Drink
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Petaluma Winery: Brooks Note
Five years ago, something extraordinary happened on the 400 block of Petaluma Boulevard North. The promise of the city of Petaluma’s burgeoning wine scene was realized in a trifecta of oenological proportions when one small enterprise had the audacity to envision wines grown, made, and poured in a town formerly known as the “egg basket…
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Pacific Pact: An Island-to-Mainland Flavor Fusion
After long months of damp, dark, dreary days, Sonoma County folks welcome the arrival of spring. It’s like a big exhale after many months of anticipating the return of light and warmth. In days gone, sweet little spring greens were harvested out of the damp ground and eaten to stimulate digestion and encourage vitality after months…
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Bubbly Bliss: Breathless Wines’ Sharon Cohn and Penny Gadd-Coster
The holiday season finds its perfect liquid accomplice in the effervescence of sparkling wine, and in Sonoma County, this pleasure is elevated by the region’s long-standing tradition of producing world-class bubbles. There’s an undeniable joy in the lively cascade of tiny bubbles that instantly transforms any gathering, from a casual family brunch to a sophisticated…
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Zin Wins: Santa Rosa’s St. Francis Winery & Vineyards
Santa Rosa’s St. Francis Winery & Vineyards. Even if penitence isn’t your gig, there’s a Sonoma County winery where you’ll certainly want to bow your head and say, “Bless me father, for I have zinned.” Welcome to St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, Santa Rosa’s mission-style oasis of wine off Highway 12 in Santa Rosa. Named…
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Labor of Love: Inman Family Wines
For Kathleen Inman of Inman Family Wines, tending vines and wines is second nature. If terroir is destiny, Kathleen Inman is its midwife. The founder and fearless force behind Inman Family Wines in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, Inman has spent the last two decades coaxing elegant expressions of Pinot Noir from her sustainably farmed estate…
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Steeped in Story: Two Trees Tea House Brews up a Sensory Journey
Two Trees Tea House Brews up a Sensory Journey. With one sip of tea, you’re resting by a tranquil brook under the shade of a blossoming peach tree. With another, you step into a lively country teahouse, where the air is rich with the scent of steamed dumplings and the buzz of cheerful voices.
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Timeless Taste: Local Kombucha Artisans Soul Fixx
Local Kombucha Artisans Soul Fixx Brew Up Sentimental Flavors Occasionally, out of the blue, a particular scent or flavor will spark a memory from one’s past, like the madeleine dipped in tea in Proust’s classic In Search of Lost Time. As for Sonoma County-based Soul Fixx Elixirs, their diverse and unusual kombucha flavors are likewise…
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Down to Earth: Wine, Cider, Art, and Community at Horse and Plow
Down to Earth Wine, cider, art, and community at Horse and Plow You could ask Suzanne Hagins, owner of Horse and Plow in Sebastopol, why she chooses a new artist every quarter to grace the walls of her little winery’s tasting room, or why every Sunday she books a different band to play right outside…
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Mixologist Milo Lawrence At The Astro’s Louche Lounge
As the clock strikes cocktail hour on St. Patrick’s Day, I roll into the Astro Motel parking lot in my new-to-me car, the ink still wet on the papers over at a local dealer. Both of these businesses have been recommended to me by this magazine’s graphic designer, Kernan Coleman. The man knows cars, he…
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Eating Local, Cooking Local: Making Fire Cider with Sheila Shupe”
Confessions of a Germophile: Making Fire Cider with Sheila Shupe I’ll admit it, over the first nine months of the pandemic I drank enough booze to inebriate a small blue whale. When the world turned on its ear, my autonomic nervous system kicked in, spewing cortisol and adrenaline through my veins day and night. “Fight!” it…