Petaluma, Californa, July 2014

Day 1

This summer, two of my girlfriends (ironically both named Krista) and I decided to travel to California for a conference. We were going to arrive a couple of days early in order to tour Napa or Sonoma. We were still undecided just a week before our trip and then one of our friends, Kristi, whom I talked about just two posts ago. Contacted us to see if we would be interested in touring some wine country in Petaluma, California.  We were thrilled and honored to be asked.  Kristi got together a group of bloggers to tour the Petaluma Gap which is part of Sonoma Valley.

One of my (I love saying “my” when really I don’t own them at all) Krista’s had arrived earlier in the week to visit with a girlfriend in Cupertino. Krista was able to join in the tour from the beginning, however, my other Krista (ha, there I go again) and I didn’t arrive until lunchtime so we joined in the tour halfway through.  The group was already at the Sonoma Portworks, so we stopped in there straight from the airport. Although I have always enjoyed Port, I had not truly appreciated Port until I tasted some at Sonoma Portworks and my favorite was the Aris Petit Verdot. We were given a taste of several different ports paired with cheeses and chocolates and they were truly delicious. We were also offered a taste of some fine vinegars that are also offered from the Portworks and I believe I could have stayed all day if I didn’t know that we had another Vineyard to visit.

I have to also give a shout out to Terrific Tours organized by Sonoma Wine Guides, they took care of driving us around for the day and giving way more than the nickel tour, Jason’s knowledge of wine and Petaluma was amazing and even though I missed the first part of the day, I got to enjoy his good humour and infectious laughter for the second half. If I have the opportunity to return to Petaluma, Jason will be the one I call to get me around.

Onwards to my second stop (the fourth for some) Enriquz Estate Wines.  My first meeting with Cecilia Enriquez was as we were dropping off our car at the Hotel and Cecilia offered to drive us to the next Vineyard.  As we were chatting I found out that it was her family vineyard that we were driving towards. So of course felt badly that we were delaying her getting to her guests.  Cecila welcomed us into her home and to tour her lovely Vineyard. at 27 years old Cecilia amazed me at all that she has achieved and made me take a look back at what I was doing when I was 27 and well… yeah, it wasn’t making wine! Enriquz Pinot Noir was my favorite, being a red lover, but I truly enjoyed the white that she served us as well which is very rare for me, it was just dry enough that I could enjoy it.  Cecilia also had the Achadinha Cheese Company in her home to offer us some delightful cheeses (my mouth is watering just remembering how delicious they were).  The curds were by far our favorites (by our I mean us Canadians) we even discussed how to make a true French Canadian Poutine as it is becoming a new thing out their way to make poutine and it isn’t our true way to do it, but a different version.

We all gathered among the vines to pose for a group photo from the day, and prepared to head to our next stop, dinner.