winery

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On our past few visits to Sonoma (here, here, here, and here) we always ran out of time to visit one of the wineries that I wanted to visit most, Michel-Schlumberger. When planning last week’s trip, we made a point of making Michel-Schlumberger first, and thanks to the magic of Twitter, we were on an 11:00 tour of the winery with VP of Marketing and Direct to Consumer Sales, Jim Morris.

We started out in the winery’s courtyard, a beautiful open space built in the style of an old California Mission house.

Michel Schlumberger Michel Schlumberger Winery

In addition to a frog pond, the courtyard also hosts tables that contain information on the magnificent ecosystem that Michel-Schlumberger has developed and maintained. The winery is organically farmed, an eco-friendly practice which lends itself to some problems with some very interesting natural solutions. For example, to curb the issue of vineyard pests, they make the property a homey place for birds of prey by placing simple perches and birdhouses throughout the vineyards.

Michel Schlumberger courtyard Michel Schlumberger

They also wait to drain this pond and fill it with clean water until the pollywogs like the little guy on the right grow up and move out. 😉

Michel Schlumberger courtyard

The grounds are host to organic gardens, bee hives, a chicken coop that is home to some dwindling native chicken species, lawn-mowing sheep :), and an olive grove that is home to bad-insect-eating ladybugs. All of these living components serve some purpose in helping Michel-Schlumberger sustainably grow organic grapes that produce stellar wines. It also makes for an incredibly special tour experience.

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Michel Schlumberger bee hives Michel Schlumberger olive trees

Michel-Schlumberger’s vines grow along the hillsides of the Dry Creek Valley, where the soils, rainfall, fog, and temperatures throughout the year make up the unique terroir of the region. The vines here struggle, creating low yields of small fruit with concentrated but elegant flavors.

Michel Schlumberger vineyards

Michel Schlumberger vineyards

The views from Michel-Schlumberger’s vineyards are some of the best in Sonoma. Every which way you look, there’s lots of green, brown, and blue. And the smell of the dry earth and all of the vines and nature is pretty intoxicating. I’ll let you in on the fact that I love the way farm animals smell. My husband, who grew up tending sheep, thinks I am insane, but I love to breathe it in!

Dry Creek Valley

Our walk up the hill and through the winery certainly worked up a thirst, and there was no better way to quench it than with a tasting of Michel-Schlumberger wine. We arrived back in the courtyard to a beautifully set table and got down to the wine, starting with their 2009 La Bise Pinot Blanc.

wine tasting at Michel Schlumberger MicheL Schlumberger tasting menu

This is definitely one of my new favorite white wines and was absolutely perfect for the day we were having, strong sun with a nice cool breeze. This wine is really refreshing with a nice acidity and truly is perfect on its own but could be really great with food, especially one of my spicy coconut curries 🙂

Michel Schlumberger Pinot Blanc Michel Schlumberger

While all of the wines were really delicious, another one of the standouts for me was the 2006 Le Sage Merlot which offered definite flavors of fresh blueberries. And while I came to the Dry Creek Valley in search of Zinfandel, it was Syrah that truly captured my heart this time around. I love the dark fruits, spice, and hint of oak that were abundant in the 2006 La Source Syrah.

We ended up joining the winery’s Wine Bench club, and I am already looking forward to receiving their wines in the fall.

The time we spent at Michel-Schlumberger was full of great information, beauty, many laughs, and one of a kind wines and resulted in a completely new appreciation for sustainable winemaking and the committed people behind it. If you are planning on visiting Sonoma, don’t wait as long as I did to make an appointment for a tour of Michel-Schlumberger.

And if you live in the US, make sure to enter my Harvard Sweet Boutique giveaway!

Tags: Dry Creek Valley, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Tasting Room, travel. Sonoma County, wine, wine tasting, winemaking, winery, winery tour

Hello Travel, Eat, Love readers. I’m Clarice from A Crumb Falls. Meghan’s love of wine is one of my favorite things about her blog, which makes me think you, her readers, will like this guest post.

I read somewhere you should never drink wine with an animal in the title. I guess you can’t believe everything you read. Enter the first wine I ever loved.

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One of Jeremy’s (my husband) math colleagues introduced us to Bully Hill wines. My favorite Bully Hill wine is “Love My Goat Red.” From the first glass I had, I knew I loved this wine and needed to buy more bottles. This wine is smooth, subtle, and slightly sweet. It’s good to drink almost anytime, but is probably best after or with pasta. It’s the type of wine you can drink by a fire in the winter or on the porch in the summer. While this wine doesn’t have much depth, it is without a doubt one of my favorite wines to drink. It’s often on sale for $9, which make it extremely affordable.

IMG_3069Coming in at a close second, as far as Bully wines go, “Goat White” which is similar to a Riesling. Bully Hill is located in the Finger Lakes region of central New York. While I haven’t been to the winery yet, it’s definitely on my list of places to go.

One of my favorite parts whenever I open a bottle is finding out which cork I’ll get. There are three rotating corks; “wine with laughter” is my personal favorite.

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What’s the first wine you ever loved?

There are lots of nicer wines I enjoy, and I doubt you’ll ever find this wine on a sommelier’s list, but I think this wine will always have a place in the cellar.

 

 Thanks, Clarice, for sharing some delicious value wines with us! I actually had someone on Twitter tell me that I HAVE to visit Bully Hill, so your post makes me want to go to the Finger Lakes VERY soon!

Tags: Finger Lakes, guest post, wine, wine review, winery

Happy Solstice! With a busy week ahead, I am still reflecting on my beachy mini vacation last weekend. . .

Part of the Cape trip tradition is a yummy breakfast, and last year my friend Raija started making us her uncle’s famous waffle recipe for breakfast. Luckily she was willing to share the recipe with all of us!  I paired my waffle with a bowl of cherries and a spicy Bloody Mary 😉

homemade waffles bowl of cherries

Since it was cloudy and a bit chilly last weekend, we opted to hang out at the beach in front of our cottage. It was a lot of fun spending the morning doing nothing but catching up. The scenery was pretty amazing as well.

Cape Cod flowers

Cape Cod beach path

beach snail

After lots of relaxing, it was time to head to the Taste of Truro at Truro Vineyards. We last visited the vineyards a few weeks ago, and I was excited to attend another event at this beautiful property and to try more Truro Vineyards wines.

First we had a little photo shoot.

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Then it was time to do some wine tasting! I ran into the fabulous Mara who I met at the Coastal Wine Trail kickoff and who also happens to have a really great blog, and she recommended the 2008 Maritime Zinfandel which is brand new and which I was already eyeing up, given my Zinfandel love.

image Truro Vineyards Zinfandel

It was really good! It had some great berry flavors and a little bit of spice. It was actually the perfect choice for the day that was in it, and I instantly wanted to pair it with broiled salmon with cherry compote.

I also split a glass of Vignoles with my friend; I had really enjoyed its crisp, fruity flavors at the Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff and liked it just as much a second time.

Truro Vineyards Zinfandel Truro Vineyards

One thing that was different than our last visit to the vineyard were the vines themselves! Tiny little grapes are everywhere just waiting to spend their summer taking in the sun and growing big and fat to make more wine for us! 😉 It’s just so interesting to watch the weather and to see its affect on the grapes and thus the wine itself. Hopefully it will be a good year.

Truro Vineyards Grapes

Truro Vineyards Grapes

The Taste of Truro had a variety of delicious food offerings from local restaurants as well which made it perfect to try out new places. These clams with chorizo looked and smelled amazing.

clams and chorizo

There was also lobster chowder, arancini, whole grains salad, and a variety of other treats. I love “Taste of” events. Luckily this week I am going to Taste of Cambridge!

Truro Vineyards wine glasses

Taste of Truro, like the rest of my visit to the Cape, was a great way to spend time with friends. We followed our wine adventure with a trip back into Provincetown, some dress shopping, oysters with some killer spicy horseradish at The Lobster Pot, and finally dinner at Front Street, an incredible P-town restaurant that deserves its own post!

Lobster Pot Provincetown oysters in Provincetown

Provincetown, MA Front Street Provincetown

I hope you are all having a great Monday so far. I am so excited for the week ahead; there is lots of fun to be had at a variety of blogger events, and I can’t wait to see everyone, eat great food, drink good wine, and to have lots to blog about!  I will also be introducing my “Dinner in 10” and “Wine from Where?” series that I hope to keep going periodically on the blog. Finally, I am excited to say that based on my BBQ & Beer post, the husband decided he does indeed need to have Buster’s BBQ in Calistoga on his birthday. We are going to wine country in July! Woop woop!

Siggi’s winners will be announced on Wednesday, so don’t forget to enter!

Tags: beach, breakfast, Cape Cod, Food, provincetown, recipe, Truro, vacation, waffles, wine, winery

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