It’s just not that tough anymore to find the fine cheeses, boutique wines
and other delectables that draw visitors to Wine Country.
Thanks to gourmet markets, winery shops and crown-jewel stores like
Oakville Grocery, Nonna’s Eastside Market in Sonoma and Healdsburg’s Plaza
Farms, you can pull together an extraordinary Thanksgiving meal, set the table
with handmade ceramics and candles, and keep your glasses filled with local
wines all night long.
But there’s more. Savvy shoppers know that there are hidden jewels, unique
foods, wines, flowers and other treasures worth the time it takes to find
them. And the finding, of course, is part of the pleasure.
You’ll need to take more than one trip. You’ll stumble upon the unexpected
treasure. And you’ll have an excuse to plan leisurely excursions that allow
for lingering at each location and for delicious meals off the beaten path.
Chestnuts
Eighteen years ago, Greg Dabel planted 800 chestnut trees at his farm in
Green Valley, a hedge against the apple market, which was already showing
signs of decline. Chestnut harvest begins in early fall and there is no
guesswork: When the chestnuts are ripe, they fall to the ground.
They’re gathered every day or two, says Dabel, or else the deer eat them.
These chestnuts, the Colossal variety, are so sweet they are delicious even
before they are roasted; most raw chestnuts are bitter.
During the season, Dabel’s vintage 1910 red barn, tucked down a country
lane in the midst of the 40-foot chestnut trees and 24 acres of apples, is
filled with big sacks of fresh organic chestnuts and a selection of chestnut
products – honey and butter from Italy, puree and ceramic roasters from
France.
Dabel opened his farm to visitors last year; previously he sold his entire
harvest through his Web site. Until recently, nearly all his customers were
Italians and Asians, whose cuisines include chestnuts, and elders, who
remember chestnuts from their childhood, when there were thousands of trees on
the East Coast. When disease destroyed nearly every tree, fresh chestnuts all
but disappeared in the United States.
Never eaten a fresh chestnut? There are countless ways to enjoy them, but
Dabel says that one of the best is to toss a couple of handfuls of chopped
chestnuts with your favorite dressing before stuffing it into the turkey.
Green Valley Chestnut Ranch
11100 Green Valley Road, Sebastopol, 707-829-3304; Call first, then follow
the arrows to the old red barn.
Duck eggs to your door
David “Duck” Felciano loves ducks. As a toddler, his waddle led to his
nickname, bestowed by his father, and he’s long been an active member of Ducks
Unlimited, though he does more calling than shooting.
When Felciano discovered that one breed of duck is as good at laying eggs
as a chicken, he couldn’t resist getting a few. At first, he gave his extra
eggs to friends but it wasn’t long before word spread. Soon he was selling the
eggs, at first for $3 a dozen and then for $6, an increase he hoped would
decrease demand. It hasn’t. As his first anniversary as a purveyor of duck
eggs approaches in November, Felciano has more than quadrupled his flock and
sells all they lay.
Duck eggs are rich, with very thick yolks and whites and a mild flavor, all
but indistinguishable from chicken eggs. Used in baking, duck eggs yield
spectacular results, producing tender, voluptuous custards and souffles and
cakes that rise like cumulus clouds. Pumpkin pie is never better than when
it’s made with duck eggs and fresh sugar pumpkin filling.
If you want Felciano’s duck eggs, call him. He’ll soon show up on your
porch, eggs in hand.
David Felciano’s Duck Eggs
Call 707-695-8080 or 707-528-0935
Apple wood
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Twin Hills Ranch in western Sebastopol
is abuzz with craft vendors, a snack bar, a small train to keep kids
entertained and dozens of customers buying the farm’s famous Dutch apple pies.
Yet Twin Hills is open year-round and the pies are always available. In
front of the big old barn in which most of the action takes place are bins of
gnarled apple wood, perfect for a fall blaze in your outdoor forno or indoor
fireplace. A binful will fit in the back of most station wagons and SUVs and
in the trunk of many cars.
Twin Hills Ranch
1689 Pleasant Hill Road, Sebastopol
707-823-2815
The best mashers
If mashed potatoes are essential on your Thanksgiving table, you can make
them the best you’ve ever tasted by heading to Oh! Tommy Boy Organic Farm in
Valley Ford.
Most of the harvest is sold to top restaurants in Wine Country, including
The French Laundry, but there’s a small stand at the farm, tended by Tommy
Boy’s in-laws, Dick and Dorothy Henigan. You simply pull into the driveway,
honk your horn and wait. Before long, someone will come out to sell you these
special spuds. If they’re available, pick up a few pounds of Carib; if Carib
is sold out, choose Cranberry; both varieties make deliciously earthy mashed
potatoes with a dense, velvety texture.
Oh! Tommy Boy’s Organic Farm
5880 Carroll Road, Petaluma
707-876-1818; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday through Sunday
A jug of wine and more
Near the northern tip of West Dry Creek Road is Preston of Dry Creek, a
family winery where Lou and Susan Preston are usually around to chat with
visitors. One of the things Lou Preston loves saying is “no.”
As word spreads about Preston’s Jug Wine Sundays, when Guadagni is sold in
3-liter jugs for $28, people try to buy it on other days. “No” is always Lou’s
response, even when it’s a friend or colleague doing the coaxing. The jugs are
filled to order, and only on Sundays. There is no insider tip, no secret
password that will get you a jug of Guadagni any other time so don’t even try.
Guadagni itself is tip enough; the wine is a delicious blend of estate
Zinfandel, Malvoise and Carignane, beautifully balanced, smooth, fruity but
not overly so and delicious with fall fare.
There’s nothing you can say to get Preston to relax his one-jug-per-person
rule, either. If you want more than a single jug, bring a friend.
Preston makes an excellent estate olive oil, too. Sometimes there’s produce
from the garden – fat golden onions, big, beautiful garlic bulbs – and, if
Lou’s in the mood for baking, extraordinary hearth breads.
(And here’s something no one at the winery will tell you: If the weather is
clear, you can take a break in the estate’s secret garden, nestled beyond the
bocce ball court, behind what the Prestons call the Love Shack. With a bottle
of Preston Vin Gris and a loaf of bread in hand, you will have found the
perfect location for a relaxing break. But shhhh, don’t tell anyone; it is a
secret garden, after all.)
Preston of Dry Creek
9282 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg
707-433-3372
What about the bird?
If you want one of the most coveted turkeys around, those raised by Sylvia
Mavalwalla, you must be both patient and willing to gamble. Mavalwalla has
raised geese and turkeys, many of them heritage breeds, on the southern flank
of Sonoma Mountain for 20 years. For much of that time, she labored quietly,
selling her birds through FarmTrails and by word of mouth.
Then the Slow Food folks, dedicated to a return to wholesome food and
agricultural harmony, discovered her. Last year, Chez Panisse ordered more
than three dozen heritage turkeys. This year Mavalwalla was sold out before
the summer solstice. For months, it has been impossible to reserve a turkey or
a goose.
But here’s the secret: Mavalwalla gets cancellations at the last minute and
sometimes ends up with unsold birds when customers forget about orders they
placed in the spring. She keeps no waiting list and says it is always a good
idea to call, even a few days before Thanksgiving, to see if there’s a bird
with your name on it.
If you’re lucky, Mavalwalla will give you directions to the farm. When you
get there, honk your horn if you don’t see her. Before long, she’ll come into
view and shuffle to a small shack where commercial refrigerators hold the
freshly plucked poultry. Plan to spend $3-$7 a pound.
Sylvia Mavalwalla
707-763-4793; Call for availability and directions
Little trees and big blossoms
Out among the redwoods of western Sonoma County, Lyle Carpenter tends tiny
apple trees and miniature grapevines, Wine Country bonsai, you could say. The
apple trees are in colorful ceramic planters small enough to make pretty
centerpieces on even the littlest holiday table. The wooden containers that
hold the grapevines are a bit larger, but not so big that they can’t share
space with a big turkey, all the trimmings and a few candles.
Near Carpenter’s little farm is Devoto Gardens, where Stan and Susan Devoto
grow extraordinary flowers – marigolds, corncockle, cosmos, bachelor buttons,
dahlias, bells of Ireland, amaranth, ornamental safflower, sorghum and zinnias
among them – and 50 varieties of apples, many of them heritage varieties.
Flower season peaks in September, but continues as long as the weather
stays mild. For something different on your table, you can choose among the
nearly two dozen varieties of sunflowers, setting big dried heads among vases
of smaller flowers. If you visit the farm in the afternoon, after the picking
for the next day’s farmers market, you’ll find the barn nearly overflowing
with cut flowers, all for sale. For apples, name your variety and if they’re
still on the tree, someone will head out into the orchard to pick them for
you.
On the other side of the county, on the Western edge of the Mayacamas, is
the Red Barn Store at Oak Hill Farm. A sign at the driveway is hard to see, so
watch for the enormous tree stump turned on its side that borders the
driveway. Head up the road to the barn and the stacks of winter squash and
pumpkins that flank it.
Inside, the barn has that wonderful aroma of damp concrete and good clean
soil. As the season unfolds, you’ll find fall’s last heirloom tomatoes, sweet
peppers and zucchini, fresh herbs, dried garlic and sturdy squash and pumpkins
that will keep through the winter. There are gorgeous bouquets of all sizes, a
mixture of flowers grown on the farm and purchased at the flower market in San
Francisco, dramatic wreaths and interesting vases and baskets.
While you’re here, you should dash across the highway to B.R. Cohn Winery,
where you might, if your timing is right, find the olive harvest under way. At
the top of your shopping list is the winery’s delectable Cabernet Sauvignon
vinegar. You may want to add a bottle of B.R. Cohn Olive Hill Cabernet
Sauvignon, too; it is one of the finest boutique wines around and there’s not
much of it.
As you comb the countryside, you’ll gather more than tangible goods for
your feast. You’ll make friends who will join you, through their artistry, at
your table, adding a connection to the land that is impossible to make with
one-stop shopping. When you raise a glass for a holiday toast, be sure to
include them in your good cheer. F
