Wine Tasting July 2017 - Sebastopol, CA

July is here and we kicked it off well with a trip to wine country. The event was booked a week before with Dianne, a Rodan & Fields, rep that was at the Summer Soire event at my home last weekend, stating she's never been. I researched tasting rooms that do not require an appointment and we ended up with a group of 8.

Dianne didn't end up making it after all but we had fun. She totally missed out on Ektimo Vineyards, Fog Crest Vineyards and Macphail at the Barlowe, plus beer and BBQ at the Crooked Goat Brewery.

The drive was easy up from Hayward to Sebastopol. We sang country songs and my International trip is booked for May 2018 to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico! With Cour Court's timeshare, she had these special offers to travel. A seven day cruise is booked and I highly recommend paying for the open bar! For my 2012 cruise, it only cost us $700 on Celebrity. Completely worth it!

We arrived at our first stop, Ektimo Vineyards, after a bumpy road off the main road. We were the last group to arrive but quickly introduced my friends that were already there. And we got to it with flights and great hospitality provided by Ken. Angela and her mom, Dolores, are chardonnay drinkers, Kim likes white, Court, the rest of the group and I typically prefer red wines. Everyone bought a bottle so it was a good visit! I went with a Petite Syrah bottle. The last time I went wine tasting in Sebastopol was probably 2014 or 2015 and I did buy a Petite Syrah bottle then as well. We went to Sunce and Dutton Goldfield and Ironhorse on that trip.

Our next stop was at Fog Crest Vineyards. It has a beautiful entrance, a long driveway up to the tasting room that we saw had a patio as we made the turn and gasped. Park on the gravel slope and walk thru the garden and you'll see a banner saying the Winemaker's statement saying the rose is the best he's ever made. 

We walked in and started off at the counter with 7 tastings. We said we wanted to sit on the patio and the nice gents set up a table for us and positioned the umbrellas appropriately. They poured us this self-promoted rose first and that there were notes of strawberries and peaches. "OMG" was my response. We all fell in love with this rose. It was amazing.

We continued with the tasting with two cheese plates and Oliver was attentive and helpful. We had their estate Pinot Noir and two Chardonnays. My good friend, Nikki, came out as well after some family time. It was great to have her. She has two more days at a job she's not happy with so it's nice to be able to celebrate with her on a change needed in her life.

Court Court immediately wanted to join the wine club. I don't join wine clubs as I have so much wine easily accessible to me thru DW. But this rose! So damn good. Court signed up and I got a total of three bottles thru her for 20% off - one Pinot Noir, one Chardonnay and of course that delicious Rose!

Angela and her mom headed out, saying she's a lightweight. But we did want to schedule a bar crawl in Hawyard. I'll plan that. We said our goodbyes but not before a photo.

With Court Court signing up for the wine list, we were treated to several double and triple tastes of anything we wanted. I reconfirmed that I wanted those three bottles. They were pretty amazing. We went inside to get our bottles and they were nice enough to pour us some from a limited release of 50 cases. Yum!

I passed on more wine onto Court Court and said I had to drive. Then they gave me an organic Capri Sun juice pack. What service!

We were getting hungry and had to go. Another cheese plate wasn't going to hold us over. So we made our way to the Barlowe but first stopped at MacPhail with another cheese plate. This was my second time here and we sat outside though it was a bit breezy. This is where I got a nice tan. Unfortunately, we weren't that thrilled with the wines. Fog Crest was hard to beat! No one bought any bottles but friendly service from Cameron.

We then made our way for some beer at the Crooked Goat Brewing Company.  Our group sat outside on the patio with picnic tables with umbrellas. Owners brought their dogs, we had beer flights and almost everything on the food menu. The winning beer for me was the Vanilla Bean Stout and the pulled pork sliders were great. The Caesar salad had a light dressing, the corn bread and butter was good however the much anticipated mac and cheese was a bit of a disappointment for the table. But we had a great time and made new memories.

Until next time, Sebastopol. I'm sure Court Court and I will be back to pick up her shipment and to wine taste some more. There are so many places!

Check out my California winery log HERE! Start yours and share the link with me in the comments below!