Mike’s maps

Kevin and Melinda had been great hosts, but finally it was time to head on so they could have their TV room back.  Driving north we headed over to Sonoma for breakfast.  Sonoma was a town we loved on our a honeymoon so very many years ago.  The town square in the middle of Sonoma never really seems to change, and I always feel almost back home there.  There was a particular sense of deja vu this time, as we did exactly the same thing we did last time we came through – ate in the bakery while waiting for the info center to open across the street, then stopped in for some wine touring maps.

The navigator’s seat

From there we headed out to do a little wine tasting.  We wanted to find some places we had not been to or heard of before.  Our rule for wine tasting is the smaller and more obscure the winery the better.  First we found a nice small place called Imagery Winery.  Doing a little research, I now see that they were voted the 2013 Best Sonoma Winery – what a find!  Bull, our host there, explained that this was a small side project of one of the members of the Benziger family ( a BIG name in Sonoma wine making). The wines are available only at the winery, so we were extra glad we found it.

The gardens at Imagery

Bull proceeded to take us through a large range of their wines.  Since it was a Tuesday morning, the place was not very busy until a tour group came in.  We did not make tasting notes, so we’ll just have to wait for the wines we ordered to arrive so that we can refresh our memories, but everything he poured was delicious.  (Several days later – the wines just arrived.  The ones we particularly loved were the Upper Ridge Malbec and the Petit Sirah Port.  We’ll be trying some out tonight.)

The vineyards of Sonoma

We asked Bull where else we should go in the valley and he recommended VJB winery, another place where the wines are only available at the winery.  We drove up there next.  They emphasized mostly Italian style wines.  They tended towards the medium bodied and lush. The tasting room was located off a central piazza. Also off the piazza was an outdoor kitchen that on the weekend offers wood-fired pizza, chicken, and other yummy items. They also had a full meat and cheese deli,so we picked up a couple of packages of sliced salami for later. We’ll have some of their wines arriving soon as well!

The Boulevard Theater in Petaluma

Next we headed back down to Petaluma to meet up with our friends Holly and John.  They had moved down from Seattle just a few weeks before so Holly could join her sister’s adoption law practice.  We had not been to Petaluma before.  It seemed like a very nice small town, with a beautiful river running through it and a number of interesting shops. We particularly liked the movie theater and its retro look.  We would have liked to spend more time there looking around, but we had miles to go.