Have bus, will travel…to Sonoma, CA!
July 7, 2009 by Kristie Wells
This Saturday, July 11th, the Social Media Club San Francisco/Silicon Valley chapter will fill a Bauer ‘rock star’ bus full of cheese, wine and a bunch of Social Media loving types as we take our first excursion out of city limits and head into Sonoma for a day of wine tasting.This trip came together thanks to the efforts of Barbara Drady and Janet Fouts, who put together an itinerary that celebrates boutique vineyards dedicated to their craft:
- First stop – Keller Estate – Known for their pinots and chardonnays. The winemaker, Mike McNeil, says his wines are influenced by the fog and winds off the ocean, similar to the Carneros region and representative of the emerging Sonoma coast style-big complex flavors, rich and with a touch of sweetness. The estate is planted on the rolling hills of the “Petaluma Gap”. They have 86 acres with 13 different clones planted. This is definitely an artisan winery, no big production line here. They only do tasting by appointment.
- Second stop – Balletto and Dutton-Goldfield - Family run wineries with a passion for what they do. Both wineries sold their grapes to other vintners before starting their own. Dutton grapes have been sold to Kistler, Hartford and DuMol to name a few. Janet had a couple bottles of their Pinot Noir, and found it outstanding.
- Third Stop – Owl Ridge – Won “Best New Winery” at the Wine literary awards tasting in 2006. They’re new, but their wines won 18 gold medals in the last year at major competitions. Pretty amazing. They’ve got a lot of Cabs. I believe it is their wines that we will be blending into our own selection to bring home, which should be a great way to end the day.
All in all this should be a lot of fun, tasting wines that aren’t mainstream but carefully family crafted.Tickets are on sale through 12:00pm PST on Friday, July 10th and are $65.00 per person. This includes tastings at each vineyard, lunch, and making your own bottle of wine top bring home with you As of this post, there are 11 seats left on the bus, so we are hoping you will click that purchase button and join us.
You can learn more about Barbara’s wine blending boot camp here: http://www.affairsofthevine.com/pdf/coporate/wineblending.pdf
Great idea! This sounds like a fantastic trip!!
[...] enough people are interested, then perhaps an organization forms. This is exactly what will happen this Saturday in the San Francisco Bay Area. Organized through the work of Barbara Drady and Janet Fouts, this [...]