Lunch and/or dinner one day in Sonoma
 

Hi all!
Fine tuning our Calif itinerary, and have a questions regarding Sonoma. We are a family of four (two adults, two teens) staying in San Francisco for four weekdays in April (not weekend). On one day we are going to take the car and drive up the Sonoma Highway to visit both Benzinger Vineyard with it's tram tour and and Chateau St. Jean with it's lovely gardens.
Does anyone have a sense that one would be better to visit before the other, as far as driving ease or tour quality or content? Or is there a wonderful restaurant near one that we should consider for either lunch or dinner? Any suggestions- aside from leaving the teen-agers back at the hotel! :) -for helping make this a "perfect day" would be appreciated! Just to clarify, one "meal" will be more light snack or picnic, one full sit down, but I don't necessarily care which comes first! Do want to make sure, however, we have daylight hours to finish both tours. Thanks again for any tips or advice!

Any locals in the know? Anybody?

With my limping computer (I type and it responds 2.5 minutes later!) I have figured out what I think is a good plan. From SF, we will take Rt 101 North, then Rt 12 to Kenwood for Chateau St. Jean. They seem to have a nice take out cafe, and lovely gardens for a picnic. Then, we'll continue south on Sonoma Highway to Benziger in Glen Ellen for the tram tour. I think, after that, we'll head southwest to Petaluma for an early dinner at the Girl and the Fig. How does that sound? Doable at a nice pace for one day? Would there be another vineyard close by to add? Any recent visitors to this restaurant care to comment? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Benziger also has picnic sites, and next door is the Jack London State Park. BTW, I am underwhelmed by Benziger's tram tour, but their wines are good. The tables in the parking lot are not appealing, but there is a picnic table near the ruins of the Wolf House which has never been taken every time I go there.

If you reverse your itinerary, you can pick up picnic items in Sonoma (and see the town at the same time).

Dreamer2
What happened to Dreamer1? :-) Seriously, we enjoyed the tram tour, we felt it was very informative. What really impressed us however was our lunch at Chateau Souverain Winery. The food was wonderful and the vineyards are directly before you. If it's warm you could eat outside. We ate in but had a window view. This particuliar winery charges for wine tasting, most in Sonoma do not, but if you are having lunch there they do not charge you.

Dreamer2
Forgot to add this: wwwchateausouverain.com

If you do 101 to 12 you will miss the scenic rooute by going through Santa Rosa and the very conufusing Hwy 12 interchange. This local suggests:
101 North to Hwy 37 toward
Vallejo/Sonoma/Napa left off 37 at
Sears Pt. onto Hwy 121. Continue on about 5-7 miles ( you will pass Viansa,which has a great deli, Cline
and Gloria Ferrar(champagne). At the 3 way stop turn right towards Sonoma/Schellville. About 2 miles up you'll run into 12 (take a left) and this will take you into the town of Sonoma. Park somewhere around the square. Here you can have your pick of
deli's-I think Sonoma Jack would be fun
for the free samples of their cheese.
You could picnic there or in the square for lunch. From the square, continue on up 12 to Chateau St. Jean in Kenwood. After CSJ come back on 12 for 2 seconds and make a right turn on 121 through the Valley of the Moon, into Glen Ellen and on to Benzinger.If it's still not dinner time,consider a visit to Jack London State Park. From Glen Ellen
go south on Arnold Drive (you will be skirting the west side of Sonoma) until Arnold runs into 116. Hang a right and continue on to Petaluma. If it's still a bit early for dinner you can stroll around downtown-your kids will love a store called Jungle Vibes. Now about the girl & the fig-it is wonderful, that said, be advised it is French food and all the wines are French varietals.
I wonder if this will appeal to your kids? If not, I would suggest the Central Market-about six doors down
on Petaluma Blvd.
Happy to answer any questions!
R5

We just returned from two days in this area. It was perfect and we really did a lot in the two days we had.

We loved the Chateau St. Jean and the Ledson wineries. Our lunch at Chateau Souverain was very nice. I posted full meal reports on the Chowhound.com food board.

Our lunch at the Girl and the Fig was excellent and our dinner in Sonoma at Cafe La Haye was also very good. I've been to Benzinger a few times, but was underimpressed with it. They do have a nice gift shop where I pick up items for family.

If you are in the Healdsburg/Geyserville area around dinner time, check out the Dry Creek Kitchen located at the Hotel Healdsburg. We had the tasting menu and it was very good! Have a great trip!

BTW, I had some of the Chateau Souverain Chenin Blanc we picked up with some calamari linguine for dinner last night. We finally acquired a set of white Riedel wine glasses and it was heaven on earth! Make sure you taste this one. If you dine at the Alexander Valley Grille (Chateau Souverain) you will also receive 20% off your wine purchases as well as a complimentary tasting. (just present your wine cork to the pourer!! ) ***kim***

Thank you all so much! RazzleDazzle, that's just the kind of "local" info I was hoping for! I will also look into adding another stop: perhaps Ledson, Gloria Ferrar, or Chateau Souverain. Will have to decide whether to dine at the latter or Girl/Fig!
PS to CD: Dreamer1 had a nightmare. Poor thing.

Ledson wines are very unique to their winery and the estate is beautiful. I have found the Chateau Souverain wines at Trader Joe's.

The Alexander Valley Grille or the Girl and the Fig are both excellent choices. Let us know how it goes! ***kim***

On our last trip to Sonoma a few months ago, we discovered the beautiful new Ledson Hotel with its downstairs restaurant and wine bar, Harmony Club, located right on the Square. Its handsome brick and wrought iron facade, lively restaurant and extremely tasty-sounding small plates menu drew us in right away, as did the efficient host who whisked us in to a good table, even though we already had lunch reservations at girl and the fig! A cup of decadent lobster-corn bisque with mini lemon-dill biscuits and several 2 oz. glasses of their good wines later, we were very glad we did. I understand their wines are not for sale at very many places, so we were interested in tasting some. Next trip, I'd surely plan to check out the winery.

After a little shopping around the square, we hit girl and the fig for lunch on their sunny patio. It was quite good, but I favored the wine flights over the food (I think our snack at the Ledson Hotel might have had something to do with that :) I had the white flight, hubby had the red, and between us, we shared several very nice, unusual wines. Service was perfect.

That morning we had driven thru Petaluma and stopped at the girl and the fig there, just to see what it looked like. Years ago it was called The River Cafe and we enjoyed it very much. This place looks like a winner, too--overlooking the river, cheerful colors, great menu--I only wish we could have eaten there. Hope you have the chance to enjoy it and this beautiful area.

HI WineryCat! I'll have to check out the Ledson Hotel next time. We saw the building when we walked around the plaza. Their winery is very pretty (lots of amazing brickwork) and the wines are very good. ***kim***

Hi Kim! I would have loved to check out the rooms at this tiny (6 rooms!) luxury hotel. Their website ledsonhotel.com describes, but no pics! Sounds nice. We didn't know it at the time, but it had only been open a month when we visited. The servers had not quite gotten into a smooth dance yet, but by now I imagine they have.

I think I remember them saying that the Ledson wines are not distributed at all, only available at the winery and the hotel. Was that your take on it? What an intriguing operation, I look forward to visiting the "castle", it looks gorgeous! Enjoyed your report.

Yes, that is definitely the take on their wines. You can only purchase them at their winery. The pourer was very informative and told us of all the cool functions that go on there.

I'd like to read some history on the Ledson family. Very interesting and quite a prestigious name around that area. The gift shop is also huge and very pretty.

I've seen the Chateau Souverain, and many of the Sonoma wines at places like Long's, Ralphs & Trader Joes. Even Costco carries our favorite Blackstone Merlot for a great price.

The Ledson wines were pricey, I think we chose one their Zins and Pinot Noirs, but I'm not certain.

I've really been enjoying our Chenin Blanc from the Chateau Souverain this week with some pasta and chicken dishes I've cooked while hubby and sons were in the Seaside/Astoria, OR area this week.

Where and when is your next trip? Anything exciting for Spring Break? We're either going to Long Beach, CA for a swim meet or Astoria, OR for a week. ***kim***

IMHO Ledson is a marketing marvel! Wonderful stop for the easily impressed.
CutE castle (think Hollywod facade) brings them in every time. What glam mag was this place writen up in?! Yikes it's embarassing when there are so many
Quality producers here-sigh, I guess
that's what some folks come for.
R5

C'mon R5, tell us what you really think! Thanks so much for the kind words. I love being referred to as a "dupe". A few months ago you were toasting me, but it seems the rose is off the glass--have I offended you in some way?

What little I know about Ledson is that I was very impressed with their beautiful cafe, their excellent food and we thought the wines were very good. (Great people watching too, there seemed to be several interesting-looking locals on the sidewalk cafe that lots of people stopped to talk with.)

We've been doing "wine country" all over the state for many years--I think we've done most of them and I'm no stranger to good wine. I'm not easily impressed either, on the contrary, I'm very picky, not just about wine, but restaurants,hotels and a high-quality travel experience. So when we saw this new place, naturally we were interested in knowing more. I must admit, I am a sucker for a castle, in Europe as well as the US, always have been. Think Chateau Montelena, which has always been one of my favorite spots, not just for the excellent wines, but for the CASTLE (the beautiful picnic spot on the lake doesn't hurt anything, either). And I'm looking forward to seeing the Ledson castle too, ever since I saw a picture of it at the Ledson Hotel. What could possibly be bad about that?

Kim: Enjoy your new wines in your new crystal glasses--special wine glasses do make any wine taste better :) As for travel, I'm itching to get back to the Santa Ynez Valley for some new wine tasting. Tiny little Los Olivos is a favorite, or maybe little Ballard, haven't decided yet. Hope to get up there sometime this spring, but who knows??? Have a good trip to Long Beach or Astoria!

Just found this and thought some would be interested to know: GENOA, Italy (AP) - Claus Riedel, an Austrian who pioneered and made glasses in different shapes according to the variety of wine being consumed, has died, his company said. He was 79.

www.ledson.com has all that history on the Ledson family I was looking for. Boy, what an interesting bunch of people!

WineryCat: I am truly enjoying our new Riedel glasses. I can't believe the difference they make! Did I mention that we picked up four for $24.97 at Trader Joe's? They're probably the bottom of the line, buy hey they're Riedel glasses and I love them!! ***kim***

Hey, Kim, I just visited the ledson website too--5 generations of Sonoma County family farming and wine growing, these people are OK. And that castle :) (I think in my previous life I must have been a French Queen) :) The week-end summer concerts and BBQ's sound good. But I was most pleased to see the many awards their wines have won locally. We thought they were very well made. Wine Spectator and the rest gave them good marks too. Well, what do you know? Ha, ha I got the Reidel 4-pack at Trader Joe's around Christmas too. I like 'em better than what I had also. Happy sipping!

To R5 and anyone else who might be interested:
Re: Ledson wines

On the ledson.com website, I found a list under Restaurants, which names retailers that carry the wines. More importantly, I found the name of my wine merchant, a very knowledgeable and well-respected wine seller.

Wanting to purchase this wine myself, I talked with them at length about Ledson wines, the winery and the Sonoma County family who owns it. They confirmed what I already believed: Ledson wines are premium, boutique wines that are very well-respected in the industry, as is the Ledson family. He also felt they were priced well. When I told him the negative comments that had been said about the Ledson castle being a "Hollywood-like facade selling less than quality wines", he commented "what a jerk."

In his opinion, the Reserve Chardonnay and Merlots were some of their best wines. It might have been a Reserve Chard that received the 93 points from Wine Spectator. If you like a sweet dessert wine with strong flavors of orange, peach and pear, their Orange Muscat has won several medals recently--just don't pair it with chocolate. See the website for more details.

You know, I don't appreciate the politics I'm beginning to see here--you may know your area very well, and you're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I have to wonder why you felt the need to bash this place so unfairly and us for showing an interest in it. I believe there's room for all of us here, so please just take it easy.

Winerycat: Now that you've relayed that you think I'm "a jerk" I guess you must feel pretty good about yourself. I never said Ledson's wine were of questionable quality. I did say that IMHO they were over the top in their marketing-specifically thinking of their castle-and there are so many
excellent wineries without such enourmous economic reserves that they are overlooked.
You are correct that all opinions are welcome here, it's a pity you had to spend so much time making mine invalid and it's too bad you took my comments so personally. I shall do my utmost to never diasgree with you again.
I apologize to Dreamer2,as it seems my remarks were taken the wrong way and,
thus I unknowingly hijacked your initial inquiry.
R5

We did purchase some of the orange muscat. It's wonderful! Why not have chocolate with it?

There is the Shallon winery in Astoria, OR which makes a killer orange-chocolate wine that I love over Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream. ***kim***

R5:
Yeah, that's a good one, shift the blame onto me. Go back and read what you wrote--it's so thick with hostility against the winery and the stupid "easily impressed" people who'd go there. If you meant something else, you should have said what you meant, not what you wrote. And coming right after my and another's post, what else could we possibly think you were referring to? It was most insulting, IMO.

And absolutely, my time following up on this could have been spent much more productively elsewhere. However, I felt your post was so misleading, I had to respond to it and to find what the truth was for myself. If anyone was trying to make themselves look better, I felt it was you, at others' expense.

Now, after all this,I hope at least one thing will have been accomplished--that people reading this will understand that the Ledson winery is a producer of quality wine and that they have a beautiful winery, hotel and restaurant. Unless you have an aversion to beautiful things and places, this should please most people--they are lovely places to visit. I'm very much looking forward to seeing them all. And yes, Dreamer2, sorry for the detour, perhaps something good came out of it for you, if nothing but a good laugh.

Ah, Kim, a breath of fresh air. Glad to hear you got some of the Orange Muscat and like it alot. I'm not sure why my wine guy said no chocolate--ordinarily you'd think that orange and chocolate would be a perfect match. Do you think it has something to do with the lesser flavors of peach and pear? I don't know, but he was pretty strong about not pairing it with chocolate. If you'd like, I'd be happy to call him back and get a better explanation for you. But if you've already tried it with chocolate and like it, then I say, enjoy...to each his own!

Wow...orange chocolate wine, I've never had that--I'll bet that's one amazing dessert!

Please everyone, listen to winerycat-
she/he must be right. No other opinions count here.
Winerycat has spoken!
Amen!
R5

Ha ha ha! Oh, R5, there you go again, but of course you didn't mean anything by your last post, I'm just taking it too personally, right? :) Look, let's call it a day, I'm really getting bored with this. Happy travels to ya!

No, I haven't actually tried it with chocolate yet. Yes, ask him. I would also be interested in what desserts that he would recommend with it.

I'm a NOVICE wine lover, I love advice from experts!!! Report back on that, please! I'm assuming it would pair nicely with a fruit and cheese platter but what else? ***kim***

OK, I'll dredge this thing up again for you Kim (and whoever else's interested). I have the info you wanted about what to serve with the Ledson Orange Muscat dessert wine, per my wine guy.

Re: the chocolate, he felt that chocolate clashes a little with it, but you could do it, if you like it. He thought the ideal wine with chocolate is Port.

Cheese: Semi-soft cheese would work well with it, like a Fontina or something of that sort. Or any of the blues, such as Roquefort or others. The combination of the sweet wine and the salty cheese is what makes it work so well.

Fruit: The same flavors already in the wine, such as peaches, or tropical fruit would work well.

Desserts: Also good served with simple cakes, like pound cake, or a simple cookie, like a madeleine or a pastry.

Oh, this is making me hungry. Doesn't this sound good? The expert's advice is nice to have (one benefit of having a close wine merchant whose taste you trust), but in the end, it boils down to what you like, so experiment and have fun with it.

Just in case you don't have these, I've added 3 good wine websites that I like:
hitimewine.net (the best!)
pikeandwestern.com (across from Pike Place Market, Seattle)--specializing in wines from the NW, some CA, and others
bevmo.com

Lots of excellent wine info here--next thing you know, you'll be the expert! :)

Thanks for all the great info, Winerycat! If you ever make it over to Astoria, OR check out the Shallon Winery. The New York Times mentioned it in their article on Astoria a couple of weeks ago.

He also makes a killer wine called Lemon Meringue which is very good! I hope you get to visit "The Castle" on your next visit to Sonoma.

Chateau St. Jean was also a favorite. Wow, what a gorgeous place! ***kim***

Kim & Cat, I so want to taste all you discribed above! Sounds so lusious!
I don't know how any of you do it, I just returned from a week for Glen Ellen, St Helena, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Bodega Bay and Jenner. I'm so painfully frustrated, as I feel I didn't even get started! The area is so rich, there are endless "must visit's"!I'm already working on another return trip.

Did you stay at the Bodega Bay Lodge & Spa? Where were some places that you ate in the areas you mentioned? Inquiring minds want to know! LOL ***kim***

Has anyone sta