Yes. That’s exactly what it was…extreme wine tasting. Extremely fun. Extremely aggressive. I’d like to imagine other people attending this year’s 33rd Annual Barrel Tasting in Sonoma was just as fun for others as it was for me, but it’s pretty hard to believe anyone else was enjoying themselves as much as we were.
The weekend crew included Mary, Christie, Annie, Anna, Lauren, Danny and Milo. In the past we would have typically packed 30 of our closest friends into a bus and headed up for the day from San Francisco. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach and has a proven track record of good times, we decided we wanted to switch it up a bit this year and enjoy more than just 8 hours of wine road…We wanted a full 48 hours. EXTREME!
So we booked a room at this amazing hotel in Sonoma called The Lodge. Young or old, you will absolutely love this place. Instead of a long row of boxey hotel rooms, they have these little bungalows, two to a cottage. We had originally planned on fewer people, so one room was more than spacious, but it also worked for the eight of us too.
We arrived to The Lodge around 11am, just in time for our personal driver to pick us up for the day. The limo came stocked with champagne, but we packed a couple extras just in case (i.e. a case of beer, a bottle of vodka and the always classy bottle of “Admiral Nelson” since Captain Morgan was out of stock). After our first cocktail at the bar we loaded into the car and headed up north to our first stop, Bella Winery.
Bella is always one of my favorites and here’s why: They always do a theme. In January it was all around the launch of their new label, and the entire tasting area was covered in birds, beautiful birch wood and a clean, crisp white fabric…This tasting, it was completely decked out in western wear. The pourers were in flannel, cowboy hats and awesome snakeskin boots! Plus they had my favorite, southern style grits and BBQ pork paired with awesome zins! Of course we not only tasted, but purchased a bottle of wine to enjoy in the picnic tables on the property.
From Bella we headed to Quivira, Michel-Schlumberger and to Truett Hurst. In total we (not including myself) spent close to $1000 in wine, including some new wine memberships. Which wine club? Yeah…no idea. Too intoxicated, but I’m pretty sure Christie joined because of, and I quote, “Their amazing customer service.” Yet she couldn’t recall the name of the winery…I suppose only credit card statements will tell…
All in all the Saturday was a success…despite a couple wipe outs amongst the group, we made it back to the hotel safe and sound. Our dinner reservations downtown (yes, we were powering through) weren’t until 7:30pm, which gave us two hours to kill. Lucky for us, this classy establishment had an amazing pool and spa right outside our little bungalow. We quickly changed into our suits, grabbed several bottles of wine and headed to the water for a canon ball contest and a couple chicken fights. Shockingly enough we weren’t event asked to be quiet by hotel security, nor did they question that eight people exited one hotel room. In fact, they even poured our wine into plastic cups so we could swim AND drink. EXTREME!
Before we knew it we were running late for our dinner reservation which made for an interesting getting-ready-party. Let’s just say the shower situation was questionable at most. Finally we were at 100%, hopped in the shuttle and headed downtown to Maya for some mexican cuisine. At the time I argued I wasn’t that buzzed, but looking back at the photos my eyes don’t see too open to the world and, the other crazy thing, we were done with dinner in less than 45 minutes. My assumption is that it was quite clear we were intoxicated to the restaurant staff, especially when we demanded it was Danny’s birthday despite no mention of it until we felt like dessert.
After a strange encounter with two creepy old men (questionably homosexual) who fed the girls extravagantly expensive shots of tequila, we headed back to the hotel and straight to the pool. We were there until they shut us down around 11pm. Milo and Christie tried to convince an adorable couple that they were swingers…not a whole lot of success there, considering Erin and Jon quickly left the spa after I shared with them that we lived a commune lifestyle back in San Francisco. I, of course, had no idea about the whole swingers story, which made all of us look really creepy.
By midnight we were tucked away in our three beds, all eight of us ready for some shut eye…Around 5am everyone woke up in a complete state of “hermakey,” yelling and screaming at one another…then, within minutes, it was silent and everyone was back asleep. We didn’t officially wake up until almost 10am.
Once we checked out of the hotel we headed to a great breakfast at Fremont Diner off of Highway 12. Abso-frickin-lutely delicious. And they even had Mr Potato Head to distract you while you waited for your breakfast! I don’t know how or where Mary finds these places, but I’m thrilled she does!
After brunch, we lost Annie and Anna, the Dynamic Armenian Duo, while the rest of us headed back up north for a second day of tasting. Our first stop was at a strange strip mall in Santa Rosa, where we ironically thoroughly enjoyed their wines, but not surprising, detested their customer service. Our pourer was this wiry lady, we’ll call her “Sue” who I am convinced was sleeping with the married wine maker…There is no other comprehensible reason they would have kept Sue on staff for the 9+ years she claimed. To avoid further awkward encounters at this D’Argenzio Winery, Milo joined their wine club so all of their delicious could ship home verses a pick up. (Nice call James.)
From there we drove to middle of nowhere Santa Rosa and Sebastopol to enjoy wines at Hanna, Balletto and DeLoach. Balletto was definitely my favorite, where thankfully Milo joined their wine club so we can enjoy their member parties! My favorite part was their pourer, who offered Milo a seizure (aka a flashing light button) if he purchased an entire case of wine. Needless to say, we purchased two cases. EXTREME!
On our way back to the city we closed out the weekend with a real classy meal at PF Chang’s and even brought in our own bottle of wine. (PS Apparently they have no corkage fee, just a lot of judgement from the staff.) All in all, yet another amazing weekend.
Oh and in case you’re lazy, or a “visual learner,” here’s a video of everything I just said above.
