Day One (Tue): Arrive in Sacramento from Buffalo. Drive two hours to Sonoma- have lunch in town outside. Weather is 75-sunny. Drive to Santa Rosa, unpack, grocery shop, make dinner, uncork local Syrah, eat with Mike and Marty.
Day Two (Wed): Woke early. Met Rob at Select to fill out paper work etc. Got physical, passed. Walked around Jack London Park. Went on a wine run, grilled dinner (portabella’s, corn, veggie medley).
Day Three (Thursday): Spoke with Alex (asst. winemaker) at Matanzas Creek. Alex schooled us on the wine biz. Met Chris (from Boston) at tasting room and tasted entire list- walked in lavender fields…it is 11am. Went to smog car. Arrived at DMV for 2nd time that day-spent 2 1/2 hours there to get CA license. Surprisingly had to take written driving test, hilariously almost failed.
Day Four (Fri): Woke late. Drove to Guerenville (sublime scenic drive- back roads and woods) and spent day at Johnson Beach- Lots of loud kids, families, water was refreshing. Stopped at fake farmers market. Cooked pasta dish with mike, had a killer 07 Zin from Ridge.
Day Five (Sat): Tasting at Arrowood. Stopped in Sonoma town. Tasting Bartholemew-tasted entire list-met a gent from Wellsley. Bought a big Zin with industry discount. Picnic on estate.
Stopped at grocery to grab food and video (The Savages). G&t's -dinner-movie with marty and jackie-bed
Day Six (Sun): Late start. Best Western Sonoma Pool Side. G&T's on the patio. Pasta and salad w/ syrah. Scotch to end. Read 100 pages of "The Road". Watched Bourdain and Blaine. Finishing "Funny People". Downloading "Informers" soundtrack. Work starts tomorrow.
