winesday on sunday.

hassle with posting pics on blogspot, hence the unfortunate delay.

 

awesome trip to go "barrel tasting" in sonoma. tasting the wine before it finishes aging. they really like you to taste the barrel before heading inside and tasting the finished product. it was rainy, but we managed to stay dry. stopped at la boulange for coffee and food for the road (croissants, sandwiches, hotdogs in puff pastry, and macarons). yanik offered to be the dd, which was really nice of him! definitely owe him one there. they special non-alcoholic sparkling fruit drinks for him which were actually very delicious, and at times better than the wine.

shazadi, brandon, yanik, elita, ferris, and myself. wineries included hanna, balletto (my favorite), redcar, dutton, and russian river vinyards. the pinot and syrah were at the top of my list. also enjoyed the chardonnay.

this one place looks like costco!

 

rock salt.

 

redcar had the coolest wine tasting room. very comfortable.

 

brandon was quite the expert since his family owns a vineyard.

this pig happens to be caught in the act. much more visible once you click it...

food and wine. delicious. and these hot dogs were a great surprise. condiments included. had two. I didn't touch the roast of port loin and whole grain mustard. some other cheap places didn't even have food (i.e. dutton!) but others had nice bread and cheese (e.g. redcar with a 1/4 wheel of parmesean served with sourdough).

 brandon's old high school hangout. mom's pies. a quick stop before heading home.

pie for the road! a little tart, so I ate it with nutella I got from la boulange. good combo. ferris captured me in my natural  state. life.

next time: napa!