Healdsburg Archives - Hungry Travelers

Healdsburg

Moshin calculates exceptional biodynamic Pinot Noir

Posted on January 3, 2018February 23, 2018 by Pat and David

You could say that Rick Moshin (above) is a calculating fellow. Before the proprietor and winemaker at Moshin Vineyards (10295 Westside Road, Healdsburg, 707-433-5499, moshinvineyards.com) got into the business, he was a math instructor at San Jose State. The skills have served him well. He keeps the big picture of winemaking in his head like a blackboard full of calculations while still managing to pay attention to every detail. His wines are like elegant solutions to complex problems. They have a kind of Pythagorean grace. “Biodynamic is the wave of the future,” he said when we visited him in November. He's not doctrinaire about it. The most important principles, he believes, are those that treat the soil like a living organism that constantly recycles whatever...Read More

California cuisine comes full circle at Dry Creek Kitchen

Posted on December 20, 2017February 24, 2018 by Pat and David

What began in northern California when Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in 1971 has evolved into the easy sophistication of Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen (317 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 707-431-0330, drycreekkitchen.com). Chez Panisse launched so-called California cuisine, the forerunner of the farm-to-table dining revolution. A generation younger than Waters, New York-born and trained Palmer became the leading apostle of progressive American cooking by the late 1980s. In 2003, he opened Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg to celebrate Sonoma's bounty and wine country lifestyle. It's a pretty place. Located in the Hotel Healdsburg (another Palmer Group property), Dry Creek Kitchen has garden terrace dining when the weather cooperates and a striking dining room when it doesn't. Some of the tables sit by the semi-open kitchen, where...Read More

Comstock embodies Sonoma wine country living

Posted on December 8, 2017February 24, 2018 by Pat and David

The success of the 2004 film Sideways made California Merlot unpopular for a while. But the dip in that red's reputation might have made helped clear the way for the winery and tasting room at Comstock Wines (1290 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, 707-723-3011, comstockwines.com, tastings $20-$50). The photo above looks out the back of Comstock's tasting room to old Merlot vineyards. (That's a blue heron flying over the vines.) Many more vines were sacrificed to clear ground to build the winery, tasting room facility, and wine club residence. But not too many. Founded in 2012 using much older vineyards, Comstock still makes an outstanding Merlot that shows the restraint of the cooler Dry Creek Valley climate but bursts with black currant and violets. Currently producing...Read More

Buy top foodstuffs at SHED, or sit and be served

Posted on December 6, 2017February 24, 2018 by Pat and David

“This is a chef's dream,” Perry Hoffman said as he surveyed the busy scene in SHED (25 North Street, Healdsburg, 707-431-7433, healdsburgshed.com), the self-described “market, cafe, and community gathering space” that opened in Healdsburg in 2013. Hoffman knows what he's talking about. His grandparents founded The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville. Hoffman grew up working beside his grandparents and parents in the family business. After Thomas Keller purchased the restaurant in 1994, Hoffman worked in several other kitchens until he became chef at étoile restaurant at Domaine Chandon in Yountville in 2007. Three years later, he was awarded his first Michelin star. When étoile closed in 2014, SHED was just gathering steam. Hoffman jumped at the chance to embrace the more casual side of California...Read More

Aptly named Bella fashions lovely Zinfandels

Posted on December 4, 2017February 24, 2018 by Pat and David

Coming up the driveway to Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves (9711 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, 866-572-3552, bellawinery.com, tastings $15), two things are immediately evident. The wine caves tunnel into the side of the hill, and the vines planted above them in the Lily Hill vineyard are squat and gnarled and twisted. Like so many vineyards in Dry Creek Valley, they represent old-growth Zinfandel. In fact, much of the vineyard was first planted in 1915. Although Bella has a few plots of other grapes, mostly for blending purposes, the winery focuses on handcrafted small-batch Zinfandel. It also purchases some grapes from equally obsessive growers. Bella's Zinfandels often earn mid-90s scores from Robert Parker, and it's easy to see why. These opulent wines are undeniably powerful...Read More

Kokomo Winery lets grapes do their thing

Posted on December 2, 2017February 24, 2018 by Pat and David

The small red industrial building on the Timber Crest Farms property that houses Kokomo Winery (4791 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, 707-433-0205, kokomowines.com, tastings $10-$25) is deceptively modest. The winery was founded by Erik Miller in 2004, who named it for his Indiana hometown. The vineyards date much, much farther back. Some Zinfandel plantings on the estate are more than 150 years old. Partner Randy Peters, a fourth-generation grape grower, has tended other vineyards here since 1974. He grows about 70 percent of Kokomo's fruit in all three Healdsburg appellations: Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, and Dry Creek Valley. We say the building is modest because the wines are anything but. Miller's philosophy of winemaking is terroir-driven. “The special thing about wine is that it showcases...Read More

Honor Mansion delights as wine-touring base

Posted on November 30, 2017February 24, 2018 by Pat and David

We arrived at Honor Mansion (891 Grove St., Healdsburg, 707-433-4277, honormansion.com) in the late afternoon. After an early morning flight from Boston and a drive from San Francisco to Healdsburg, we must have looked as tired as we felt. But assistant concierge Ruth Brambila knew just what we needed. Even before we checked in, she offered us fresh-baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and told us to pour a couple of glasses of wine from the bottles of red and white sitting on the buffet in the breakfast room. “In an hour, we'll be laying out cheese and crackers and appetizers,” she told us. Some evenings, local winemakers even join guests for informal tastings. Less than a mile from Healdsburg's main square, Honor Mansion is...Read More

Wine country wildfires skipped Healdsburg

Posted on November 28, 2017February 24, 2018 by Pat and David

We had planned to visit Healdsburg in California's Sonoma County long before the terrible wine country wildfires broke out in early October. We settled on the town because it sits at the junction of the Russian River Valley, the Alexander Valley, and the Dry Creek Valley wine regions. Among them, they produce some of California's leading Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, and Sauvignon Blanc. The Russian River Valley subregion of Chalk Hill is also famed for its Chardonnay. And where there's good wine, there's also good food. After seeing the dramatic news coverage of the wildfires, we considered canceling. But prevailing winds spared most of the area around Healdsburg while scorching other parts of Sonoma and Napa. Healdsburg pitched in by housing and feeding the firefighters who...Read More