Wine tasting at Arista

After finishing a delightful Latin-inspired lunch at Guiso Latin Fusion, I picked up a coffee to go at nearby Flying Goat Coffee, and jumped back into the car to head to my next tasting. Winding down Westside Rd., which runs parallel with the Russian River, I managed to dodge a few cyclists en route to the second winery of the day: Arista.

Arista is located in the north-central part of the Russian River Valley, not too far from the Russian River itself, at the location where the river slowly ends its north-south journey, and begins to head west to empty in the Pacific. Due to the region's proximity with the Pacific Ocean, summers are tempered by the cool fog that blows in through the Pentaluma gap. This creates conditions perfect for cooler climate grapes, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The geology of the area also has a big influence on the wine making. Like most parts of the Pacific Rim, the collision of the Pacific and North American plates over the course of history has had a huge impact on the landscape and soil. More specifically to wine, it was eruptions of volcanic vents over top of the existing bedrock, that created the loamy soil prized for wine making. Combine this with a conducive climate, and one has a region growing some of the finest Pinot Noir in the New World.

Tasting room at Arista
2017 Arista Winery. Healdsburgh, CA

Lunch at Guiso Latin Fusion

Finishing the wonderful wine tasting at the Donum Estate, I pressed on with my Easter weekend wine country excursion and headed north to the delightful town of Healdsburgh, California. Located on U.S. Highway 101 just north of Santa Rosa, California, in the heart of the Russian River Valley AVA. Healdsburgh is the perfect wine country town, sporting just enough restaurants and shops to be interesting, yet not nearly as developed as a Napa, California.

Pulling off Highway 101, I made a beeline through the downtown towards lunch at the subject of today's post: Guiso Latin Fusion. The first thing I noticed was that on a Saturday early afternoon, parking was hard to come by in downtown Healdsburgh. I circled the block a couple times, and finally a spot opened up a block from the restaurant.

Wine Tasting at The Donum Estate

With the Easter weekend, I decided to take a break from a Saturday journey to San Francisco, and instead drive up through Sonoma county for some good food and wine tasting. This culminated with dinner at acclaimed restaurant Terrapin Creek Cafe, which you can read about here. To break up the morning and afternoon tasting, I selected Guiso Latin Fusion in downtown Healdsburgh for lunch.

View from the Donum Estate entrance
2017 The Donum Estate. Carneros, CA

The first stop today was at the Donum Estate, located in the Carneros American Viticultural Area (AVA) that straddles both Napa and Sonoma counties. Just north of the San Pablo Bay (i.e. the northern bay in the Bay Area), the cool winds and fog results in a micro-climate much cooler than a few miles north in Napa or Sonoma. This makes it perfect for cooler temperate varietals, such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Dinner at Terrapin Creek Cafe

This week's gastronomic adventure took a slightly different turn, as I decided to forego San Francisco and head north to California's wine country. I had the privilege of having an excellent Latin American-inspired lunch at Guiso Latin Fusion in Healdsburgh, CA. This was book-ended by tastings at two wineries, Donum Estate in Carneros, and Arista Winery in the Russian River Valley. You can read more about this in an upcoming post; what I wanted to focus on here is the capstone for the day: dinner at Terrapin Creek Cafe.