Welcome to part two of my California trip recaps! After San Francisco (recap here!) we spent two days in Sonoma, two days in Napa, and then our last day back in San Francisco.
We arrived in Sonoma on Monday afternoon. Monday was a very fun day! We planned to stop at Gloria Ferrer, a winery known for their sparkling wines, on our way from San Francisco to our Air BNB in Sonoma. We were hungry on our drive and first stopped at a different winery, Viansa, for a sandwich and a glass of wine before Gloria Ferrer.
Neither my mom nor I had heard of Viansa before, but it was just down the road from Gloria Ferrer and had a "marketplace" on the sign, so we pulled in and I am so glad we did! It was the perfect "first" winery for me. The views were beautiful and the environment was really casual... we had a glass of wine and sat out overlooking the vineyard while we ate without any crowd or anything.
We stopped at Gloria Ferrer next for a tasting. We sat on their patio, which overlooked their vineyard similar to Viansa. I had their winery exclusive sparkling flight which was fabulous. We ended up purchasing the Blanc de Noirs (my personal favorite type of sparkling wine!) to drink the next day on my birthday.
After Gloria Ferrer we made it to our Air BNB and spent the afternoon by the pool. We stayed at the Wolf + Horseshoe in Sonoma, which was a fabulously decorated, quaint farm + estate.
After a couple of hours by the pool we got ready and ventured into downtown Sonoma for a late dinner! We went to Oso, which was by far my favorite meal of the trip. The food was so delicious... we shared the deviled eggs, broccolini, mussels, and the shortrib. We ended up taking the majority of the shortrib home with us because we got full, but it was probably my favorite dish of the trip. I can't even describe how fabulous it was!
Tuesday was my birthday!! We woke up and went into town for coffees and a little walk around the Sonoma square.
My mom hired a driver for my birthday so we could go to a few wineries without having to worry about driving home. This was the best idea, because I think it's safe to say that after a few 21st birthday shenanigans throughout the day neither of us were in condition to operate a vehicle (but isn't that how it should be?!) ;)
Our first stop was J for more bubbles. I loved J. Not only was the wine spectacular, but the grounds were so pretty and the people couldn't have been nicer! It was so exciting to officially get "carded" for the first time!! Haha
Our second stop was a little bit of a drive out. We drove to Healdsburg to Preston for a little picnic. We grabbed cheese and beautiful heirloom tomatoes from the market and my mom and I shared a bottle of their white wine.
Our third stop was at VJB. We did another tasting and it was fun but at this point I was exhausted and needed a nap! We went back to the Air BNB after this one and took a nap for a couple hours before a late dinner at El Dorado Kitchen.
One of my aunts was so sweet and had a bottle of wine sent to our table at our dinner. We shared the paella and a few appetizers and it was all delicious! The restaurant was lovely.
Wednesday we essentially took the day off. Haha. After Monday and Tuesday being a little bit of a bender, we were pretty wined out and needed a break. We did some shopping and a few other lowkey, fun things that aren't really worth mentioning. Eventually we drove to our hotel in Napa!
...stop by tomorrow for part 3 of our trip: Napa!
xoxo
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