Birthday Surprise in Sonoma

Today is my birthday!! I am now 26 years of age. The mid-twenties are hilarious. I do my own taxes, yet I am still on my parent’s auto insurance when I visit them in Santa Monica. I have a job and I pay my own rent, yet we still have roommates. I have a book club, yet when we had a housewarming party attendees weren’t allowed to enter without funneling beer from a 30 foot beer funnel out of our 3rd story window. That’s #adulting for ya!

I had been hinted a couple of times that I really wanted to go wine tasting in California wine country, but I had figured I would need to plan it if it was going to happen (that’s more adulting for ya = your parents don’t organize your birthday parties anymore). So on Sunday morning I taught spinning (9:30am at Core40 in Lower Pacific Heights, if you ever want to join!) and had a VIP spinner in my class - Nate - which was awesome. Nate had asked if I could come with him to work on Sunday, and so I thought we were going to spend the day at one of his client’s offices downtown. We showered and got all dressed for work, and he told me he had called a Lyft to take us downtown. I come outside and my “Lyft” driver and passenger happened to be two of our close friends!

My first thought was “wow, what a coincidence that we got placed in the same Lyft as them” but they go “you’re not going to work, you’re going WINE TASTING” and I was just so SHOCKED and excited and I ran upstairs to change my outfits and we were off to Sonoma! I kept saying “I am so excited” but the entire day was really a blur. Surprises always throw me for SUCH a loop!

They had mapped out several vineyards to go to throughout the day, and it was kind of gray and drizzly out and it seemed like the perfect day to hole up inside these cozy wineries andtaste wine. The grapevines had all turned an orange color with the fall, and there were very few crowds. First stop was Cline Cellars, where we even purchased a bottle! Tastings are free here, and they have beautiful grounds to walk around. I think this would be an awesome spot to bring a picnic to and buy a bottle of wine. Then we were off to Schug, and we learned a lot about wine from the guy who was pouring our tastings. This was definitely most peaceful setting to taste wine in, and they had a really cozy feel overall. While the tastings here are not free, we had a special “premier pass” which allowed us to go to a bunch of vineyards either for free or with a major discount: Next was Larsen, where we ate a cheese plate and even had a wine tasting that came with a chocolate tasting! This tasting was $10, but I think we only needed to pay for one for all of us with the pass. Their sparkling rose wine was my favorite!

They also had an insane gingerbread house…see below. Yes, that wine barrel is gingerbread! We played some bocce ball here, and they had lots of dogs and kids running around. I really liked it. Then we drove into Sonoma downtown for dinner at The Girl and the Fig - probably the most famed restaurant in Sonoma with French and California inspired cuisine! The wine didn’t stop, and I had a white varietal flight with my dinner. We shared a delicious bread to start that was a seed and grainy sourdough, and then I split this panini with Nate and ate a ton of his matchstick fries. My panini had homemade charcuterie, brie, a red onion jam and arugula.

For dessert we each had a chocolate dipped fig, and shared port wine and dessert cocktails!

It was a WONDERFUL day, with great company and scenery, and I couldn’t think a better way to ring in 26. I am so appreciative to Nate and our friends for organizing and coordinating and dealing with my low alcohol intolerance!! We “cheered” our wine glasses to 26 enough times that I think it’s going to be a great year.

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