SONOMA, CA—Yesterday, I left the office at 1:00 p.m. determined to “play hookie”. An industry event was being held just down the street at one of Sonoma’s truly grand hotels, The Lodge At Sonoma. The hotel’s internationally-renowned sommelier, Christopher Sawyer, along with several local winemakers had been noticing the myriad of boutique tasting rooms sprouting around the perimeter of Sonoma’s historic plaza over the past 24 months. Together, they felt a local showcase for this group of exuberant vintners was in order.

I must agree that more than a dozen boutique tasting rooms have, in fact, appeared in close proximity to one another—much like wildflowers after a spring rain. I, too, had become more than a little curious.

The event also gave The Lodge At Sonoma an opportunity to introduce their new Executive Chef, Peter Smith. Here’s a super-quick report…

Peter Smith has been employed here for a scant 8 days. He is quite exhilerated about being in Sonoma Wine Country or as he enthusiastically calls it “this food and wine playground”. Peter is classically trained in traditional French cuisine and has worked throughout the globe, most recently in San Antonio, Texas. His concept for the hotel’s Carneros Bistro & Wine Bar is to keep things “honest”. The 3 exceedingly tasty morsels he prepared for the day’s event were just that… and more!

#1) Mini Beef Wellington: with Bernaise Sauce, red wine reduction, and blue cheese crumbles. REALLY great!

#2) Shrimp ceviche with avocado salad. Simple and SO satisfying!

#3) Cremini Ravioli with truffle créme and warm foraged mushroom salad. YEAH!

All I can say is that if these samples are anything like Peter’s everyday entrees, I’ll be visiting the Carneros Bistro numerous times this year! (Thank you, Peter!)

The gathering of new tasting rooms represented included such names as: Adobe Road, Auteur, Roessler, R2, Haywood, Hawkes, Hwy 12, Roche, Two Amigos, GlenLyon Winery, Sojourn Cellars, and several others. There was no bad wine in the group ;-) and, in fact, there were several very noteworthy selections.

Cindy Lane, regional sales manager for Adobe Road Winery, and Amanda Jarvis were pouring and chatting with visitors. They produce about 4,000-5,000 cases of wine annually. They make 13 varietals and source 99% of their fruit from Sonoma County.

Auteur Wines makes about 2,000 cases of vineyard designate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Look for Kenneth’s tasting room to open in downtown Sonoma, around the corner from The Girl And The Fig restaurant, next summer.

Scott Herrmann (not pictured) was on hand to meet and greet. He’s a good guy. Be sure to ask for him the next time you stop by to taste Roessler. They produce about 7,000 cases of wine annually: 4 Chardonnays and 17 Pinots. (Incidentally, last year Roessler partnered with Hall Wines, a familiar name from nearby Napa Valley. Hall bought a controlling interest in the company. It will be interesting to see the direction this arrangement may take them.

Sonoma Valley winemaking icon Peter Haywood was there to tell fans about his new retail tasting room just off Sonoma Plaza in what has very recently been coined “Wine Alley”. He produces about 4,000 cases of wine — all estate fruit from his own property — and all from Sonoma Valley.

All in all, it was a nice group of friendly Sonoma townsfolk with a few San Franciscans thrown into the mix who were curious to see what all the fuss was about. I would encourage visitors to downtown Sonoma to enjoy the historic ambiance of the Plaza and check out the new kids in town.

My books usually focus on “destination” and estate wineries. But, within the past two years, I’ve been including some of the more notable boutique retail rooms throughout California. Thank you to Chris Sawyer for putting on a very educational event!

(I’ll have an upcoming blog report on the Lodge at Sonoma very soon. I’ve just toured their property, once again, and am pleased to report that it still has that WOW factor.)