Wine Tasting Weekend(s): #2

Earlier in June, I went wine tasting for one night with friends, and the following weekend for two nights with my spouse. This post covers the 2nd weekend.

Second Weekend

We started the 2nd weekend by attending Flowers Winery’s annual Summer Celebration. This is always a phenomenal event, and this year was no exception. It’s complimentary for Members, which requires the purchase of a case of wine every year. That also includes complimentary tastings for 4 people four times per year.

They had multiple food stations, including an oyster & shrimp station, soba noodles, a flatbread with beef & lamb, and an ice cream & sorbet station. Of course, there were multiple wine stations serving their Chardonnay and Pinots. The 2024s are great!

I spoke to a lady who works in Production at Flowers, and she was high on the 2024s. The 2023s are amazing, and the 2024s are very good. The 2025s are a notch lower than the 2024s. The 2026s are TBD because the weather has been crazy, with very high highs in June, and forecasted cooler weather for later in the month.

I’m still buying 2023s- I just bought some Rivers-Marie Vidovich Cabernet (sold out) and Anthill Farms Jack’s Vineyard Pinot- both on closeout from K&L. You should get on their “Insider Advantage” mailing list, which is just simply signing up. Good values there!

We used two Hilton Free Night Certificates to stay at the Carneros Resort (again). But this is the first time we’ve stayed two nights. My wife & I love this place, and I talked about it in a previous blog post.

You get a standalone structure with a backyard. This time, we did get an outdoor shower, but not an outdoor bathtub. I’m writing this from our backyard while my wife is out here too, on her phone. We received a complimentary bottle of Pinot (decent) and also one of Chardonnays.

There is a wedding here today, so the place is sold out. We got a decent “room”, but we’ve had better. But use a Hilton FNC unless you have plenty of cash.

That first night, we had dinner at the Farm Restaurant at the Resort. I had the Caesar salad and a Tagliatelle fra diavolo with Dungeness crab. The Caesar was very good with 3 romaine heads nicely dressed. The pasta was spicy, which I like, but I didn’t taste any crab, which was disappointing. I think the spice overwhelmed the crab. My wife had the “Farm Salad” and the Gnocchi, and she liked both of them. The service was very attentive. The server was a woman who had actually been our server when we ate here 6 months ago. Overall, we enjoyed our meal.

The second day, I had scheduled a tasting at Platt’s Tasting Room in Sonoma. I had read about the winery and knew that one of my favorite winemakers, Thomas Rivers Brown, made a Chardonnay from Platt for his personal Rivers-Marie label. I also talked to the Platt winemaker when I was at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine event (link to that blog post). So I was pretty excited about this tasting!

It’s a new Tasting Room just off the Sonoma Plaza in what is an old house from the 1920s. They did a very nice job remodeling it, and it can accommodate at least a dozen folks tasting. But we had the place to ourselves. We had both the Estate and Reserve Chardonnays & Pinots from 2023, and the Reserve Pinot from 2024. Again, the highlight for me was the Estate Chardonnay, and we bought another 6 bottles. We were also given tastes of a couple of Outpost wines, because the French conglomerate that owns Platt also owns Outpost.

We had time before dinner, so we stopped for a tasting at Domaine Carneros. We’re Members there, so we get unlimited complimentary tastings. It’s practically across the street from the Carneros resort, so it’s especially convenient. We always stop there on the way our way home, but that day we decided to stop in before dinner. We’re there probably 4 or 5 times per year. Sitting on the terrace, drinking sparkling wine and enjoying the views is wonderful.

For dinner the 2nd night, we ate at Boon Fly Cafe. It’s on the Carneros resort property, so you can charge your meal to your room. It’s mainly known for breakfast, and it’s beignets. But since it was so convenient, we decided to try it for dinner. I had the “Our Chopped Salad” and an Impossible burger. The salad was really good, and I would order it again! My wife had the Bucatini with fennel sausage, and it was meh. Overall, we wouldn’t recommend it for dinner, but worth trying for breakfast.

On our final day, we enjoyed the buffet breakfast at the Carneros resort. I’m a huge fan of smoked salmon, and I had my fill.

We did stop at the Boon Fly Cafe again, but this time we bought beignets to go. They come in a Baker’s Dozen, are shaped like mini-doughnuts, unlike the beignets you get in New Orleans, which are rectangles. We warmed them up in the microwave at home, and everyone enjoyed them.

At check-out from the Carneros resort, I used 5 quarterly $50 Hilton credits from our myriad Amex cards. I also had a $70 off $200, which the Amex confirmed would stack with the quarterly $50. TBD!

We skipped our normal Domaine Carneros tasting on the way home, but I did pick up our Club shipment, which saves on shipping.

I’ve already booked the Carneros Resort for next June, assuming the Flowers Celebration will be on the 2nd Saturday again. Love that place!