We tried to book a winery tour for today, but were unsuccessful. What we wanted was to join a small mixed group tour, not one of the expensive private tours nor a big bus tour. At any rate, it didn't work out, so we were left to our own devices.
We started out with a breakfast recommendation from the hotel staff. The Omelette Express in downtown Santa Rosa was very good. When they say express, they mean express. They have omelette making down to a science. Watching the cooks in the kitchen was an impressive display, almost like an egg flinging ballet.
While we were unable to book a tour, one friendly tour organizer suggested that we head to Healdsburg. The town square is filled with shops, restaurants and wine tasting rooms, all within walking distance. That's what we were looking for, wine tasting without the DUI. On the way Amy mapped out a couple of wineries for us to check out. Our first stop was at the Hanna Winery. It was small and we were the first ones there. Perfect situation for a couple of wine tasting novices like us. We got our wine tasting instructions and we were ready to rock. I think the most surprising wine at Hanna was their Rose. I'm no connoisseure for sure, but I always considered Rose to be on par with white zinfandel in the box. This Rose was quite surprising, very crisp and fruity. This will be a great summer BBQ wine. Amy loved the 2001 Bismarck Noir, of course at $50 a bottle. So, we dropped a nice little chunk of change there and then headed off to our next winery. Our second stop was at Dutton Estate in Sebastopol. Again, another small, uncrowded winery. Here we went with the wine and cheese tasting. The host paired several nice cheeses with 4 or 5 different varietals. We had some nice wines here and again spent more money than either of us would have expected to. I thought the idea of going to the winery was to get the wine at a good price, so much for that.
At this point, I definitely needed a break from wine, since I was still driving. We saw an interesting grocery store advertisement, so we headed off to the town of Windsor to check it out. The Windsor Green Grocer was an amazing little grocery store. They stock almost exclusively local grass-fed meats, local produce and dairy. Their goal is for 95% of their products to travel less than 150 miles to get to their store. The store owner was a rather young looking gent who was clearly passionate about delicious sustainable food. If you are in the town of Windsor, definitely check out this grocery store.
Finally, we made our way to Healdsburg. What a quaint little town, definitely reminded me of small town Wisconsin in many ways. We parked on the street right outside of the Selby Winery Tasting Room. Apparently their Chardonnay is often served at White House State Dinners. We weren't that crazy about their Chardonnay but we did pick up a bottle of their '06 Pinot Noir and '06 Old Vines Zinfandel.
Time for lunch. The hostess at Dutton Estates highly recommended we eat at Bovolo. Don't let the fact that this tiny little restaurant is located in the back of a bookstore fool you, this is quality eats. This place is known for their house made salumi. Everything is made in-house, to include the gelato. We split the coo-coo frites, fried dough loaded with FRESH mozzarella and salumi, heavenly, and we also split the Bovolo Burger. This ain't your typical backyard BBQ burger, italian sausage, stoneground mustard aioli topped with an apple and onion marmelata. Finish that off with a scoop of gelato and you can't go wrong.
Now that we were well fed it was time for a little shopping to let the food settle before we hit some more wine. Next up on the wine tasting tour was La Crema. To be honest, I was a bit turned off from the moment we walked in to this place. It has a very modern design and the hosts were very loud and in my opinion a bit obnoxious. It was not the relaxing, comforting exerpience that we had at the other wineries. The wine was okay, but not good enough for us to buy anything. As it was getting late in the afternoon we asked the host if she had any recommendation for other tasting rooms that were still open. She steered us toward the Rosenblum and Williamson tasting rooms.
In an attempt to wrap up this post, let me just say that Rosenblum was nice. They were close to closing, but were still very cordial and friendly. I enjoyed their Chardonnay and Amy and I were both pleasantly surprised by their Desiree Chocolate Port. On the nose there is an amazing chocolate and coffee aroma. The flavor is rich but not overwhelming. This will definitely satisfy your chocolate/sweet tooth.
Unbeknownst to us we saved the very best for last. Our experience at Williamson Wines was easily the best of the day. From the moment we walked in the door were heartily greeted by none other than the winemaker Bill Williamson himself. Bill makes the wine making experience! The wine tasting is complimentary and Bill goes to great lengths to explain what his motivation is for each varietal. He paired up cheese, salumi and a little chunk of brownie with their respective appropriate varietal and gave a detailed explanation of what to expect with each pairing. This was all done with characteristicly sharp Australian wit and humor. We were so inspired and had such a great time that we joined the Williamson Wine Club. Our first wine club, so exciting. If you get to Healdsburg, the Williamson Wines Tasting Room is an absolute must!
Well, after that, how do you wrap up the evening? We decided to walk over to Willi's Seafood & Raw Bar. Since the day had been so indulgent we thought we would "take it easy" and just have a few light appetizers. Well, I think you can tell where this is going to go. If you take a peek at their appetizers and small plates you can see why making a decision is so difficult. We started off with the spinach salad and the bacon wrapped scallop skewers. Oh my God! Those little scallops were amazing!!! We followed that with the pan roasted spicy shrimp and then took it to the top rope with the chorizo fondue. Oh mommy, that was decadent! I can only imagine how good the dinner entrees are.
Well, that was quite a full day. We were both stuffed and exhausted and ready to get back to our hotel to rest up for our travel day to San Francisco.
Sorry for the long rambling post, but there was a lot of stuff to talk about.
Our new winemaker friend Bill Williamson
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