Everyone in San Francisco had told me that a totally different California lay north of the city and for the most part they turned out to be right. Most simply put, the pace of life seemed to slow as I moved north through coastal rural California. It felt pretty empty too, which was a great contrast to the southern half of the state.
My goal for Tuesday as I left SF was to find a place to surf, go to Sonoma Valley to visit a vineyard and get some wine for my parents, and find somewhere to sleep. With my later than planned start, these goals would end up consuming the entire day and most of the evening. I hugged the coast as much as I could north of SF and checked out a couple of beaches for some surf without any luck. Searching for surf in a vast unknown area takes up lots of time and gas so I scratched my unrealistic plan to surf and instead just focused on the wine. I headed due east and within about an hour or so I was in the famous Sonoma Valley.
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| Preston Vineyard's |
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I'm certainly not a wine guy. I enjoy drinking it and learning about it, but you won't find me commenting on its palatability, earthy aromas, or smooth finishes with any of the proper jargon. However, my father and step mother are really into wine and so I really felt that I owed them a bottle from one of their favorite wine regions in the world. After all, without all of their support and generosity, this trip wouldn't have been possible. The previous few days in SF I'd been asking around town and researching bio-dynamic vineyards in the Sonoma Valley region and had compiled a list of a couple that would be open when I was passing through the area. I settled on one called Preston Vineyards.
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| Preston's olives |
The rolling hills of Sonoma would have been more relaxing and enjoyable if the weather had been better and my schedule not so tight. I arrived to the tasting room less than an hour before they closed, which still allowed me enough time to chat with Preston about the wine and some of the bio-dynamic practices they use. While they are certified organic, they are not certified bio-dynamic, but the absence of that certification, according to Preston, doesn't stop them from reaping the benefits of sustainable, environmentally conscious farming.
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| Sonoma Vineyards in winter |
I tried a tasting of each of the 5 wines they had available and also sampled some delicious olives, bread and cheese. It was the first time I'd seen an olive tree and had fresh olives which was a real treat. I'm terrible at selecting gifts for people and buying a bottle of wine was no different. They all tasted like wine, they all were wine, so which one was I to buy. Finally I asked Preston what his best selling wine was and what his personal favorite was. From those answers I was able to make a confident decision. I also got some good info on driving times to get back to the coast, which I had greatly underestimated. As I was walking out the door with my bottle in hand, Preston stopped me and told me to take some bread they had baked the day before. It was a very kind gesture and the malty bread was both sustaining and filling and lasted me through the final days of my journey.
From Sonoma Valley I drove through dark, windy, and wet mountain roads back to the coast. I found the small town of Point Arena where I was hoping to get some waves the next day. When I arrived, I stopped for a beer at a local pub, which gave me a glimpse of the small population of Point Arena. The locals in the pub were not terribly open or friendly but they did direct me to the local surf break and a place where I could park my car. At one point, a couple of really messed up girls came in and disturbed the
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