marimar Estate

A great stop for locals on a Sunday drive. And the Pinot is fantastic. 11400 Graton Road, Sebastopol Open daily, 11am&–4pm. 707.823.4365.

Paul Hobbs Winery

Unfiltered and unfined wines, fermented with native yeasts. 3355 Gravenstein Hwy. N. (Highway 116), Sebastopol. By appointment. 707.824.9879.

Russian River Vineyards

Special reds and even Charbono. At Topolos. 5700 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Forestville. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.887.3344.

Sheldon Wines

“West County’s smallest tasting room,” the redecorated SP caboose at Gravenstein Station is operated by a couple of young globe-trotting harvest hoboes who caught wine fever like an express train and held on tight. 6761 Sebastopol Ave. #500, Sebastopol. Open Thursday&–Sunday, noon&–4pm. 707.829.8100.

Taft Street Winery

Award-winning Sauvignon Blancs are a great deal. 2030 Barlow Lane, Sebastopol. Monday&–Friday, 11am&–4pm; Saturday&–Sunday, 11am&–4:30pm. 707.823.2049.

Woodenhead

Damn good wine. Pinot, Zin—yum, yum, yum. 5700 River Road, Forestville. Open Thursday&–Sunday, 10:30am&–4:30pm. 707.887.2703.

East County

Arrowood Winery

Most of Arrowood’s wine is done in the Bordeaux style of France. 14347 Sonoma Hwy., Glen Ellen. Tasting room open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.935.2600.

Audelssa

Audelssa’s wines are indeed as dramatic, dry and rugged as the location suggests. 13647 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen. Tasting room open Friday&–Sunday, 11am&–5pm; Monday&–Thursday. 707.933.8514.

Bartholomew Park Winery

A scenic locale for something that sounds like it belongs in a Henry James novel. Sauvignon Blanc and Cab are kings here. 1000 Vineyard Lane, Sonoma. Open daily, 11am&–4:30pm. 707.935.9511.

Benziger Winery

A nontraditional, organic, biodynamically farmed winery. Don’t miss the daily 45-minute tram ride replete with a tour of the vineyard, wildlife sanctuaries and caves. 1883 London Ranch Road, Glen Ellen. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 888.490.2739.

Blackstone Winery

Blackstone was conceived as a “negociant”—the industry’s new pet term for bulk wine brand but this satellite facility produces a variety of ultrapremium-appellation and single-vineyard Sonoma County wines. 8450 Hwy. 12, Kenwood. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.833.1999.

Buena Vista Carneros

Syrah, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chard done to perfection. Buena Vista Carneros, 18000 Winery Road, Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–4pm. 707.938.1266.

Castle Vineyards & Winery

Outdoor seating on a popular stretch of downtown real estate, perfect for mild imbibing and people watching. 122 W. Spain St., Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm daily. 707.996.1966.

Charles Creek Vineyards

The wines dazzle. Chardonnays and Merlot, those old workhorses, shine. 483 First St. W., Sonoma. Open daily, 11am&–6pm. 707.935.3848.

Chateau St. Jean Winery

Take the educational tour and sample both reserve and premier wines on acres of vineyard with gardens and gourmet food. 8555 Sonoma Hwy., Kenwood. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.833.4134.

Cline Cellars

Look for single-vineyard designate Zinfandels—gorgeous fruit bombs. 24737 Hwy. 121, Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–6pm. 707.940.4000.

Gloria Ferrer Winery

(WC) Part of the international Freixenet wine empire, owner Jose Ferrer’s family has been in this business since the 13th century. Explore the Champagne caves on a guided tour. 23555 Carneros Hwy., Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. Cave tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. 707.996.7256.

Gundlach Bundschu Winery

(WC) A fun, casual winery with enjoyable wines. Shakespeare and Mozart performed on the grounds in the summer. 2000 Denmark St., Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.938.5277.

Imagery Estate Winery

Results from a 20-year collaboration between winemaker Joe Benziger and artist Bob Nugent. The concept: Commission unique artwork from contemporary artists for each release of often uncommon varietal wines. The wine gets drunk. The art goes on the gallery wall. Not so complicated. Count on the reds and plan to take a stroll down the informative “varietal walk” on the grounds. 14335 Hwy. 12, Glen Ellen. Summer hours, Sunday&–Thursday, 10am&–4:30pm; Friday&–Saturday, 10am&–5pm. 707.935.4515.

Kaz Vineyard & Winery

Kaz’s motto is “No harm in experimenting.” Organic, low-sulfite winemaking results in fulsome liqueur aromas. Also a trilogy of ports under a second label, the Bodega Bay Portworks. 233 Adobe Canyon Road, Kenwood. Open Friday&–Monday, 11am&–5pm. 877.833.2536.

Kunde Estate Winery

(WC) Kunde is one of 12 wineries in Sonoma County to be distinguished with Second Level Green Business Certification. It also has beautiful wine caves carved into 5-million-year-old volcanic rock. 9825 Sonoma Hwy., Kenwood. Tasting room open daily, 10:30am&–4:30pm. 707.833.5501.

Landmark Vineyards

Chardonnay, Chardonnay, Chardonnay. 101 Adobe Canyon Road, Kenwood. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.833.0053.

Larson Family Winery

Barbecue wine alert! 23355 Millerick Road, Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.938.3031.

Ledson Winery & Vineyards

What warlock, many high-way travelers wondered, within those stone walls broods? Happily, Ledson’s wine-wizard is a Zinfandel zealot, making 10 from the zaftig grape. 7335 Sonoma Hwy., Kenwood. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.537.3810.

Little Vineyards

All of the Little’s wines are made from their 15-acre estate vineyards, and they’re serious about their product. Zin and Syrah are stars here. 15188 Sonoma Hwy., Glen Ellen. By appointment. 707.996.2750.

Loxton Cellars

At Loxton, the shingle of Aussie Chris Loxton, who forewent a career in physics to save space-time in a bottle, Syrah and Shiraz are king. 11466 Dunbar Road, Glen Ellen. By appointment. 707.935.7221.

Mayo Family Winery

Excellent place to pair food with wine, as tastings are matched with specific food items. 9200 Sonoma Hwy., Kenwood. Open daily, 10:30am&–6:30pm. 707.933.5504.

Nicholson Ranch

(WC) Best known for its Chardonnays and a winery tour from the depths of the caves to the height of the property’s grandmother oak. 4200 Napa Road, Sonoma. Open daily, 11am&–6pm; tours by appointment. 707.938.8822.

Ravenswood Winery

The winery motto is “No wimpy wines,” and they make strong, much-praised Zinfandels. A great place to learn that wine is supposed to be fun. 18701 Gehricke Road, Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.933.2332.

Robledo Family Winery

Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and “Los Braceros” red blend are highly recommended. 21901 Bonness Road, Sonoma. Open daily, Monday&–Saturday, 10am&–5pm; Sunday, 11am&–4pm. 707.939.6903.

Roche Carneros Estate

Chardonnay is king. 28700 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.935.7115.

Sebastiani

The winery is charming and warm, with wines that are mostly straightforward, honest affairs. One of the best picnic areas around. 389 Fourth St. E., Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.933.3230.

Sonoma Enoteca

Locals long-inured to local delights might also find themselves impressed with the wide and varied selection. 35 E. Napa St., Sonoma. Open Wednesday&–Monday, 10am&–6pm; Tuesday, 10am&–3pm. 707.935.1200.

Ty Caton Vineyards-Muscardini Cellars

Ty Caton is both a hands-in-the-dirt winegrower who planted much of the vineyard himself and savvy entrepreneur. Michael Muscardini is a neighbor who comes from the building trade and focuses on Italian varietals. 8910 Sonoma Hwy. (in the Kenwood Village Plaza), Kenwood. Open daily, 10am&–6pm. 707.833.0526.

Valley of the Moon Winery

This winery was once owned by Sen. George Hearst. Perhaps instead of the epochal utterance “Rosebud,” we could dub in “Rosé.” 777 Madrone Road, Glen Ellen. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.996.6941.

Viansa Winery

Large and filled with cross-promotional products, a deli and a pseudo-Italian marketplace. 25200 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.935.4700.

Marin County

Bacchus & Venus

A trendy place for beginners and tourists. Great place to learn the basics. 769 Bridgeway, Sausalito. Open daily, noon&–7pm. 415.331.2001.

Point Reyes Vineyards

The tasting room features many varietals but the main reason to go is for the sparkling wines. Open Saturday&–Sunday, 11am&–5pm. 12700 Hwy. 1, Point Reyes. 415.663.1011.

Ross Valley Winery

In existence since 1987, the Ross Valley Winery produces Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Zin port wines. 343 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo. Open Tuesday&–Sunday, 1&–7pm. 415.457.5157.

Napa County

Upvalley

August Briggs Winery

Tasting room is a white barn lit by skylights and often staffed by the owner’s wife and mother. 333 Silverado Trail, Calistoga. Open Thursday&–Sunday, 11:30am&–4:30pm. 707.942.5854.

Casa Nuestra Winery

Endearingly offbeat, with a dedicated staff and a collection of goats and dogs roaming freely. 3451 Silverado Trail N., St. Helena. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.963.5783.

Chateau Montelena

The winery triumphed at the 1976 “Judgment of Paris” tasting where French judges, quelle horreur, found that they had awarded top honors to a California contender. 1429 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga. Open daily, 9:30am&–4pm. 707.942.5105.

Clos Pegase Winery

(WC) Practically an art museum. A 2,800-square-foot “cave theater” plays frequent host to parties and more. Sadly, tasters are limited to tasting either white or red, so choose well. 1060 Dunaweal Lane, Calistoga. Open daily, 10:30am&–5pm. 800.366.8583.

Corison Winery

Winemaker Cathy Corison proudly describes herself as a “Cabernet chauvinist.” 987 St. Helena Hwy., St. Helena. By appointment. 707.963.0826.

Folie à Deux

A good picnic or party wine, the Ménage à Trois—white, red and rosé—are tasty blends. 3070 N. St. Helena Hwy, St. Helena. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 1.800.473.4454.

Freemark Abbey

In 1881, Josephine Tychson was the first woman to own and operate a winery in the valley. Enjoy the Cabs. 3022 St. Helena Hwy. N. (at Lodi Lane), St. Helena. Open daily, 10am-5pm. 800.963.9698.

Grgich Hills

Mike Grgich’s Chardonnays famously beat the competition at the 1976 “Judgment of Paris” and the all-estate winery is solar-powered and practices organic and biodynamic. 1829 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford. Open daily, 9:30am&–4:30pm. 707.963.2784.

Hall Winery

Craig and Kathryn Hall specialize in “beefy” wines favored by Robert Parker. Intensely modern art and all things Austrian. New tasting room will be by Frank Gehry. 401 St. Helena Hwy. S., St. Helena. Open daily, 10am&–5:30pm. 866.667.HALL.

Mumm Cuvée Napa

Photography exhibition that changes regularly. Outdoor seating overlooking the vineyards. Sparkling wines. 8445 Silverado Trail, Rutherford. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.967.7700.

On the Edge

A key stop for devotees of the cult to Charbono. 1255 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. Open daily, 10am&–5:30pm. 707.942.7410.

Peju Province Vineyards

Talented staff, terrific food pairings and fantastic Cab. 8466 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford. Open daily, 10am&–6pm. 707.963.3600.

PlumpJack Winery

Part of the huge empire in part helmed by S.F. mayor Gavin Newsom. Syrah, Merlot and more. 620 Oakville Crossroad, Oakville. Open daily, 10am&–4pm. 707.945.1220.

Rubicon Estate

Despite the celebrity hype, the wine is award-winning. 1991 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 800.782.4226.

Schramsberg

(WC) Sparkling wine at its best. The “tasting room” is a branch of the cave illuminated with standing candelabras. 1400 Schramsberg Road, Calistoga. By appointment. 707.942.4558.

Smith-Madrone

Riesling is Smith-Madrone’s main fame claim. Its Riesling has steadily gained fame while Napa Valley Riesling in general has become a rare antique. 4022 Spring Mountain Road, St. Helena. By appointment. 707.963.2283.

Storybrook

(WC) Jerry and Sigrid Seps and a few likeminded winemakers founded Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP), through which they continue to proselytize on behalf of “America’s heritage grape.” 3835 Hwy. 128, Calistoga. By appointment. 707.942.5310.

Summers Estate Wines

Excellent Merlot and that rarest of beasts, Charbono. Small tasting room and friendly staff. 1171 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.942.5508.

St. Supéry

Expect to find the tasting room crowded with a harrassed staff, but St. Supéry features an interesting art gallery with changing exhibitions. 8440 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 800.942.0809.

V. Sattui

Though a regular stop on the tourist circuit, it remains charming in the Italian style. With no distribution except via the Net, wines can only be purchased onsite. 1111 White Lane, St. Helena. Open daily, 9am&–6pm. 707.963.7774.

Vincent Arroyo Winery

Small, tasting room is essentially a barn with a table near some barrels, but very friendly, with good wines. 2361 Greenwood Ave., Calistoga. Open daily, 10am&–4:30pm. 707.942.6995.

Downvalley

Beringer Vineyards

(WC) This historic winery offers some seven daily tours for nominal fees, most of which end gratefully with a glass and take a spin through the underground wine-aging tunnels. Open daily, 10am&–6pm (summer hours). 2000 Main St., Napa. 707.963.7115.

Black Stallion Winery

Owned by a pair of Midwest liquor-distribution barons who hired a capable winemaker and envision it to be a retail-destination winery. The wines (produced offsite for now) are quite good. 4089 Silverado Trail, Napa. Open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.253.1400.

Chateau Potelle

Using grapes from as far away as Paso Robles, the winemaker makes a strong Syrah and an interesting meritage of Syrah, Cab, Zin and Merlot that’s definitely worth a try. What you’re here for, however, are the VGS (“very good shit”) wines. 3875 Mt. Veeder Road, Napa. Open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.255.9440.

Constant

(WC) Boutique winery specializing in the kind of Cabernet that makes the Wine Spectator drool. 2121 Diamond Mountain Road, Napa. By appointment. 707.942.0707.

Cuvaison Estate Wines

(WC) Producing some 65 percent of its product as Chardonnay, Cuvaison has a 22,000-square-foot cave. 4550 Silverado Trail N., Napa. By appointment. 707.942.6266.

Darioush

Exotic locale, with giant columns and a Persian theme, Darioush is justly famous for its Bordeaux. 4240 Silverado Trail, Napa. Open daily, 10:30am&–5pm. 707.257.2345.

Del Dotto Vineyards

(WC) Caves lined with Italian marble and ancient tiles, not to mention Venetian chandeliers and mosaic marble floors. They host candle-lit tastings, replete with cheese and chocolate, Friday&–Sunday. Opera resonates until 4pm; rock rules after 4pm. 1055 Atlas Peak Road, Napa. By appointment. 707.963.2134.

Eagle & Rose Estate

(WC) Tours of this small winery are led either by the winery owner or the winemaker himself. 3000 St. Helena Hwy. N., Napa. By appointment. 707.965.9463.

Fantesca Estate & Winery

(WC) Set on land that was the dowry gift when Charles Krug married in 1860, this estate winery specializing in Cab features a wine-aging cave built right into the side of Spring Mountain. 2920 Spring Mountain Road, Napa. By appointment. 707.968.9229.

Far Niente

(WC) Far Niente was founded in 1885 by John Benson, a ’49er of the California Gold Rush and uncle of the famous American impressionist painter Winslow Homer. The estate boasts beautiful gardens as well as the first modern-built wine caves in North America. 1350 Acacia Drive, Napa. By appointment. 707.944.2861.

Hess Collection Winery

An intellectual outpost of art and wine housed in the century-old Christian Brother’s winery. Cab is the signature varietal. 4411 Redwood Road, Napa. Open daily, 10am&–4pm. 707.255.1144.

Rocca Family Vineyards

The California Vintner’s Club named Rocca’s 2004 Cab “the best of the best.” 1130 Main St., Napa. Open Monday&–Saturday, 1pm&–6pm. 707.257.8467.

Quixote

There is a sense of dignity to the colorful little castle that grows out of the landscape beneath the Stag’s Leap palisades, commensurate with the architect’s humanistic aspirations. 6126 Silverado Trail, Napa. By appointment. 707.944.2659.

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars

(WC) Their three estate-grown Cabs, are among the most highly regarded in the world. 5766 Silverado Trail, Napa. By appointment. 707.944.2020.

Trefethen Winery

Some critics claim Trefethen’s heyday was in the ’60s, but the winery proves them wrong with dependable, delicious wines. Trefethen is one of the oldest wineries in Napa. 1160 Oak Knoll Ave., Napa. Open daily, 11:30am&–4:30pm. 707.255.7700.

Truchard Vineyards

(WC) No matter how attentive you are to the directions, no matter how much you study the quaint, hand-drawn map found online, no matter how vigilantly you watch the street addresses numerically climb along Old Sonoma Road, you will inevitably miss Truchard Vineyards. What follows is a three-point turn on a blind, two-lane road, with a single thought in your head: “This wine had better be worth the insurance deductible.” But with Cabernet this good, it’s worth the deductible. 3234 Old Sonoma Road, Napa. By appointment. 707.253.7153.

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Farmers as

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Farmers as

07.23.08


flat-out adulation

Magazine and newsprint writing about farmers these days has all the oh-my-God! swoon of a CosmoGirl blogger catching the Jonas Brothers shopping for boxer shorts. Simply put, there is nothing hotter than a farmer right now. Growing food, not unwrapping it from some hermetic plastic shell, is suddenly hip and sexy—perhaps for the first time since Laura Ingalls met Almanzo Wilder. And what is sexier and hipper than being the very purveyor of said hipness itself? Indeed.

We’ve decided not to hide behind any meek tip-toe about our farmer adoration and to just straight out treat them like the rock stars they are. Accordingly, we’ve asked them the kind of inane questions that are inevitably posed to pale-limbed, heroin-chic guitarists. Not surprisingly, their answers are smart, funny and, most of all, fresh.

Star-struck reporters here are Suzanne Daly, Patricia Lynn Henley and Cassandra Landry.

—Gretchen Giles

Brandon Pugh & Brian Riva
Sol Food Farm

Biggest Hit: “Dry-farm tomatoes. We water once and walk away. The plants reach for deeper water. The tomatoes have a tougher skin, but they’re sweeter. You have to be wearing socks when you eat them, because they’ll knock them off.”

First Pick Up Your Instrument? Brandon Pugh: “I grew up in Arkansas. My mom had a backyard garden. I remember her shelling peas on the newspapers. I got into gardening right outside of high school.”

Brian Riva: “My family grew our own food in New York’s Hudson Valley, near Clinton’s Corners. I remember picking apples.”

Worst Review: “Gophers! I speared one today with a pole. They’re a pain in the neck. They’re crazy. Not only do they eat our plants, I hate stepping in their holes.”

Biggest Surprise: “That’s a tough one. The strawberries. I was surprised how big they were. They were as big as a baby’s hand. I had a strawberry that took three bites to eat—it was a three-biter.”

Best Acoustic Performance: “Strawberries. We can’t keep them longer than two hours in the market. They sell out. You can’t stop eating them. They rock.”

4388 Harrison Grade Road, Sebastopol. 707.874.2300. [ http://www.solfoodfarm.org.%20%3C/i%3E%D1S.D ]www.solfoodfarm.org. —S.D.


Nancy Skall
Middleton Farms

Biggest Hit: “Berries. Especially strawberries.” (A customer interrupts and says enthusiastically, “They’re red through and extremely flavorful. Chez Panisse and Aqua restaurants buy them from her.”)

First Pick Up Your Instrument? “We had a victory garden during World War II, but we didn’t work it ourselves. We had a gardener. My father was a lawyer and commuted, and my mom had no interest in gardening. I was about 11 or 12 years old; I did the flowers. My mom thought that I was a genius because I planted zinnias so thick that they looked like shrubs. She thought that it was a miracle that anything would come out of that patch since we lived outside of Chicago. I also planted iris and petunias.”

Worst Review: Skall laughs. “I have so many I don’t know where to start. I hate talking about negative things. I’d much rather celebrate. I have peach trees that die all the time, sometimes at one year, sometimes at 25 years. I’m much more in favor of good news.”

Biggest Surprise: “Oh gosh, I live in the moment. I can’t think of any.” (The interviewer suggests, as an example, finding 10 gophers dead without doing anything to kill them.) Skall laughs. “I’d go for that fantasy anytime.”

Best Acoustic Performance: “Asparagus. I don’t eat between meals, but the young fronds are delicious. If I find them in the garden, I’ll have a little midday snack.”

2651 Westside Road, Healdsburg. 707.433.4755. —S.D.

Jesus Soto
Oak Hill Farm

Biggest Hit: “I don’t have a favorite. I pretty much love all of my flowers. I think all of the flowers that I grow can be my favorite. Foodwise, when there’s corn in the field, I like that. I like to see the corn growing, and my mouth waters when it’s ready. Corn has been a part of my life all my life.”

First Pick Up Your Instrument? Jesus “Chuy” Soto started with Oak Hill working backstage as a handyman. “I did all kinds of repairs on the farm, from roofing to plumbing to maintenance.” But nurturing the soil was in his blood. “I grew up on a farm in Mexico. Ever since I can remember, I grew things—crops, beans, corn, hay. I grew things for the family, not as a business, but nevertheless, it was year after year. I knew something about how to prepare the soil, things like that.” In 1997, Chuy was tapped for a lead role with the farm’s beautiful blossoms, and he’s been starring with the flowers ever since.

Worst Review: “There are always times when germination is poor, when you plant and something happens. Like in springtime when it rains a lot, and germination is poor. You have to wait a month or so until the soil dries out, and then you have to start over.”

Best Acoustic Performance: It’s all acoustic for Soto. “We’re an organic farm. The preparation of the soil starts in the fall. When the season is done, we cover the field. The cover crop is a mixture of barley, vetch, oats. Flowers don’t need as much to grow as other crops. I think vegetable growers use more organic fertilizers. I don’t use much, or any. I just use cover crops in the fields, and in some of the lower fertility fields, I use some compost.”

The Red Barn at Oak Hill Farm, 15101 Sonoma Hwy., Glen Ellen. 707.996.6643. [ http://www.oakhillfarm.net%3C/i%3E.%D1P.L.H ]www.oakhillfarm.net.—P.L.H.

Brother and sister farmers
Lee and Wayne James
Tierra Vegetables

Biggest Hit Lee: “Strawberries or tomatoes are our bestsellers, but they don’t necessarily grow the best because they’re so dependant on the weather. It used to be the chipotles, but that’s during the winter.”

Wayne: “It’s the tomatoes. No contest.”

First Pick Up Your Instrument? Wayne: “I remember first growing sweet peppers and sunflowers. I loved sunflowers and I still do, and plant them all the time! They’re so impressive. I loved how completely yellow they were as a kid.”

Lee: “I was very into flowers. We always had some around in the house.”

Worst Review Lee: “I once planted an entire two acres of winter squash while Wayne was away with the Peace Corps. It was all seeded and beautiful and sprouting. I went down three or four days later and it was completely bare. The deer had gotten all of it! There wasn’t a piece of greenery left. I just remember staring at it and sobbing.”

Best Acoustic Performance Lee: “Strawberries. Those are definitely the best. Maybe tomatoes, like cherry tomatoes, but strawberries win each time for me.”

Wayne: “Oh yes, strawberries, of course, but carrots can be great, too. You gotta wipe off the grit a little, but it’s worth it.”

Day Job? Lee: “I’d be a dog trainer. I love animals.”

Wayne: “I honestly can’t think of anything else I would rather be doing than what we do here. It’s who I am, completely.”

651 Airport Blvd., Santa Rosa. Open Tuesday and Thursday&–Saturday, 11am&–6pm. 707.837.8366. —C.L.


Robert Stogner
Nelsen Ranch

Biggest Hit: “Potatoes. I grow 22 varieties including Purple Peruvian, Yukon, German, Butter Ball and Swedish Peanut, which is a fingerling peanut-shaped potato. I also grow an acre of popcorn, and two acres of winter squash.”

First Pick Up Your Instrument? “Grandma planted a garden in five-gallon buckets. My grandpa was a miner in Sierra County, and the soil was too rocky to plant in. I helped my grandma grow tomatoes, cucumbers and lemon cucumbers. It was the first time I had ever seen a lemon cucumber.”

Worst Review: “None so far, except weeds. And gophers!”

Biggest Surprise: “That’s a good one. I’m never surprised. I guess off-the-wall garlic. An old guy in Occidental gave me some garlic, including Blue Ukrainian and Pink Music. I started with three heads and ended up with 10 pounds each.” (The interview is interrupted by a woman asking, “How do you plant them?” Stogner answers, “Just shove ’em in the ground.”)

Best Acoustic Performance: “Red Torpedo onions. I love ’em, I love ’em.” He laughs. “Try ’em. You’ll love ’em. They even taste good on an onion sandwich!”

Nelsen Ranch, P.O. Box 22, Tomales. 707.762.1562. —S.D.

Heron Fox-Whiteside
Heron Fox Farm

Biggest Hit: “I specialize in native plants, medicinal herbs and mushrooms such as oysters, shiitake and mitake.”

First Pick Up Your Instrument? “I first started growing carnivorous plants when I was 12 years old. It was the classic little-boy fascination of bug-eating plants. I hand-pollinated and hybridized them, and started propagating them from seed. That led to propagating native plants.

Worst Review: “I lived in Monte Rio and had grown carnivorous plants for three years. When I was 15 years old in 1995, a flood came and washed my whole greenhouse away. All my unique plants grown from hand-pollinated seeds were gone. I gave up plants for a few years after that.”

Biggest Surprise: “My biggest surprise is getting rare plants to germinate, like redwood lilies from field-collected seed.”

 

Best Acoustic Performance: “Huckleberries and gooseberries—but I don’t sell the fruit, I only sell the plants.”

Heron Fox Farm, Cazadero. 707.847.3320. Call for appointments.—S.D. 

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Green Guru

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Green Guru

07.23.08


The shades are drawn in Trathen Heckman’s sparsely furnished parlor, and a warm sleepy light gives the room an otherworldly softness. Dressed in a baseball cap, baggy shorts and sneakers, Heckman is at once youthful and wise, composed and energized. In fact, he is the picture of a man who conquers uncertainty and insecurity with vision, creativity and direction.

This sacred balance enables Heckman, 37, to juggle a multitude of jobs and responsibilities, among them directing Daily Acts, an organization that pours forth the message, “You and everything you do matters.” The goal of Daily Acts is to inspire and instill a reverence and active commitment to life, the earth and human relationships in a culture that Heckman says stresses lack and insufficiency. Every little action is crucial.

“It’s literally the difference between a world that’s being killed and that’s dying and the world that’s being born,” Heckman says. “You could just walk down the street and see nothing but problems, or you could walk down the street and see the solutions—lavender with bees all over them, food, medicine, wonder!”

Transforming words into reality are the “sustainability tours,” traveling workshops hosted by Daily Acts. These half-day tours take participants, via green transport, to what Heckman terms various “bright spots” in the North Bay where sustainable solutions are happening and working for regular people. Teaching everything from how to create your own natural, nontoxic wall finish to biodynamic composting, the Sustainability Series runs from March to October, with a brief break in the winter.

“You could read about it,” Heckman explains, “but you need to go out there and have someone stick edible flowers in your mouth and say, ‘Here, smell this rose geranium, you can make tea out of it.'”

The tragedies of Sept. 11 and the subsequent death of his mother drove the Chico State graduate and former professional snowboarder to take his first drastic actions in 2001. “The hurt of those two situations and some other aspects catalyzed me to step up in some way,” he says. “And that’s when I published the first issue of Ripples, did the first sustainability tour.”

Ripples Journal, an independent print publication currently reaching some 6,000 people, carries a joyful yet beseeching tone. Published twice yearly, each issue addresses the positive aspects of daily life and implores readers to live brilliantly and conscientiously.

Though content with the nonfiscal rewards of his work, Heckman acknowledges that even revolutionaries have to support themselves. “We’ve done a lot on very small finances, because we’ve been so supported by the community,” Heckman says.”Two hundred&–plus people volunteering close to 30,000 hours over the last five or six years. But you still gotta pay the bills.”

His commitment is beginning to pay off. Last year, Heckman began taking a part-time paycheck from Daily Acts after volunteering about 50 hours a week. He also took on directing Green Sangha, the second nonprofit to come under his wing. Described by Heckman as “spiritually engaged environmental action,” Green Sangha is a community that combines spiritual practice with environmental activism.

The Petaluma home Heckman shares with his wife, Mary, is a sustainability site in itself, from the earth plaster walls in his home to the graywater system and rain catchment tank in the backyard, all of which the Heckmans constructed with the help of community. A beehive produces a regular bounty of honey, and bottles of homemade brew are concocted with hops from Heckman’s own Humulus bine. With his energy and knowledge, he is inspiring proof that one individual can embody his or her beliefs in both word and deed. 

“It’s a strategy,” he says. “If we just keep inspiring and infecting each other back and forth, and knowing that the little bits are extremely vital.”

Walking outside, Heckman plucks a leaf from a rose geranium plant and sticks it under my nose. Heavenly. I marvel at a baby banana plant, the peas climbing up the fence on recycled metal, the cherry and apple trees. He fills my hands with strawberries, raspberries, herbs and a scone his wife made with blueberries from the backyard.

When it’s time to say goodbye, my senses are dizzy. Stepping out of Heckman’s garden feels like walking into another dimension. A gas station sign sneers in the sunlight—$4.51 per gallon—and my heart sinks. I think about the lack, the insufficiency. Then I notice the sweet smell of rose geraniums on my fingertips, and I remember the beautiful new world that right now is being born.

For more information about Daily Acts, ‘Ripples Journal’ or the Sustainability Tours, visit [ http://www.daily-acts.org/ ]www.daily-acts.org.

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Bring on the Figgy Beers

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Bring on the Figgy Beers

07.23.08


Summer has arrived and fresh figs are back. We never doubted they’d return, of course. In early summer, the first crop of this uniquely twice-per-year fruit arrives, black, brown, yellow or green, and all as sweet as jam.

But never would we have expected that two craft breweries this year would release an oddity fig beer. Yet with the onset of the summer of 2008, we find on retail shelves Avery Brewing Company’s Fifteen and Schmaltz Brewing Company’s Rejewvenator (“the Chosen Beer”), each brewed this spring with dried California Mission figs. Commercial fig beers are about as rare as beer styles come. Adam Avery, namesake founder of the family brewery in Boulder, Colo., believes that figs are overlooked as beer recipe elements due to their profoundly subdued flavors; they are subtly complex, much less tart than berries, cherries or apricots and almost entirely void of aroma.

Yet Avery notes that dried fig nuances regularly appear in strong, dark ales. “People often say that a beer is ‘figgy’ or has a ‘fig complexity,’ and I just decided, why not throw them right in?”

Avery’s Fifteen was brewed with spices, herbs and Brettanomyces yeast, known for leaving a sour barnyard pungency. The beer comes as a celebration of the brewery’s 15th anniversary and was meant to be a particularly “weird beer,” Avery says. Brewed to 7.7 percent ABV, Fifteen appears a light pink amber, care of the hibiscus flour petals in the recipe, and smells as bright and fresh as an herb garden—with a vibrant livestock aroma and just a teasing trace of horse. The fig flavor hides very furtively beneath and invites the most attuned palates to give this ripe, tangy brew a try. Pair it with a fresh barley salad.

Schmaltz’s Rejewvenator features the fig as a quasi-serious ecclesiastical symbol of new life and spirituality, with the 22-ounce bottle riddled with Holy Book quotes and historical references to the fig. A Belgian Dubbel-Doppelbock hybrid, Rejewvenator is a robust, big-boned animal of 7.8 percent ABV, which could stand proudly on a table spread with the Old World’s richest cheeses. Brewed with 400 gallons of fig purée in the kettle, the beer is heavy, woody, dark and sticky with fudge. Its creamy, candy body is underlaid with a rich complexities of many shades, like caramel, dried apricots, prunes, vanilla, hazelnut, raisins and dates. Far back on the finish, distantly, perhaps, there may even be some fig.

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Seeds of Love

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Seeds of Love

07.23.08

Tucked away amid sprawling lawns, a lily-pad-bedecked moat and the scattered shadows of trees in Juilliard Park, Alan Bartl and Andrea Pellicani’s community garden twinkles modestly in the sunlight. Its first seedlings popped up this May, and now the garden looks healthy and young, with bees zooming happily among plants. But this little plot of land isn’t the extraordinary couple’s only responsibility.

Until now, the city of Santa Rosa would periodically spray the pesticide Roundup throughout Juilliard Park. Living literally across the street, the couple was concerned about their own health, as well as that of other residents and park-goers. “The city has a huge amount of acreage to take care of,” Pellicani says, “and they don’t have time to convert to alternative methods.”

The couple petitioned, asking the city to end the spraying, and the city agreed to stop as long as Bartl and Pellicani committed to weeding and mulching parts of the park on a regular basis. In a truly remarkable move, the city also gave them permission to set up a small garden plot, providing them with tools, water, soil and irrigation supplies. “They were really supportive,” Bartl says. Juilliard Park is now the first no-spray sustainable park in Santa Rosa.

Currently, about five people have their own plots in the garden, and about 10 people volunteer in the park on a regular basis. A 14-by-14-square-foot space costs $20 a year plus a commitment to put in two to three hours a month of volunteer work. Bartl and Pellicani, who call their group of gardeners and volunteers “Friends of Juilliard Park,” point out the different plants rising triumphantly from the soil; pineapple sage, potatoes, tomatoes, melon, mint, zucchini, pepper and cucumbers are just a few of the crops already flourishing.

The only objections to Bartl and Pellicani’s labors so far have been neighbors complaining about weeds in the park. Believe it or not, they want the spray. “They want it sterile,” Pellicani says. But in spite of these protests, Friends of Juilliard Park plans to expand the garden, introduce native plants and bring more people into the gardening community. “We want,” Bartl says, “to take back the park.”

Juilliard Park, 227 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa. 707.525.8673.

Garden Varieties

A number of community gardens are also breaking ground across the North Bay. Stop by any of them to indulge your green thumb or engage in some communal eco-friendly activity.

Harvest for the Hungry Garden relies exclusively on volunteer labor, delivering hundreds of pounds of organically grown produce each week to several programs. The garden consists of 28 raised beds of organic produce, all watered with drip irrigation. 1717 Yulupa Ave., Santa Rosa. 707.566.7937.

Healdsburg Community Garden features elevated beds for handicapped individuals, courses and demonstrations, a compost area, storage shed for tools and other equipment, community bulletin board and 30 plots, each measuring 25-by-30 inches. A garden plot costs $50 per year. Badger Park off Heron Drive, Healdsburg. 707.431.3301.

Larkspur Community Garden invites the public to learn about mulching and watering, discover new gardening techniques, share harvests and build community in an ongoing year-round opportunity. 400 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur. 415.927.6746.

Mill Valley Community Garden produces organic vegetables and plants, and supplies food for the local farmers/gardeners market. Families and individuals are invited to get a plot. 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley. 415.383.1370.

Napa Nest Giving Garden will grow herbs, vegetables and flowers for those in need and anyone who contributes to the garden’s development. The space features a cool cactus garden, a picnic area and a community veggie patch. 1019 Atlas Peak Road, Napa. 707.255.7484.

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center hosts “Volunteer Wednesdays” in which members of the public are invited to drop by between 10am and 5pm to help in the garden. A vegetarian lunch is served at 12:30pm. Courses, tours and other programs are also offered. 15290 Coleman Valley Road, Occidental. 707.874.1557, ext. 201.

Sonoma Garden Park provides access to land for agriculture, education about sustainable agriculture and landscaping, local food security and community interaction. Volunteer days are Wednesday and Friday from 4pm to 6pm and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm. 19990 Seventh St. E., Sonoma. 707.996.0712, ext. 120.

 

Sunflower Urban Community Garden hosts programs that provide training, education, food products and even employment to attending youth and families. Corner of Seventh and A streets, Santa Rosa. 707.543.3457.

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Blue to the Bone

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Blue to the Bone

music & nightlife |

It’s a Guy Thing Almost 72, Buddy Guy this year released the album truest to his heart, ‘Skin Deep.’

By David Sason

Despite his hard-drinking, hypermasculine persona—a hulking physical presence, guitar licks that singe, a voice like a wolf and a huge mouth ready to bite your head off—George Thorogood is pretty modest. “My writing ability is very limited, as is my singing ability,” says the longtime purveyor of raucous blues rock, who plays the Marin Center with Buddy Guy on July 30. “As far as my songwriting ability—what limited ability I have—it’s just about used up. How many more Chuck Berry/Elmore James/Bo Diddley things can I do without making it a joke?”

According to Thorogood, there’s “genius” and also “clever.” And for him, there’s no such thing as self-delusion. “I’m not Bob Dylan, where I know I’m going to work the rest of my life,” he admits. “I only got two or three licks in me, and as far as my vocals go, let’s face it, I’m no Aretha Franklin.”

This type of brutal honesty is jarring, sure. But Thorogood sees it as the way of the world. “There are actors like Marlon Brando and there are actors like Bridget Fonda,” he claims, “but Bridget knows what she’s good at.” And by mastering his own expertise, no matter how limited, Thorogood has been one of the most consistent American performers since he and the Destroyers emerged from Delaware in the early ’70s. He and his band still play to packed houses, delivering airtight sets of raunchy, barroom classics like his abrasive cover of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love” and “Bad to the Bone,” his universal hit.

It’s not like modest chart success bothers the ever-humble Thorogood. “A guy once asked me, ‘How does it feel to be a one-hit wonder?'” he recalls, “and I said, ‘A lot better than being a no-hit wonder.'” Possessing a refreshing sense of old-school professionalism, he’s happy to play fan favorites like “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” even if his peers begrudge the obligation. “Steve Miller and John Fogerty, I see those guys periodically and they say, ‘I don’t want to play my hits, I want to get creative,’ and I say, ‘Why?'” Thorogood says. “If a promoter came up to me and said, ‘I don’t want you playing anything off your last five records,’ I’d say, ‘Great! How much do you want to pay me?'”

Thorogood’s levelheaded work ethic has stemmed from a fear of “getting fired” since his teenage years, but it’s also just reality. “The level of competition for entertainment now is sky-high,” he says. “You can’t just be good anymore. You can’t even be very good—you have to be great, all the time, every night.”

This refreshing desire to please his audience naturally extends to his opinion of releasing new albums, an act to which he’s grown increasingly reluctant. “I went to see Paul McCartney live, and nobody wanted to hear his new stuff,” he remembers. “Are you a fan of the Rolling Stones? Do you really think they need another album? I’m just gonna play live, baby.”

Although one last album is on its way, don’t expect it to reveal anything new about Thorogood. “I never said, ‘I went through this really bad divorce or my father passed away and I wrote this song,'” he says. “I share pleasure, but I keep the pain to myself.”

Chicago blues master Buddy Guy, on the other hand, has made a fruitful career of bringing pleasure through the expression of pain. And the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer—who unwittingly taught a young Hendrix his stage tricks and bridged the gap between blues and rock—is loving the studio, thanks to the just-released Skin Deep. “This is the most excited I’ve been about an album in quite a while,” Guy says of the new album, his very first fully comprising original material. “Even the first time Muddy Waters ever asked me to play with him, I don’t know if I was as excited about that as I am this.”

While not a confessional songwriter in the traditional sense, Guy calls Skin Deep his most personal record yet, continuing the back-to-roots trend of 2001’s Sweet Tea. The songs are largely informed by his upbringing in Lettsworth, La., including the poignant anti-racism title track. It was inspired by his memories of a white childhood friend whom he was forced to stop playing with around age 13. “We used to have a flashlight, and at night we would shine it through our hands,” he recalls, “and all we saw was red.”

While some may think the song is timely considering Obama’s candidacy, they’d be wrong. “I didn’t have the slightest idea I’d live to see a . . . I’m not going to call him African American or black, because he’s not,” Guy says, practicing what he preaches. “He’s as much white as he is black.”

Throughout his career, though, Guy has found observance to be his greatest source of creative inspiration. “You could be working construction and hear someone say something and turn it into a song,” he says. “You don’t have to live a bad life to write a good blues song, but you probably know someone who did go through it, even if you didn’t.”

Guy turns 72 the day of the upcoming Marin Center show, yet the desire to make Skin Deephad nothing to do with impending mortality. “I’ve wanted to do that from Jump Street,” he says. “Fifty-one years ago, I wanted to do it, but I didn’t have any power.” Shady business methods turned him off to the process in a big way. “Even if I wrote a song in the Chess [Records] days, my name wouldn’t even be on some of these songs,” Guy says. “Like, someone would come in and say ‘Skin Deep’ is all right, but you should change it to ‘Skin Weep.’ Then they’d claim the song.”

As an expert of spontaneous performance, Guy was also annoyed with producers’ constant tinkering. “There’s no time when you’re making a professional record and a producer’s telling you, ‘You sound too much like Tom, Dick and Harry,'” he insists. “When I was in the studio, I was being taught how to play, and I think you’re supposed to play what you already know.”

Like Thorogood, Guy still relishes playing live the most, although his wild-man antics are not what they once were. “You slow down when you get to 72 years old,” he says laughingly. “I can’t jump off the stage like I used to do, but I’ll still give you the best I got.” Judging from his scene-stealing turn last year in the Rolling Stones’ Shine a Light, he means it. It’s a good thing for us that true bluesmen never quit. “I don’t know no blues player who’s ‘retired,'” Guy says. “Blues players just drop.”

Buddy Guy and George Thorogood share a bill on Wednesday, July 30, at the Marin Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 8pm. $39–$75. 415.499.6800.




FIND A MUSIC REVIEW

Alternativo?

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Alternativo?

07.23.08

Ozomatli, the 10-member, L.A.-based, multi-ethnic music collective, create an appealing genre confusion; well over half of their material comes from traditional Latin styles sung in Spanish, with a slight remainder of funky conscious rap. Yet their biggest audience is the segment of the alt-rock crowd that views global tolerance as a punk ideal. In this particular rock aesthetic, it’s a cool, intriguing plus to have a Japanese band member who plays both Indian tabla and Caribbean percussion.

Ozomatli won Grammy awards in 2002 and 2004 for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album, but until recently, the iTunes music store mistakenly listed their heavily Latin 2004 disc Street Signs as “hip-hop.” Oddly enough, iTunes caught on late, initially listing Ozomatli’s recent and most eclectic pop-rock disc, 2007’s Don’t Mess with the Dragon, as “Latin.” Now iTunes simply slaps Ozomatli with the semi-appropriate and ethnic-sounding label “Alternativo.”

If there’s an argument to be made that genre mash-ups are essential to the rock tradition, Don’t Mess with the Dragon is it. Here, on the fifth disc, the band realizes its promise with an organic, integrated, upbeat pop sound in which hip-hop isn’t merely the lone spice in a Latin stew. Instead, the band creates a fully detailed yet easy-going brand of horn-filled West Coast funk that builds on reggaeton, classic R&B and hard rock. “City of Angels” sounds just like Kid Rock, while “Here We Go” is some sort of Chinese electro-reggae. “After Party” brings pure good vibes via Stax/Volt soul, while “Magnolia Soul” is Long Beach OG funk screaming for a Snoop Dogg cameo. “When I Close My Eyes” covers catchy emo-punk, while “Violeta” comes as an exquisite canciones-style ballad.

Ozomatli are known for progressive activism—such as supporting striking workers, the L.A. Peace and Justice Center, and music education programs—but they also create fun. Their recent music video of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” with its honking saxophone and Dodgers shout-outs, placed in the top three in ESPN’s contest celebrating the 100th anniversary of baseball’s greatest tune [the Dodgers still suck—ed.].

The band brings their genre-blending sense of community tradition to the Sonoma County Fair on Tuesday, July 29, at the Redwood Theater. 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. 7pm. Free with fair admission; $15 reserved seats available. 707.545.4200.


North Bay Brewpubs

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North Bay Brewpubs

07.23.08

Beer doesn’t grow in bottles. It grows in vast sky-high steel tanks visible from the freeway that generate soulless brewskies by the billion, light, cheap and abundant. But we also have a happy medium, where beer is tended to by men and women with names, homes, cell phone plans and all the other poignancies that make people human—and there is nothing quite like drinking these folks’ beer right over the bar from the brewer to you.

In the North Bay market, Russian River Brewing Co. bulls the beer. Captained by brewer Vinnie Cilurzo, who invented the double IPA in 1994 while brewing in San Diego, RRBC’s eight to 10 beers can be found on tap, including the famed Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig, each now available in bottles at retailers, if the pub’s too lively for you. 725 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707.545.2337.

Bear Republic Brewing Co., a rising star in the national bottled beer market, still offers a dozen or more beers on tap to its loyal followers, along with appetizers and comfy pub food to soak it up. Three-ounce tastes run $1.25 each, but those short on belly room might go straight to the barrel-aged Black Mamba Belgian, the creamy-topped Black Raven Porter and the Hop Rod Rye. 345 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. 707.433.2337.

Downstream, Stumptown Brewery and Smokehouse toes the brewpub club with a pair of its own house-made beers, while well-known brews from other locals fill in the blanks. 15045 River Road, Guerneville. 707.869.0705.

In Fairfax, shady front seating and passing trays of pub grub make Iron Springs Pub and Brewery a tough one to walk past. The tasting paddle of six three-ounce samples ($7) is the best route toward seeking a favorite. 765 Center Blvd., Fairfax. 415.485.1005.

Locals in Petaluma get their drink on at Dempsey’s Restaurant and Brewery all year as pale, Irish, wheat, red and strong ales—plus the Ugly Dog Stout—flow from the taps. A shaded patio over the river makes that fourth pint seem like a fine idea on hot days. 50 E Washington St., Petaluma. 707.765.9694.

Marin Brewing Co. entered the beer market in 1989 with an unfamiliar liquid called “microbrew,” and the public took the bait and swallowed it gladly. Bluebeery, Stinson Beach Peach and Raspberry Trail Ale are current highlights. 1809 Larkspur Landing, Larkspur. 415.461.4677.

Marin Brew’s brother in business, Moylan’s Restaurant and Brewery, was spawned in 1995, and a comparable lineup of brews and grub heads the bill. A current pomegranate wheat is enjoying life as the star of summer. 15 Rowland Way, Novato. 415.897.0100.

Third Street Aleworks runs the rainbow on beers, from the English-style pale to the bright raspberry wheat to the pitch-black oatmeal stout, and a dozen in between. 610 Third St., Santa Rosa. 707.523.3060.

Around the corner in the Napa Valley, where wine runs like water, there is relief. Step into Silverado Brewing Co., and the wine-heavy barometer drops like a rock. Light beers dominate the summer menu, but for their recent eighth anniversary, the brewers stewed up a rearing and ready barrel-aged barleywine. This beast’s still kicking, so hold on to your wine glass. 3020 St. Helena Hwy., St. Helena. 707.967.9876.

Wine tasters can also try a change of tipple at Napa Valley Brewing Co., located at the Calistoga Inn Restaurant and Brewery. Here, several light beers, a porter and a red ale soak in the summer, but as winter nears, watch the tap list, for brewer Brad Smisloff plans to stir up a cold-weather special, perhaps an imperial stout. 1250 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. 707.942.4101.

Fresh: The Napa Smith Brewery just opened in the old sake brewery off Highway 29 and conducts tours Monday-Friday. 1 Executive Way, Napa. 707.603.2906.

Quick dining snapshots by Bohemian staffers.

Winery news and reviews.

Food-related comings and goings, openings and closings, and other essays for those who love the kitchen and what it produces.

Recipes for food that you can actually make.

Snake Oil?

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Snake Oil?

07.23.08

In the olive oil market, not everything is as green as it seems. Much of the “extra virgin” oil with which Americans cook is nothing better than cheap nut oil blended with low-grade olive oil, coloring and artificial flavors. Most of this fraudulent product comes from overseas, most notably, from Italy.

But in California, where olive oil production is currently exploding like the big bang, the industry is closely watched and regulated by the California Olive Oil Council (COOC) based in Berkeley, and many producers consider the young local industry to be the most reliable source of true and untarnished extra virgin olive oil in the world.

Spain currently leads the world’s industry in production volume, generating 35 percent of all olive oil. While the United States produces less than 1 percent of the globe’s total, the California olive oil market is growing freakishly fast. This fall, the state’s 14,000 acres of trees will produce some 750,000 gallons of oil, surpassing France’s production. Within five years, it is projected that California’s production will leap to 5 million gallons. Experts predict a conservative figure of 20 million gallons by 2020. The bulk of the influx is occurring in the Central Valley, but many North Bay growers are creating artisanal products worth their weight in green gold.

The California Olive Ranch in Oroville controls approximately one-third of the state’s oil production, according to vice president of sales and marketing Alan Greene. Such consolidation of business could be a good thing in terms of wide-scale quality control; Greene himself is president of the COOC, and his olive oils are as bitter, fruity and pungent as the most discerning tasting panel could ask for.

Overseas, the European Union and the International Olive Council (IOC) share the job of governing quality control within Italy, other EU nations and other member countries of the IOC, which include nations in Africa, the Middle East and the Southern Hemisphere. However, no governing body exerts adequate control over olive oil exports, and untested products regularly go out the door dressed as “extra virgin” olive oil. Just as readily, the FDA does not test incoming olive oil as it heads to shelves across the country.

“Extra virgin” is a measure of an oil’s purity and quality. The COOC’s system of identifying and certifying extra virgin olive oil is modeled closely after the IOC’s system, in which an oil’s “defects” are definitive properties, not matters of opinion. Most defects come from mistreatment of the olives, and trained tasters can detect whether the olives were exposed to dirt, manure or grease during harvest, transport and processing.

The olives may also be bruised during harvest, which facilitates fermentation. Fermentation also results from fruit fly infestation, exposure to water or mold growth. Fermentation, in turn, produces free fatty acid, detectable both by lab analysis and by taste (the pro tasters call the flavor “winey”). The COOC limits extra virgin olive oil to an acid level of 0.5 percent or less. The IOC is slightly less stringent, enforcing a 0.8 percent limit.

On the other end of the spectrum, olive oils of more that 3.3 percent free fatty acid cannot legally be sold for human consumption in Europe, though some hustlers are known to flavor this so-called lamp oil, or lampante, with beta-carotene, color it with chlorophyll, falsely label it and market it as extra virgin.  An oil’s peroxide level, a measure of oxidation, and its ultraviolet value, which indicates light damage, must also meet standard minimums to qualify as extra virgin.

Even Italians guzzle the fake stuff, according to Maurizio Bogoni, head agronomist at Ruffino Winery in Tuscany. Ruffino and other Italian estate growers cannot sufficiently supply the nation’s oil consumption, and thus Italy relies on imports from Turkey, Morocco, Spain and elsewhere. The shipments frequently arrive as old, soggy, unprocessed olives, which in turn produce oils ranging from flavorless to rancid, though adulteration adequately hides these defects from the average consumer, who is easily convinced by TV and magazine ads that many big-business oil swindlers are honest producers, says Bogoni.

And there have been two high-profile busts of adulterated Italian olive oil just this year, with police raiding a factory in March and arresting 23 people; in April, some 40 Italians were taken in after police determined that seven olive oil plants were utilizing fraudulent practices.

In the U.S., imported oil labeled as extra virgin may run five to 10 bucks per liter, but experts contend that olive oil is too difficult and costly to produce to allow for such low prices; such “deals” are merely shams, they say. Most true extra virgin olive oils from Italy run $20 to $40 for a half- to one-liter bottle. California Olive Ranch sells its half-liters for $11.99. Stockton’s Bozzano Olive Ranch sells the same size for $16 to $22.

Sorelle Paradiso, a Mill Valley producer that crushes Central Valley fruit, sells its organic extra virgin oils at $35 to $48 per half-liter bottle. Farms like Petaluma’s McEvoy Ranch and Hollister’s Pietra Santa Winery, whose bright and pungent organic blend runs $35 for a half-liter, hand-pick their olives. But the industry is trending toward mechanization.

Nurstech, an agricultural development corporation with three bases in the Central Valley, is leading the way in developing a system called super high density, or SHD, farming. While common groves accommodate 150 to 200 trees per acre, SHD groves may bear 700 to 1,000 trees per acre. The trees are grown in shrub form to allow for harvesting with an industrial harvester. This tree-shaking machine straddles the rows as it goes and can be operated by two people at a rate of a tree every two seconds. Super high density farming eliminates 90 percent of manual human labor, say advocates. Nurstech marketing rep Jeffers Richardson says that until now, high labor costs have precluded the development of the domestic olive oil industry, but SHD technology will change that.

“The whole idea is we can use two people to harvest an entire acre in 40 minutes,” he explains. “This means we can produce more volume in less time, and ultimately it will lead to more economical prices.”

However, SHD production could lead to a homogenous industry, as only three varieties of olive—Koroneiki, Arbequina and Arbosana—can be grown in dwarf form.

In spite of the trend toward mechanization, there will always be a place for the artisans, Richardson assures. In fact, the California industry may depend on them.

“We need the romance of the small-scale producer making excellent artisan olive oil,” he says, “but to bring olive oil to more people we need to mechanize and develop the industry at a larger scale.”

Hand-harvesters deserve credit, as olive oil production is a painfully slow process. Olive trees may produce a gallon of oil per tree each season, though many produce no more than a liter, says Paul Ferrari, owner of A.G. Ferrari Foods, an importer of artisanal Italian products. To ensure A.G. Ferrari’s product quality, Ferrari visits each of his producer’s farms, ranches and orchards at least once a year.

“If they have 1,200 trees and they’re offering you x amount of oil, it’s easy to know if it’s for real or not,” says Ferrari, who has seen fraud in the orchards first-hand. In one instance, a farm that had recently lost all its trees to a severe frost was offering Ferrari “estate” olive oil which could only have been sourced elsewhere, he says.

Consumers commonly believe Italian extra virgin olive oil to be the best in the world, but Joe Bozzano, whose family comes from Liguria and Tuscany, believes that Californian oils are perfectly excellent.

“I think a lot of it is just the tradition, the romance and the history of Italy that gives it a premium over anything else when you can print it on the bottle,” he says. “It’s that whole Under the Tuscan Sun thing, but I would certainly put the high-end California oils up against the best in the world.”

Regulations in olive oil marketing are growing tighter, and the days may be numbered for olive oil hustlers. The USDA has released for public comment a proposal that would allow producers abroad and domestically to submit their bottled oils for analysis. If deemed extra virgin by international standards, the product would receive a USDA-certified extra virgin stamp. Legally, other producers could still use the term, no matter how rank their oil.

In California, though, such mislabeling could become illegal if current legislation from State Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, becomes law. The bill, SB 634, would protect the term “extra virgin” and make the mislabeling of any olive oil being sold publicly within the state a breach of the law.

After so much talk, the question remains: Who cares if oil is extra virgin, especially if it takes a trained tasting panel and lab equipment to tell?

One reason is health. Extra virgin olive oils contain antioxidants and polyphenols, both of which increase longevity. Unique varietal variation in smell and taste is another. Some, for example, especially Arbequina oils, are buttery soft with traces of tropical fruit, while others, such as the Bozzano Tuscan blend, rake the throat with their pungency. But for some appreciators of fine things, consuming extra virgin olive oil is largely a matter of principle: There is bad coffee, bad beer and bad wine. There is also bad olive oil, and if you don’t know what you’re buying, you’re missing out.

DIY EVOO

A wine-dark flood drenches the state each year at crush time. It’s exciting, tourists love it, and it’s old news. But a lesser subsurface current that goes largely unseen is gaining speed and attention: olive oil. Though European, low-quality imports may be cheap and the color may be right, only at the Olive Press in Sonoma can one watch the making of the oil onsite and buy it one hour later—guaranteed extra virgin. The shop, founded in 1995 by olive growers Ed Stolman and Deborah Rogers, is a tasting bar and retailer, carrying some 10 olive oils alongside vinegars, tapenades, cured olives, ceramics, books and gift sets.

The Olive Press’ claim to fame, though, is its custom crush oil mill, the first such facility in Sonoma County when it opened. Since then, the Olive Press has gained a following among growers with trees but no oil-making machinery. During harvest time, in late fall and winter, the Olive Press may be busy milling fruit 24 hours a day, as growers who can manage the minimum crush-load of 800 pounds drop off their fruit by appointment and receive it again as oil within hours.

For the little people with just a few trees, “community press” day, scheduled this year for Nov. 30, offers hobbyists the chance to bottle their own estate olive oil. Participants may bring as little as a five-pound handful of olives or up to 300 pounds. The fruit is combined for a communal crush. The olives are hammered, the oatmeal-thick pulp centrifuged, the oil and particles layered out and the oil received in a large vat as a blend. Customers receive their oil at the same percentage by weight as the initial weight of their olives before processing.

The Olive Press bottles its own brand, as well. Sourcing several varieties from orchards around Northern California, the facility mills the olives into oil and stores it in barrels to maintain freshness. As inventory sells, the Olive Press staff bottles more oil as needed to keep shelves stocked with a fresh supply—all guaranteed extra virgin.  

“We’ve been saying for years, ‘Why buy olive oil from Europe when you don’t know how old it is, where it’s from or even what’s in it?'” says Rogers. “With us, you can watch us make it, taste it and buy it under one roof.”

The price may be right for Italian lamp oil, but the Olive Press offers patrons healthy, pungent and sudsy extra virgin oil from an operation as honest as the fruit that enters the press.

The Olive Press, 24724 Arnold Drive (Highway 121). Open daily. 707.939.8900. A new location for tasting and retail has also opened in Napa at the Oxbow Public Market, 610 First St., adjacent to COPIA. 707.226.2579.

Quick dining snapshots by Bohemian staffers.

Winery news and reviews.

Food-related comings and goings, openings and closings, and other essays for those who love the kitchen and what it produces.

Recipes for food that you can actually make.

Keeping It Local

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0
Keeping It Local

07.23.08

Tucked away off of a narrow country road in Sebastopol, First Light Farm is difficult to find. One must pass through a gate, over a bridge and climb a winding uphill path before seeing the first rows of crops and hoop houses rising high above the soil. But this seclusion seems to fit the magical serenity that hangs over the three-acre property.

Owner and master farmer Nathan Boone has a calm majesty about him as he moves among the products of his careful cultivation. Boone, who shares the workload with only his daughter and the foreman, looks tired and satisfied. He describes his farming as a constant exploration, discovery and learning process. For him, farming isn’t purely about producing food. “It’s about intention,” he says, “where you are putting your heart.”

Practicing sustainable methods and inspired by biodynamic agriculture originally propounded by Rudolf Steiner, Boone says farming is his way of connecting with the earth. “You can’t just write about it or talk about it,” he says. “You have to be in it, working with it.”

This communion is exactly what participants of community supported agriculture, or CSA, are looking for. Buying produce from local farmers allows consumers to connect to the food they eat, knowing it hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals, genetically modified or shipped from thousands of miles away. Pollution from diesel fuels and unnecessary packaging is prevented.

With a set number of customers, farmers are able to grow just the right amount without wasting crops, and members agree in advance to share the losses if a farm has a bad turnout. The majority of CSAs charge for a weekly full or half share of produce, sometimes providing the option of such “add-ons” as flowers, dairy products or specialty items like honey or jam for an additional charge. Some farms ask members to volunteer a certain amount of time on the farm in addition to paying the subscription fee.

Members have the thrill of never knowing what to expect each week, when a new box filled with fresh delicacies is delivered or picked up. Most CSA farms include an informative letter with each share along with different recipe ideas for the foods in the box. Subscribers bump into each other at pickup sites and form friendships, turning shopping into a pleasant communal gathering refreshingly unlike the rushed sterility of supermarkets.

Biting into a bright yellow Taxi tomato, Boone describes the difference in taste and quality as biologically and physically unexplainable. “It’s the feeling and reality of all the love that goes into it,” he says. “People can taste it somehow.”

Pay Dirt

Experience the delights of fresh organic produce at any of these local CSAs

Canvas Ranch Season, year-round. Two hundred shares. Full share, $28 per week (four-week minimum); half-season, $320 (three months of weekly deliveries, a 5 percent discount); full season, $570 (six months of weekly deliveries, a 15 percent discount). No volunteer work required. Deborah Walton, 755 Tomales Road, Petaluma. 707.766.7171.

First Light Farm Season from June through December. Fifty shares. Full share, $20 per week; half-share, $14 per week. No volunteer work required. Nathan Boone, Bollinger Lane, Sebastopol. 707.480.5346.

Laguna Farm Season, year-round. Four hundred fifty shares. Full share, $16 per week with $75 deposit, billed monthly. Additional charge for drop-site deliveries as well as fruit, bread and extra salad options. No volunteer work required. Scott Mathieson, 1764 Cooper Road, Sebastopol. 707.823.0823.

Orchard Farm Season, year-round. Twenty-five shares. Full share, $18 per week, prepaid monthly. No volunteer work required. Kenneth Orchard, 10951 Barnett Valley Road, Sebastopol. 707.823.6528.

Shea’s Organics Season from May through November. Twenty shares. Full share, $25 per week. No volunteer work required. Erin Shea, Tre Monte Lane, Healdsburg. 707.495.0727.

Sol Food Farm Season from June through November. Forty shares. Full share, $750 per year. Volunteer work required. Brandon Pugh, 4388 Harrison Grade Road, Sebastopol. 707.874.2300.

Tierra Vegetables Season from May through December. Two hundred shares. Full share, $20 per week. No volunteer work required. Evie Truxaw, Airport Boulevard, Santa Rosa. 707.837.8366.

Valley End Farm Season from March through December. Small box, $20 per week; large box, $25 per week. No volunteer work required. Sharon Grossi, 6300 Petaluma Hill Road, Santa Rosa. 707.585.1123.

Wild Rose Ranch Season from June through November. Twenty shares. Full share, $550 per season; half-share, $300 per season. No volunteer work required. Eleanor Hilmer, 5365 Sonoma Mountain Road, Santa Rosa. 707.545.6062.

Quick dining snapshots by Bohemian staffers.

Winery news and reviews.

Food-related comings and goings, openings and closings, and other essays for those who love the kitchen and what it produces.

Recipes for food that you can actually make.

North Bay Winery Listings

07.23.08Sonoma CountyNorth CountyAlexander Valley VineyardsAt family-run Alexander Valley Vineyards, the Wetzels serve as curators of local history, having restored Cyrus' original adobe and schoolhouse. 8644 Hwy. 128, Healdsburg. Tasting room open daily, 10am&–5pm. 707.433.7209.Arista WineryNothing big about the wine list: just style-driven, focused wines. 7015 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Tasting room open daily, 11am&–5pm. 707.473.0606.ArmidaThe wines are original, and there...
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Farmers as

07.23.08 flat-out adulationMagazine and newsprint writing about farmers these days has all the oh-my-God! swoon of a CosmoGirl blogger catching the Jonas Brothers shopping for boxer shorts. Simply put, there is nothing hotter than a farmer right now. Growing food, not unwrapping it from some hermetic plastic shell, is suddenly hip and sexy—perhaps for the first time since Laura...
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Green Guru

07.23.08The shades are drawn in Trathen Heckman's sparsely furnished parlor, and a warm sleepy light gives the room an otherworldly softness. Dressed in a baseball cap, baggy shorts and sneakers, Heckman is at once youthful and wise, composed and energized. In fact, he is the picture of a man who conquers uncertainty and insecurity with vision, creativity and direction.This...
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Bring on the Figgy Beers

07.23.08Summer has arrived and fresh figs are back. We never doubted they'd return, of course. In early summer, the first crop of this uniquely twice-per-year fruit arrives, black, brown, yellow or green, and all as sweet as jam. But never would we have expected that two craft breweries this year would release an oddity fig beer. Yet with the...
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Seeds of Love

07.23.08Tucked away amid sprawling lawns, a lily-pad-bedecked moat and the scattered shadows of trees in Juilliard Park, Alan Bartl and Andrea Pellicani's community garden twinkles modestly in the sunlight. Its first seedlings popped up this May, and now the garden looks healthy and young, with bees zooming happily among plants. But this little plot of land isn't the extraordinary...
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Blue to the Bone

music & nightlife | It's a Guy Thing Almost...
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Alternativo?

07.23.08Ozomatli, the 10-member, L.A.-based, multi-ethnic music collective, create an appealing genre confusion; well over half of their material comes from traditional Latin styles sung in Spanish, with a slight remainder of funky conscious rap. Yet their biggest audience is the segment of the alt-rock crowd that views global tolerance as a punk ideal. In this particular rock aesthetic, it's...
Read more

North Bay Brewpubs

07.23.08Beer doesn't grow in bottles. It grows in vast sky-high steel tanks visible from the freeway that generate soulless brewskies by the billion, light, cheap and abundant. But we also have a happy medium, where beer is tended to by men and women with names, homes, cell phone plans and all the other poignancies that make people human—and there...
Read more

Snake Oil?

07.23.08In the olive oil market, not everything is as green as it seems. Much of the "extra virgin" oil with which Americans cook is nothing better than cheap nut oil blended with low-grade olive oil, coloring and artificial flavors. Most of this fraudulent product comes from overseas, most notably, from Italy.But in California, where olive oil production is currently...
Read more

Keeping It Local

07.23.08Tucked away off of a narrow country road in Sebastopol, First Light Farm is difficult to find. One must pass through a gate, over a bridge and climb a winding uphill path before seeing the first rows of crops and hoop houses rising high above the soil. But this seclusion seems to fit the magical serenity that hangs over...
Read more
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