Friday, July 20, 2007

The Poco Dolce Tour of the California Coast

I had in mind to visit a particular vineyard in the Russian River Valley in Northern California. But when I called, a recorded message told me that I would only be given a tour if I were on the mailing list, for which there was a waiting list. On top of that, my road trip partner doesn't like to drive during wine tastings, and I'm a native New Yorker who can hardly drive at all. We were better off sticking to cheese, olive oil, and the occasional chocolate left over from last weekend's San Francisco Chocolate Salon (extensively chronicled on Cooking with the Single Guy).

Barbara and I set off on Monday for Pt. Reyes, a coastal town that's been able to keep it's rural roots with the help of Marin Organic and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. We spent four days in a wooden house perched on a cliff, surrounded by photographs from a book project called Mothering in the West. We didn't have much reason to leave, but we took the occasional drive through dairy country (we visited the Straus family farm, mentioned in my interview with Chuck Siegel on Culinate this week) and Pinot Noir country to the west of the Russian River (the Hartford Family Winery required no reservation). And Kathy Wiley's Poco Dolce chocolate tiles (understated squares of Guittard couverture surrounding Aztec spices or burnt caramel and flecked with grey sea salt) showed up in Occidental (at Sonoma Fine Wine) and Graton (at Far West Trading Company), two small-town oases in the wilderness.

1 Comments:

Blogger Vanessa said...

Love that photo!

1:36 PM GMT-5  

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