Now that we are home from Florida, we can get to the real task of celebrating the birthdays. The first time George and I had a joint birthday celebration was when I was 29 and he was 34. That’s a span of some 35 years. Of course, we have had some breaks when he and Karen moved to California and it took us 12 years to come to our senses and move to California too!
Today we start the day with wine tasting at Stone Edge Farm Winery. Our old friend and winery manager, Phillipe who used to work at Chateau St. Jean, is there to show us the property and give us a private tasting.
Phillipe leads us around the vineyard discussing their various cultivars and his hopes for the winery. We stop before an old barn and are ushered inside to a lovely tasting room. The wines we sample with Phillipe are stupendous! And there is a platter of tasty snacks to eat. One new hors d’oeuvre to try is dukkah, a middle eastern spice mix that is served with bread dipped in oil. Yum!
After lunch at La Salette in Sonoma, we head off to do a little more tasting and end up in Yountville where we have dinner at Michael Chiarello’s Bottega. It is a fine birthday celebration this year and I look forward to many more.
