Thirty miles from San Francisco, Sonoma County is one of the world's great destinations. With beautiful farmland, a dramatic coastline, fields of wild flowers, world-class wineries and upscale restaurants, the valley offers travelers, especially oenophiles and foodies, the best of the best.
My wife and I needed some serious R&R. We wanted a trip somewhere casual, where we wouldn't get stuck in traffic jams, could enjoy beautiful countryside, have some good meals and do a bit of wine tasting. So we put our suitcases in the car with a plan to explore Sonoma County, from the inland wine growing valleys to the coast. There is nothing like a road trip to clean out the cob webs and refresh the soul.
Driving on Sonoma County's two-lane black-tops in summer, the sun owns the sky, shining down on well-tended fields and big-sky landscape. Mustard flowers blanket the fields, corn grows tall, the vines are fat with ripening grapes and cattle stroll lazily across green pastures in search of shade.
Largely agricultural, mom and pop businesses are much more common in Sonoma than in Napa, which is dominated by wealthy investors and large corporations. The 200 wineries along Route 12 and Highway 101--near the towns of Schellville, Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Kenwood, Sebastopol, Graton, Forestville, Fulton, Windsor, Healdsburg and Geyserville--are family run, for the most part.
The same is true of the many inns and restaurants in the county. The Farmhouse Inn in Forestville isn't part of a corporate chain. The upscale inn is the passion project of brother and sister, Catherine and Joe Bartolomei. They chose the location because their family has owned a farm nearby for five generations.
Because they didn't have a lot of money, they did the renovation themselves. Each room is unique, the result of Joe's hunting for high-quality fixtures at discounted rates.
Taking several years to transform the original building, they created a modern, fine dining restaurant downstairs with cozy rooms on the second floor. They built out the barn, adding a dozen stylish country-style rooms. As part of their emphasis on creature comforts, they added fragrant herb gardens around the patio, a shaded swimming pool and a spa.
At check-in we appreciated that all guests are invited to choose the soap and bath salts they'll use in their rooms. Yard long slabs of custom-made soaps are laid on out a side table. Guests cut off a piece to bring back to their rooms. There are also containers of bath salts with directions about the healing powers of each, perfect to add to a hot bath for an afternoon soak.
Snacks, waters, lemonade and sodas are also provided free-of-charge, including graham crackers, marshmallows and premium chocolate to make s'mores at night at the open pit fire on the patio. A complementary breakfast in the elegant dining room is included.
Taking advantage of their location in the Russian River Valley wine district, they have associations with eleven nearby wineries. Stop by for a tasting at any of the wineries, say you are staying at the Farmhouse and you'll receive a special gift.
After my wife had scheduled a spa massage, put together a customized mix of bath salts and found a chaise lounge next to the pool, the perfect spot to read her novel, I got back in the car and headed west.
My wife wanted to relax. I wanted to explore.
My objective was to visit the Hirsch Winery. Most wineries in Sonoma are easy to get to. Not Hirsch. You have to make an appointment and it is a bit of a trek.
When I was faxed directions, I thought they were a joke. At the top, was the sentence, "DO NOT RELY ON GOOGLE MAPS, etc." A friend had visited the winery and advised, "When you think you're lost, you just haven't gone far enough."
Driving across flat grasslands, heading west toward the ocean, the directions took me into the hills, first on a paved road which twisted up through woods and along the crest of a hill where I could look down into valleys terraced with vineyards. Hawks circled overhead as I continued up the mountain road which had become a gravel path barely wide enough for the car to pass without scratching the paint on the walls of thick, dry brush.
When I arrived at the winery, it was obvious that they get very few visitors. The front door to the winery office was so infrequently opened, two birds had built a mud nest under the eave.
But the Hirsch Winery's tasting room wasn't inside. Jasmine Hirsch, head of sales, daughter of the owner (like I said, these are family businesses and everyone pitches in), led me to a patio table under a massive tree next to the winery. With hawks high overhead and neat rows of vines surrounding us, she poured glasses of Hirsch chardonnay and pinot noir and told me the history of the winery.
David Hirsch, her dad, had tired of the garment business and wanted to do something completely different. He fell in love with the land. At first he only intended to grow and sell grapes, but soon decided he wanted to make his own wine.
Being a small lot producer means he sells to a few restaurants and a couple of retail outlets, but prefers to sell directly to his customers. As she explained, "Buying direct is the strongest way to support what we do and the chain of connection isn't complete until you hear from the customer. it's up to the customer to get the wine maker to make better wine."
Hirsch talked about her dad as something of a grape-geek, because he loves to tinker with his vines as he explores the impact of different soils on the grapes. She talked about how the marine layer affected the vines, the importance of the geology of the area and that the vineyard was only half a mile from the San Andreas Fault.
Her dad is convinced the grapes benefit from being so close to the fault where two continental shelfs grind against each other, changing the soil composition and releasing energy into the plants.
We sat and talked and tasted the wine. I enjoyed the quiet of the late afternoon. What a unique way to appreciate terroir. When I got back to the Farmhouse, my wife was spa-relaxed and I was hungry. The restaurant's farm-to-table dinner menu demonstrates the Bartolomei's devotion to the bounty of Sonoma County.
Farmhouse's chef Steve Litke uses produce, cheese, wine, seafood, poultry and meat from local providers to create delicious dishes with a California-Mediterranean flavor. As much as he can, he serves produce grown on the Bartolomei family farm.
We especially enjoyed the dungeness crab-white corn soup, the tomato salad with burrata and a tempura squash blossom, the seared Sonoma foie gras with fig jam, the sea bass with chorizo and the beef fillet grilled to crusty perfection and served with a potato-cheese pave, string beans and porcini mushrooms. Each course was paired with reasonably priced wines, many from Sonoma.
A cheese plate was available for dessert, but we were in the mood for something sweet. So we ordered lavish riffs on a Napoleon with fresh strawberries, a soufflé with chocolate and bourbon creme Anglaise and caramel toffee crunch gelato with cookies.
An amazing weekend all around and just what we needed.
David Latt is an Emmy-award winning television producer who turns to cooking to alleviate stress. He shares his experiences with food and his favorite recipes on his blog Men Who Like To Cook.