We have definitely been busy tasting, just not writing about it. So sorry! I’ll attempt to catch up. Since the beginning of June we attended the Summer Open House and Marketplace at Grand Cru Custom Crush as well as a Rhone Rangers event in Sonoma. We visited and tasted at Maggy Hawk, Dry Creek Vineyard, Aperture, Sixteen600, Iron Horse, Gary Farrell, and Hartford Family. We experienced a beautiful french food pairing with wines from Perri Jaye at Maison Porcella in Windsor, CA.. Over pizza, we met Matt Duffy and tried his Vaughn Duffy reds and we found a favorite new restaurant in Sebastopol called Goldfinch.

The Grand Cru Custom Crush event is always a great budget friendly event to attend. Wineries that crush in the facility have the opportunity to show off their wines and local vendors and food purveyors along with live music add to creating a pretty nice afternoon. They have a Winter Open House as well so check their website for details.

Standout favorites from the event were the wines of Jeff Cohn (second from right above) and the patés from the vendor Maison Porcella.

We had the pleasure of trying Maison Porcella a few weeks before when we learned they were offering a pairing of foods with Perri Jaye Wines. The restaurant/shop is fairly new to the area and an incredibly welcome addition. Owners, Maud and Marc-Henri’s creations are fantastic patés, savory pastries, parisian style ham and lovely side salads. The very best picnic foods in my mind!

Winemaker, Perri Haughwout Castaldi poured her Rosé of Pinot Noir and an Estate Pinot Noir. Both were perfect pairings, delightful Russian River wines with and without food.

Salud!