Food + Travel: A Food and Wine Affair

As if wine tasting in Dry Creek Valley isn't amazing enough, Wine Road (an association of wineries and such in Sonoma County) adds food to the mix with the annual Food and Wine Affair, which includes Dry Creek, Russian River and Alexander valleys. The group I went with stuck to Dry Creek Valley.

We were lucky, because it was pouring the morning of November 7, but the rain had stopped by the time we made it to Healdsburg. It was beautiful.

Kokomo Winery paired wild mushroom risotto with camembert + butternut squash (above) with a 2007 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. (Best. Pinot. Ever.) Fun side note: Kokomo is named after Kokomo, Indiana (sorry Beach Boys), which is where the owners/founders are from. And the majority of the people in our group (below) were from Kansas.

Papapietro Perry Winery had wild mushroom soup (delicious but not photogenic) and these pretty chocolate truffles (above). They were tasting pinots and zins.

Bella Winery (above and below) had some kind of cornbread patty with a fig compote on top and a Louisiana gumbo that went really well with their Russian River Primitivo.

Bella also had hula hoops ...

Pedroncelli Winery had a leek and goat cheese torte flamiche with apple-endive salad (bel0w). Most people in our group liked their Mother Clone Zinfandel the best. They also had a port tasting with homemade truffles. Amazing.

Our final stop, Truett Hurst , had meatball sliders and was tasting a variety of wines including a zinfandel rose, zinfandels, a petit sirah, a blend, a cabernet sauvignon and a pinot noir, but their goats stole the show.

The sunset as we drove home. (Early sunset, I might add, as this was the day after daylight savings).

Travel + Style: Dry Creek General Store

The Dry Creek General Store in Dry Creek Valley (minutes from Healdsburg) is a popular spot to get yummy sandwiches and picnic supplies before heading to a winery. The spot has preserved its vintage charm, while keeping its offerings at par with exactly what would cater to wine-os, or people caught up with the wine country atmosphere. Gourmet sandwiches, cheese, snacks, wine, stainless steel and glass water bottles. Oh, and there's a bar.

And i'm apparently going through a wooden lounge chair obsession.

The planters at the stores had strawberries in them, which gave the place 1 million extra points in my book.