An unoaked, non-buttery Chard – yay – that was pretty well balanced. The first, 100% stainless steel 2012 Scribe Chardonnay ($45), which had notes of apple blossom and quince. Great for summer food pairings! Next, we tasted two different Chardonnays. Very dry, the wine had beautiful fruit on the palate and nice acidity. We first started with the 2012 Scribe Riesling ($38), which had nice honeysuckle and white peach nectar aromas. To start our tasting, Trey (whom I met at Pebble Beach Food & Wine) sat down with us to walk us through the wines. It’s informal, relaxed and draws a younger, more hip clientele to hang out and take in the view.

Thinking of themselves as farmers more than winemakers (they actually grew up on a farm and come from a family of farmers), they’ve set out to recreate the tasting experience in California and I totally get the appeal. The tastings take place on picnic tables amongst beautiful oak trees on a hill overlooking the valley below. An old turkey farm left abandoned, it was a broken-down piece of land completely overrun with weeds and dilapidated sheds. After a lot of work renovating and replanting, the winery opened its doors in 2009 (officially in 2011) and has grown in popularity ever since. The vibe is intimate and chill yet hip (you won’t find a giant sterile tasting room here). Brothers Adam and Andrew Mariani, the owners and winemakers, bought the property just outside of downtown Sonoma several years ago. If you’ve never heard of this place, listen up. This time around, though, instead of packing in too many wineries and restaurants, we tried a more relaxed approach and took our time. Even though I’ve been to the area over a dozen times, I still feel like there’s never enough time to get to all the places I want to. I mean, why not? Now, we all know there are A TON of wineries in Napa and Sonoma. Leslie even included a handwritten note to me with the cards.To keep the momentum of our newly engaged bliss going strong, Nick and I headed to Sonoma / Napa for 3 days this past weekend to taste some vino and enjoy the beauty of wine country. When I contacted Scribe, they rushed cards out to my clients and me and could not have been nicer about handling it. Two other cards had recipes for the salad dressing and a margarita (the verjus can be used as a mix for several drinks). The second shipment lacked recipe cards that had come with the previous bottles and the recipe cards are an essential touch. We bought a bottle of the verjus to take home and then once we were home we twice ordered quite a bit more shipped to us to share with friends and to give as gifts some of my clients. The dressing base was verjus, which is made from pinot grapes before they ripen. My favorite was the bib lettuce salad and vinaigrette dressing - I can't guarantee it will be a taste explosion for everyone but it was for me. A lot of the food was grown on the premises in a garden I could see from my table - cherry tomatoes, olives, almonds. Meat, cheese, bread and various vegetables were served in dishes that our group passed around to each other. Prefer steak, chicken, pasta, pizza with wine, so I was surprised how much I enjoyed the food served with the wine tasting here (the Hacienda tasting). Don't waste your time at Scribe unless you are only going to take selfies or to instagram the view.Ĭool, mellow Sonoma vibe and excellent food. The wine was actually the worst I had had the entire trip.

I guess she assumed we would look at the tasting menu? The small plates were 'ok', but overall, definitely not worth $60/person. For one of the wines, she just came to the table and poured, not explaining what is was, the year, etc. At one point one of the waitresses asked if we knew anything about Scribe we replied we did not, expecting her to elaborate, but to our shock, she replied, 'cool' and just walked off. We were not given any information about the history of the winery. It is obviously a very hipster/California casual vibe, but the waiter/waitresses took that vibe and ran. We were pleasantly greeted upon arrival, but after we were seated, the service turned to terrible. The winery itself is extremely charming, but that is where the good impression ends. Driving up to Scribe, you are stunned by the gorgeous grounds and the hacienda.

Scribe winery