SWMBO thinks I am awesome...

...because I suggested we take romantic trip to Sonoma wine country. She then mentioned to me in passing that it might be fun for me to stop by Russian River and Langunita's. Our hotel (which she booked) is 1 block from Bear Republic!

I think she might be the one who is awesome! :rockin:

Nice! I'd love to do that trip someday, for now we're "stuck" with the Finger Lakes when we want to get our wine on. Would *love* to spend a few [days] drinking at Russian River.

She's awesome. Russian River is great. Head west from there, hit the pacific coast highway, and drive south to SF. Maybe turnaround at Muir Woods if you want to avoid the city. That's some beautiful land.

If you end up at RR, just get their sampler platter.

Why not go to Paso Robles and go to the Firestone Brewery and there are a lot of Winery in the area. A nice beach is like 45 minutes away, Pismo Beach.

the_bird said:

Nice! I'd love to do that trip someday, for now we're "stuck" with the Finger Lakes when we want to get our wine on. Would *love* to spend a few [days] drinking at Russian River.

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New York State makes the only Rieslings I like. Why do California and Germany insist on 1.5%+ resididual sugar, even in their "dry" rieslings?

And also, they make the best Cab Francs in the world, hands down.

1234 said:

Why not go to Paso Robles and go to the Firestone Brewery and there are a lot of Winery in the area. A nice beach is like 45 minutes away, Pismo Beach.

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We did Paso 2 years ago. It was nice. Napa 2 years before that.

My SWMBO booked us a trip to that area of wine country in a couple of months here as well, looking forward to it

bovineblitz said:

Why do California and Germany insist on 1.5%+ resididual sugar, even in their "dry" rieslings?

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For German winemakers, it's about balancing the incredibly racy acidity that riesling produces in such a cool climate. Think adding sugar to lemon juice to make lemonade. That being said, more than 50% of German wine is truly dry (they just don't export to the US because the expectation here is for sweet). If you like truly dry riesling (I happen to love it), look to Austria (specifically in the Niederosterreich) and Alsace (in France). They have some bone-dry, mouth puckering, mineral-driven, fantastic wines.

As for the OP, if you're that close to Bear Republic, you're staying in Healdsburg, which is a great town. If you're looking for one of the best meals you'll ever have in your life (and possibly one of the most expensive), check out Cyrus. Also, many of the nearby wineries are truly world class. And yes, I definitely recommend you go down to Petaluma to go to Lagunitas. They do an awesome job of having live music and great beer, which is a +1 in my book.

Be sure to go on the lagunitas brewery tour. They always give you lots of samples!!!

Personally, I like the semi-dry Reislings that the better Finger Lakers producers make (we will also buy a few bottles of semi-sweet to give away). The semi-dry is what... maybe about 1% RS? The truly dry ones almost tastes a little thin, a little watery. Just a *little* sweetness brings out the fresh fruitiness, not too much, just a touch.

Help ME!!!!!

I need to trick SWMBO into planning a trip to St Louis so I can visit Schlafly.

So far as I know, St Louis doesn't have the chick appeal of "wine country".

dcott said:

For German winemakers, it's about balancing the incredibly racy acidity that riesling produces in such a cool climate. Think adding sugar to lemon juice to make lemonade. That being said, more than 50% of German wine is truly dry (they just don't export to the US because the expectation here is for sweet). If you like truly dry riesling (I happen to love it), look to Austria (specifically in the Niederosterreich) and Alsace (in France). They have some bone-dry, mouth puckering, mineral-driven, fantastic wines.

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Thanks for the advice I'll check out those areas.

the_bird said:

Personally, I like the semi-dry Reislings that the better Finger Lakers producers make (we will also buy a few bottles of semi-sweet to give away). The semi-dry is what... maybe about 1% RS? The truly dry ones almost tastes a little thin, a little watery. Just a *little* sweetness brings out the fresh fruitiness, not too much, just a touch.

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1% is tasty, I just rarely see 1% and lower anywhere but the Finger Lakes. There's a big difference between 1 and 1.5%, and god forbid 2...


Anyways, I've been looking forward to a Sonoma trip too, I'm trying to convince the gf to do a california/oregon trip for a few weeks. We'd have such a blast... ESPECIALLY now that I know you can get a hotel that close to Bear Republic!!!

My numbers are off a bit. The Dr. Frank semi-dry we love is 2.1%; the "dry" is 0.9%. The Hermann Wiemer semi-dry, another favorite, is 2.4% (dry is 0.8%). Heron Hill's example is like 2.8%. Not sure the percentages for the vintages when we last visited, but something a little north of 2% seems to be our "sweet spot," so to speak.

The "dry" ones for all are good, but I do think that getting just that little bit more sweetness brings out a lot of flavors that aren't present otherwise.

cheezydemon3 said:

Help ME!!!!!

I need to trick SWMBO into planning a trip to St Louis so I can visit Schlafly.

So far as I know, St Louis doesn't have the chick appeal of "wine country".

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Schlafly is fun to visit, the tour is great, the restaurant is awesome, and it's easy to kill time in their bar. St. Louis wine country is HORRIBLE, hahaha.... they don't filter their wines and they're all very very sweet, I almost felt like I was drinking ice wines even when I was told this was their dryest. They also don't know much about their wine... but I digress.

Hm... St. Louis has great casinos, Hubert Keller's Burger Bar is soooo good, the French district is pretty cool, the Budweiser tour is interesting, the arch is really quite impressive, the museums and science center are free and pretty great, there's this place called Fast Eddie's that is a crazy experience (food is incredibly cheap and good, beer is cheap and decent, and it's crazy crowded)... there's a lot of good food, including a great BBQ place (forget the name).

It's a pretty spread out city though, you def need a car.

Just returned from a weekend trip to Asheville NC. My SWMBO let us visit Green Man Brewery and French Broad Brewery. What a great way to spend a sunny Saturday...

If you're going to hit up Lagunitas I would suggest going another 15 minutes south to hit Moylans...Then only another 15 minutes south is Marin Brewing lol, one of the best IPA's I've ever had.

Then again, just going to Russian River and getting the sampler is phenomenal.

bovineblitz said:

Schlafly is fun to visit, the tour is great, the restaurant is awesome, and it's easy to kill time in their bar. St. Louis wine country is HORRIBLE, hahaha.... they don't filter their wines and they're all very very sweet, I almost felt like I was drinking ice wines even when I was told this was their dryest. They also don't know much about their wine... but I digress.

Hm... St. Louis has great casinos, Hubert Keller's Burger Bar is soooo good, the French district is pretty cool, the Budweiser tour is interesting, the arch is really quite impressive, the museums and science center are free and pretty great, there's this place called Fast Eddie's that is a crazy experience (food is incredibly cheap and good, beer is cheap and decent, and it's crazy crowded)... there's a lot of good food, including a great BBQ place (forget the name).

It's a pretty spread out city though, you def need a car.

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Alright, wish me luck!

Thanks for the info.

Thanks to his thread I will be hitting up Russian River Brewery while I'm out in Sonoma valley this weekend. We leave Thursday and come back Monday. We're staying in Santa Rosa, so it should be pretty easy to go. The rest of the time will be chalk full of wine tasting though! Not sure I will have time to make it down to Lagunitas but we'll see.

cheezydemon3 said:

Help ME!!!!!

I need to trick SWMBO into planning a trip to St Louis so I can visit Schlafly.

So far as I know, St Louis doesn't have the chick appeal of "wine country".

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The Missouri Rhineland isn't all that far from St. Louis. I can't comment on the quality of the wine though; I moved to Florida before I was 21.

cheezydemon3 said:

Help ME!!!!!

I need to trick SWMBO into planning a trip to St Louis so I can visit Schlafly.

So far as I know, St Louis doesn't have the chick appeal of "wine country".

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There is a cutisie girly little shopping area called Kimmswick, MO about an hour south of STL. http://www.visitkimmswick.com/. There are a lot of wineries not too far away either but as mentioned most of the wines are on the sweet side. Schlafy is a good tour and the food is top notch. Check out The Hill great Italian food.

zeekage said:

Thanks to his thread I will be hitting up Russian River Brewery while I'm out in Sonoma valley this weekend. We leave Thursday and come back Monday. We're staying in Santa Rosa, so it should be pretty easy to go. The rest of the time will be chalk full of wine tasting though! Not sure I will have time to make it down to Lagunitas but we'll see.

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Lagunitas is only about 12 miles from RRBC. You should go. It's worth the drive, even in traffic.

Sacdan said:

Lagunitas is only about 12 miles from RRBC. You should go. It's worth the drive, even in traffic.

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We'll have to see how timing works out. This'll be the first time we travel with our new baby. He's only 6+ weeks old so his schedule will unfortunately dictate ours to a point. Seems like Lagunitas is only beer + munchies so maybe on our way up from San Fran we can stop there. Then hit up RRBC for dinner one night. Is the food at RRBC good?

BTW, I bought a really nice cover for my kindle from a company in Santa Rosa - http://www.oberondesign.com/.

If you want something handcrafted of leather or pewter, I can attest to the remarkable quality of this thing. If I went back to Santa Rosa, and I wasn't busy drinking, I'd visit this place. I like handcrafted stuff.

Also, the actual river is very nice. There are canoe/kayak rentals right on the river. I'd do that too. If I wasn't busy drinking.

The food is good at RRBC. It is mostly pub food. They make a pretty good pizza. Also try their Redemtion. It is their Valentine's beer.

Fastmetal said:

...because I suggested we take romantic trip to Sonoma wine country. She then mentioned to me in passing that it might be fun for me to stop by Russian River and Langunita's. Our hotel (which she booked) is 1 block from Bear Republic!

I think she might be the one who is awesome! :rockin:

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Awesome! when you going? We are actually heading over there for our Anniversary in a few weeks, there is a barrel tasting event in Sonoma for $20 and you get tastings at a bunch of wineries from the barrels! We are doing Sonoma/Napa and then she even said we need to do RR and Bear Republic! Our SWMBO's rock. Cheers.

passedpawn said:

BTW, I bought a really nice cover for my kindle from a company in Santa Rosa - http://www.oberondesign.com/.

If you want something handcrafted of leather or pewter, I can attest to the remarkable quality of this thing. If I went back to Santa Rosa, and I wasn't busy drinking, I'd visit this place. I like handcrafted stuff.

Also, the actual river is very nice. There are canoe/kayak rentals right on the river. I'd do that too. If I wasn't busy drinking.

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Wow, those covers are very nice looking. Not even a bad price at 70 bucks considering amazon charges like 60 for their basic version and i'm sure it's not nearly as nice. At least those are handcrafted and gorgeous.

the_bird said:

Nice! I'd love to do that trip someday, for now we're "stuck" with the Finger Lakes when we want to get our wine on. Would *love* to spend a few [days] drinking at Russian River.

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I've been to Sonoma and the Finger Lakes Wineries. I give the edge to the Finger Lakes. I'd love to be be stuck in either place.

bovineblitz said:

New York State makes the only Rieslings I like. Why do California and Germany insist on 1.5%+ resididual sugar, even in their "dry" rieslings?

And also, they make the best Cab Francs in the world, hands down.

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+1 on the Rieslings

zeekage said:

Wow, those covers are very nice looking. Not even a bad price at 70 bucks considering amazon charges like 60 for their basic version and i'm sure it's not nearly as nice. At least those are handcrafted and gorgeous.

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They are the real deal. Thick leather, deep 3D embossing, wool interior pad, pewter button for elastic band. True american craftsmanship -in Santa Rosa. I wouldn't have posted otherwise. I thought the homebrew crew here could appreciate that.

TheMan said:

If you're going to hit up Lagunitas I would suggest going another 15 minutes south to hit Moylans...Then only another 15 minutes south is Marin Brewing lol, one of the best IPA's I've ever had.

Then again, just going to Russian River and getting the sampler is phenomenal.

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You are very close to Booneville in that area as well, there's also Fort Bragg (north coast brewing) not too far off. Don't bother with SoCal, that place sucks, well except for the breweries. If you have the time definitely drive out to the coast. Hit up Lagunitas in Petaluma and then head to Healdsburg, from there go north on 101, then take hwy 128 (redwood hwy) through Booneville (Anderson Valley Brewing) to the coast. The valley that 128 goes through has awesome wine as well, I prefer it to any of the wines from Sonoma. This route will take you through the wine country, redwoods, and an absolutely stunning section of California coast. The views and scenery alone make the trip worth it, add good wine and beer and you have a golden vacation (no pun intended). I'm from the Bay Area so I've spent a fair amount of time there. PM me if you want more info.

Ciliorozo said:

Awesome! when you going? We are actually heading over there for our Anniversary in a few weeks, there is a barrel tasting event in Sonoma for $20 and you get tastings at a bunch of wineries from the barrels! We are doing Sonoma/Napa and then she even said we need to do RR and Bear Republic! Our SWMBO's rock. Cheers.

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Not until May. We are in 3 wine clubs and will do tours and barrel tastings at those places. After that we just go where the wind and the wine blows us.

andysim said:

+1 on the Rieslings

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lol, just noticed I said resididual.

cheezydemon3 said:

Help ME!!!!!

I need to trick SWMBO into planning a trip to St Louis so I can visit Schlafly.

So far as I know, St Louis doesn't have the chick appeal of "wine country".

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Southern Illinois has an impressive number of wineries however and one recently opened microbrewery.

Ciliorozo said:

Awesome! when you going? We are actually heading over there for our Anniversary in a few weeks, there is a barrel tasting event in Sonoma for $20 and you get tastings at a bunch of wineries from the barrels! We are doing Sonoma/Napa and then she even said we need to do RR and Bear Republic! Our SWMBO's rock. Cheers.

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You will love the barrel tasting on "Wine Road". My wife and I are going as well. We go to the barrel tasting and the Food & Wine event in November every year. We ALWAYS stop at Bear Republic, RRBC, and Lagunitas! I think we will try to hit Moylans this year too. Some of our favorite wineries are Mill Creek, Matrix, and Hop Kiln.

zeekage said:

We'll have to see how timing works out. This'll be the first time we travel with our new baby. He's only 6+ weeks old so his schedule will unfortunately dictate ours to a point. Seems like Lagunitas is only beer + munchies so maybe on our way up from San Fran we can stop there. Then hit up RRBC for dinner one night. Is the food at RRBC good?

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The beer is what you go there for lol...But the food is good. I'll second the pizza, it was unexpectedly very good.