The first half day is in the books for our Sonoma trip.  Half day as in we enjoyed a half day actually in Sonoma, some of us were up as early as 3:30am EST to start the day of travel, so by the time we got to dinner around 8pm PST, we were quite a subdued bunch.  Luckily, there were no serious travel issues and I don’t even have a crazy or quirky story about it to share, other than the movie, Informant!, was not what we expected.  But, who cares really about that?  Let’s get to Sonoma.

Getting to the town of Sonoma was, again, fairly easy without event, and we arrived a bit ahead of schedule.  Was this an omen?  I had hoped so.  We were all hungry and in a great mood already!  Sondra (@figgirl) from the girl & the fig was instrumental in helping assure our party of 6 had a table when we arrived as they are a small, quaint, cottage-like restaurant with a bar and patio in the back that I knew was very popular.  Everyone raves about this place and now I know why.  The service was fantastic and the food was phenomenal.  There are plenty of local options including several sheep, goat and cow cheeses from their Salon de Fromage that we sampled.  Being in a Spring-like atmosphere, as the sun was shining outside and seeing how the foliage growth was much further along over here when compared to Atlanta where it is still brown and cold, we opted for a Marsanne and a Viognier to some wine in our blood.  The waiter wrapped things up by bringing us some chocolate-covered figs with some candles, which was a nice little touch that was noticed and really goes along way.

By this time, it was time to move on to Bartholomew Park or “Bart Park” as many call it.  Unfortunately, we had so much fun at lunch, our schedule had gotten a little tight and had to shorten the planned tour if we were going to make it to Santa Rosa and then on to Healdsburg to meet the owners of our rental cottage.  “Bicycle Bob,” our tour guide was fantastic.  He iterated the importance of knowing/learning what you like and not worry about all the pretenciousness that can come with wine.  After a great introduction into some Sonoma wine history and the fact that Bart Park used to be an old hospital, we tasted some fantastic wines blind and enjoy trying to pick the grapes, choose our favorites and what we might eat with them.  The 2006 Zinfandel was my choice, while others really connected with the Sauvignon Blanc.  We definitely need to make more time for this one the next time we are in the area.  Thanks to Steve (Manager) and Bicycle Bob for being accommodating and flexible.

Jonjie, Kevin, Hardy and Ed

We then worked our way up highway 12 to Santa Rosa where we visited Salinia Wine Company situated in a little warehouse-style office park well away from rolling hills and scenic vineyards, but don’t be fooled.  We enjoyed tasting from barrels of natural juice, nothing like we’ve ever tasted.  Fermenting Sauvignon Blanc on the skins? Who does that?  Not flipping the nose at the status quo or methodologies learned at UC-Davis, the winemaker, Kevin Kelley, comes from a background as a history buff having learned about 8000 years of winemaking and felt there was more weight to that history and knowledge than just the last 50 years of wine study and technology as many have now come to know it.  He uses what we has learned from the chemistry and microbiological perspective to give him confidence in what’s he’s doing and how he’s doing it.  The results are simply amazing or and at the very least brazenly different for many people.  I have been in the middle of a few debates about commercial vs. natural winemaking, but you really need to experience the end result to make a decision for yourself.  These are the same folks who form The Natural Process Alliance (NPA).  Thanks to Kevin and Hardy for opening up their shop to us.

Lorraine, Sean and Cyndi working the thief

Finally, wrapping up our travel day we ascend the Dry Creek Valley to meet our gracious hosts Dale and Lorraine at their rental property aply named Casa Privata.  It sits on 9 acres of which 3 are planted to vine as Dale has been making his own wine for 15 years.  Casa Privata is also literally right next door to Montemaggiore winery and surrounded by other neighbors who also manage their own vineyards.  As guests, we also have unrestricted access to barrels full of some 2006 Cabernet from the vineyard.  A great after-breakfast treat, or anytime really.  The Casa was purchased and renovated about 4 years ago and is in a nice secluded cranny of the mountains, so you can enjoy some peace and quiet and admire the wildlife.  We were informed that a mountain lion had been seen with a cub fairly recently, which made early morning strolls somewhat of an adventure.  As of this writing, we are all still alive.  If you don’t hear from me in another day or so, send a search party.

Cheers!

LocalWineEvents.com is a great website that I use quite often to find tastings, wine dinners and other wine-related events in the Atlanta area.  After my recent review of the iVisit Sonoma County application on the iPhone, Eric V. Orange, CEO/Founder of LocalWineEvents.com reached out and asked if I’d take a look at their new application too.  The app was just released on January 28, 2010 so it practically hot out of the oven.

PROS

1. Just like many iPhone apps, this program will be more valuable when you allow it to use your current location.

2. Once you select your location, you are given a list of today’s and future events that are closest to your current location.

3. The Details screen show some good information including the phone number of the establishment that can be pressed and automatically called.  You can also view the establishment on a map and even forward the event in an email to a friend.

4. If you know you are travelling to another location other than where you are currently, you can easily select another city in a another country to find events.

OPPORTUNITIES

1. The event listing screen always defaults to 30 Mile radius and only has 4 options.  It could be helpful, at least in my opinion, if it remembered my previous setting and offered more flexibility in radius options.  For example, by having the radius options as buttons at the top, the number of selections are limited.  The scroll list type of function could be used and allow more options to be made available, or it could allow the user to type in the radius directly.  Personally, I would like the option of 5 mile radius to be made available.  In most cases, I will not be travelling 50 miles around Atlanta to go to an event, especially with the lovely traffic we get here

2. Just like I found with the Sonoma County app, the map option on the details screen does not allow the user to get directions that is so common and helpful via Google maps.

3. I’d like to see a website link, if available, for the establishment on the Details page, which is often available on the event page on the website.

4. It may also be very helpful to add a calendar feature which allows the user to specify a date in the future to further filter the event list.  If I know I am not available until this coming Saturday and want to see what’s going on then, I have to scroll through the list currently.

5. In addition to the mail feature, it might be nice to include some of the social media links like Twitter or Facebook so that a user can inform their networks they are attending an event and include the event link.

6. Unfortunately, as with many version 1.0 releases, I did stumble upon a few bugs that I am sure will be worked out over the next couple of releases.  Some of these still occurred after deleting and reinstalling the app as well as hard-booting the iPhone.

<<02/19 2:52pm EST: Error screenshot removed to not reveal proprietary code or vulnerabilities>>

Overall, I feel this application can be very valuable for those users looking for wine-related events in their cities while on the go.  It can become even more valuable when even more valuable mobile and social features are added including those mentioned above.  The more users can do with regard to filtering and finding events, making it easier to get to an event and finally sharing the event with others, the more valuable it will become.

I visited a new wine store this weekend helping a friend grab a few bottles for her Valentine’s party.  The store was not new in the area, but rather new to me, but I had heard a lot of about it recently and wanted to check it out.  The store had a pretty decent and broad selection, but much like many stores in this economy, there were many empty bins and slots throughout as well.  But, this story is about our sales guy.  Yeah, sounds funny.  We weren’t at an auto dealership, but, again just a wine store, so why must there be a salesman?

No, it wasn’t just someone working there offering to help us as many other stores do.  This guy was a salesman because when we were ready to check out he asked that we tell the cashier that he had helped us.  We said to ourselves, obviously he wants to get the “credit” for working with us.  Then I wondered, why is this necessary for such a shop?  And then I wondered again, had his commissioned job status impact how he “helped” with our wine purchases?  Did he really listen to what we were telling him about what we were looking for and did he guide us to the best option to match our desires or match his desired payout?

Don’t get me wrong, this guy was pretty nice and he and I chatted about a few wine-related topics along the way that I believe showed him that I knew a thing or two about wine, but I still had that though in the back of my head the rest of the way.  I understand the incentive-based approach to certain jobs and I don’t think all sales people are the stereotypical pushy and untrustworthy type, but it just seemed a little out of place here and with all the talk and concerns about scores, ratings, and critics not representing the wine-loving population as a whole, if we can’t even trust the guy at the wine store, who can we trust?

Share your pros/cons of commissioned wine sales folks?

I am happy to announce the winner of our book giveaway of Paul Gregutt’s essential guide to Washington Wines & Wineries is PAM CAUDY!  Please help me in congratulating her on a well-deserved win!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway by commenting here and on Facebook as well as promoting the contest via Twitter and other channels.  This was a lot of fun!  Washington is making some great wine and hopefully this year we can help continue to educate other wine lovers and share in what this state, second only to California in U.S. production, has to offer.

Please be sure to check out this year’s Wine Blogger’s conference to be held in Walla Walla June 25-27, 2010 as well as the scholarship program being offered.

Pam:  Please be sure to reach out to me via my email address which can be obtained via the About Us link at the top of the site so I can get your shipping address.

Cheers!

If you’re like my wife, then you know it’s never too early to plan, especially if it’s for a trip to the wine country somewhere.  As we approach February already, we are still 5 months away from the Wine Blogger’s Conference in Walla Walla, Washington held June 25-27, 2010.  However, it is important to note that if you are a blogger and want to go and haven’t signed up yet, there were many folks left on the waiting list the past two years, so it is recommended that you don’t wait until the last minute.

We are very excited to visit an important and fairly well-known domestic wine region that we haven’t been to before.  Additionally, we have only experienced a few wines from the entire state of Washington.  So, to help get us jacked up for the trip and expand our wine horizons, we have been reading Paul Gregutt’s guide to Washington Wines & Wineries and have already held a tasting at our local tasting club focused on red wines from Washington [subsequent post yet to be published on this tasting].  But you don’t have to be a blogger to enjoy and get value out of this wonderfully written book.  Paul has been a wine critic and author for over 25 years and knows the wine and wineries of his state inside and out.  In this book he has created a numerical scale that actually relates to measurable attributes of wineries and their wines with which to rank them in categories including Leaders, Specialist, Bench and Rookies.  Oh, and he’s technologically hip touting a blog of his own that he updates very frequently.

So, in my humble attempt to help you dear readers learn more and experience what this state, second only to California in production, has to offer and what is has attained in it’s short 40-year history, I offer to send a FREE copy of Paul Gregutt’s book to a randomly chosen winner.  Here’s how you can win:

1. Post a comment on this blog post OR the same, related post on the Wine Tonite! Fan page: http://www.facebook.com/WineTonite with something about Washington.  Hopefully, it’s about a wine or winery, but it can be anything really (i.e. I tasted this xyz wine from Walla Walla and it was good, I would really like to visit xyz winery in Puget Sound, or I think Pete Carroll will/will not succeed as the Seahawks head coach, etc…)

2. The contest period will be one week with a deadline of 12 Noon EST next Sunday, February 7th.  I will announce the winner that afternoon on this blog site via a new post.

3. The winner will be chosen randomly using the www.random.org True Random Number Generator.  Posts from both the blog and the Facebook fan page will be combined and ordered by date/time stamp and obviously not include any comments I may post along the way.

It’s that Simple!  Have fun and good luck and please pass this on to winelovers you know!  And if this gets you into the giving mood, check out how you can help a blogger earn a scholarship to join the conference HERE.

Cheers!