The Healdsburg Map – 2nd Edition

Last year, it took a while, but I collected 54 advertisers and created this lovely map for Healdsburg.

Last year, I distributed 10,000 copies in and around Healdsburg. This year, I’m developing HealdsburgMap.com and I’ve doubled my print distribution to 20,000 including most tasting rooms in the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valleys. I also hope to include the Healsdsburg Lodging Coalition.

Here are the specs for the 2nd edition of the Healdsburg Map:

Size of Map: 15 inches x 20 inches
Size of Advertisements: 2 inches x 2 inches
Number available on the physical map: 65
Cost: $200
Print Run: 20,000
Target Publishing Date: As soon as we have filled up the advertiser list (I have 15 spaces left)
Distribution: Hotel Healdsburg, Tasting Rooms in Dry Creek, Russian River, and Alexander Valley and all advertisers.

Let me know if you’d like to participate. Email Jen@HealdsburgMagazine.com

Spa Hotel Healdsburg

A serene garden setting welcomes relaxation. Experience innovative and classic facials, massage, and body treatments using organic skin care products.

22 Spa Hotel Healdsbu rg
707.433.4747 | 327 Healdsburg Ave
www.hotelhealdburg.com

Scopa Restaurant

Scopa’s rustic Italian menu changes daily to suit ingredients that are seasonally sensitive and locally grown. Nestled on the Healdsburg Square, Scopa is a place where friends and family come together to eat and drink. BRAVO!

ScopaHealdsburg.com
707-433-5282
109A Plaza Street (map)
Healdsburg, CA

Healdsburg: THE MAP

Well, it’s here! It’s December 31st. I’m on my way to a New Year’s Party, but I wanted to post that The Healdsburg Map is finally here!  I will be distributing them to my sponsors early next week.

We had a Map Release party at the Hotel Healdsburg last Monday.  Thank you everybody for coming. We had a fabulous after party at Mateo’s last Missing Link dinner of 2008.  THEN, believe it or not, we continued to the B&B to finish up the evening.

I have a few stories I’d like to post on creating the map and I am working to get  HealdsburgMap.com online (a current work-in-progress) and  alas, I have no more time this evening.  Now that the MAP is created and printed and that’s one big thing off my list.  On to my next project:  A map of Small Wineries of Sonoma County.

Here’s to 2009 Healdsburg. Let’s get it started!

Spend Some Time in Dry Creek Valley

A few nights ago, I went out for After Hours at the Ravenous Restaurant here in Healdsburg. That is, I went just to hang out and get a bit of conversation and meet some interesting people before I turned in myself. Ravenous is a local restaurant in an old house on Center Street. The entire backyard is the backyard patio and bar. It’s a pretty cool atmosphere. I like showing up later–you meet more locals (everybody who’s getting off of their shifts from somewhere else).

I ended up talking to two out-of-town gentlemen who’d met one another at law school in London, England. One was living in Hong Kong now, the other–still in London. They were both here on holiday getting a bit of the California sun.

You couldn’t ask for a better outdoor evening than that night. It was warm enough to sit outside in sleeveless tops. (And I know you’re thinking: “Well it is California after all!”), but we often get fog here late at night, and it cools everything off and adds some humidity to the air–so bare arms are often chilly late at night. But, that night was a perfectly warm summer evening.

I said hello to KC Mosso, the bartender, and talked to him about sending me the listings for his events he books over there. And once I’m seated at the bar, I turned around and started talking to these two gentlemen.

They’d made it to Healdsburg after a few days in San Francisco. They were a bit tired, but they did ask where I could recommend they should go visit the next day. I asked KC for a piece of paper and a pen. He handed me an extra menu from behind the bar and took a pen from his pocket. Thanks KC!

They were only planning half a day or so in the area before they headed over to Carneros. I gave them a full day itinerary–just in case. There really is a lot to see here and it’s better to enjoy an entire day than just rush in and out. Anyway, I thought I would write up the route I gave them and post it here. It’s pretty useful information if you don’t really have much time to spend in the area and it’s got a bit of variety.

BREAKFAST and MORNING

Start early. It’s important to have breakfast. There’s a number of places you can have breakfast in town, it all depends on what you’d like to eat. If you’re on a time line, like these guys were, you probably want to grab a breakfast sandwich (or something). I know that the Costeaux Bakery Cafe and the Palette-Art Cafe both offer breakfast sandwiches. You can usually just ask for a recommendation at the counter. The servers really do know best.

Take your breakfast to go and head on up to Lake Sonoma. Lake Sonoma’s about 20 minutes from the town of Healdsburg (at the top end of Dry Creek Road) and you don’t want your breakfast to get cold.

Find the lookout and enjoy your breakfast in the fresh air. Depending on how much time you have, you can hike around up there or just take goofy pictures of you and your friends.

BY THIS TIME, IT MIGHT BE 11AM OR SO

On the way back down, you can visit any winery that’s open along the way. Here’s a link to an interactive map. But, there are a few I like to note from my own preference and experiences. My friend Shana Ray, who helped promote the Day-in-the-Life event last month and also contributes articles to this magazine works at Kokomo on Fridays. You could always stop in and say hello to her. If you twitter, let her know you are coming: @ShaRayRay.

One day this winter, I had the fortune to try Papapietro Perry’s 2005 Pinot Noir and it made and impression on me. I don’t know much about wine, but I do know what I like. And I liked their 2005 Pinot enough for me to recommend trying their other tastings.

There are a few other wineries clustered in and about Kokomo and Papapietro Perry: Amphora, Collier Falls, Forth, and Peterson. I’ve never tried any of these wines (but I’m sure I will–eventually). You could always try them and comment below. That would be great.

A bit further south and across the road from this cluster is a vineyard and tasting room called UNTI. They weren’t even on my radar until one day I started talking to Mick Unti himself (at an After Hours at the Ravenous). He was full of opinions about life, the universe, and everything. And it’s just refreshing to meet somebody local who has a few interesting things to say.

Also, I like the back label on the 2006 UNTI rose. It’s not listed on their website, so I guess you can’t get it anymore, but it was a story–about rose. I like stories. I like to connect with people over stories. That’s just the way I am. Actually, I like the rose too. So there. I guess I tried the 2007 though. It’s refreshing on a hot summer afternoon. Mick is going to admonish me for publishing all this, if he ever finds out. But–whatever, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. You can just go in and try the wines yourself and see if you like them. That’s the best way.

BY THIS TIME, IT MIGHT BE 1:30 or 2:00PM

You’ll probably be hungry so stop for lunch out at the Dry Creek General Store (at the turn off for Lambert Bridge Road). Since Dry Creek Road and the Skaggs Springs Road are two of the most popular roads in the county for motorcycling, you’ll often see a gaggle of bikers stopped there too. Or–a gaggle of cyclists. And–most probably, a gaggle of other wine tasters. Stop and compare notes. It’s all about you experience. After lunch you can head across Lambert Bridge Road to West Dry Creek.

It’s probably best if you go on up to the north end of the road. You can wind your way back through any of the wineries. Everybody has an experience. Everybody has an opinion. You decide which ones you like.

Although, if you are out in Dry Creek, and it is a Friday afternoon, stop by Michel Schlumberger Winery or or Wilson Winery. They have a series of live music on Fridays. On Sunday afternoons, C. Donatiello Winery has music too. It’s nice just to hang out in the gardens and enjoy the afternoon. (Check the What’s Happening Healdsburg calendar for more details).

When you finally make your way back into Healdsburg and ask a local where they’d recommend you for dinner. AND don’t forget to ask what they like on the menu. There is a reason we live here. And we know what we like. And we’re definitely full of opinions!

Zack Gemmell Photographs Pedro Rusk at the Wine Shop

I met Zack Gemmell in the Wine Shop last Saturday. He was preparing to take a few pictures of local Pedro Rusk, manager of and buyer for the Wine Shop in Healdsburg.

Zack is a student photographer from Brooks Institute of Photography. He was here in Healdsburg last weekend because his good friend Ron Montbleau was renting a house on West Dry Creek Road and had invited Zack to stay.

“I had an assignment to do over the weekend so I walked down the street and the first place I came to was Pedro’s “The Wine Shop” and he was completely open to the idea of me shooting some portraits of him.”

Zack submitted two photos of Pedro to the Day in the Life event:

Pedro Rusk poses for a portrait The Wine Shop in Healdsburg, California on July 19, 2008.
Pedro is a wine connoisseur and knows many local growers.
(Photograph by Zack Gemmell/Brooks Institute of Photography)

Pedro Rusk serves a glass of wine in The Wine Shop in Healdsburg, California on July 19, 2008. Many of his friends come to visit him throughout the day.
(Photograph by Zack Gemmell/Brooks Institute of Photography)

You can view more of Zack’s photographs at www.zackgemmell.com.

Dan the Tomato Man: Soda Rock Farm

After I interviewed Mateo Granados last June, I always stop by his tamale stand at the Farmer’s Market to say hello. He’s always happy and chatty and talking to someone or another. One day, I was just hanging out and Dan Magnuson of Soda Rock Farm comes over to drop off a few boxes of his tomatoes. Mateo immediately says to me: “Here’s one guy you have to talk to. His tomatoes, mmmmuah… ” He kisses his fingers and releases them into the air, in a typical chef-sort-of-way. And he introduces us.

I talk to Dan a bit, and talk to him a few times before we actually make a time to meet. But we meet one morning at the Costeaux Bakery Cafe. He sits down and says: “So. What do you want to talk about?”

I’m prepared: “Tomatoes”, I say.

He smiles: “Well. That’s a pretty big subject.”

I narrow it down: “Your tomatoes? Tell me about your tomatoes.”

That doesn’t do much good. I guess it’s just too big of topic. I ask him some more rhetorical questions.

“When did you start growing tomaotes?” and “Why tomaotes?”

He says he started growing tomatoes about 10 years ago out on his property in Alexander Valley. He’d taken a class at the Santa Rosa Junior college in agriculture. He just liked tomatoes. And I also find out he’s a tennis pro. During the winter months, he teaches tennis athletes at the Charlie Schultz indoor tennis courts.

Tennis and tomatoes. That’s our man. He’s an expert at both.

He started out with an acre out on Alexander Valley and about 3000 plants. He now farms both his property and four to five acres in Dry Creek Valley. Today’s stats are approximately 20,000 tomato plants, 15,000 basil plants, and 1000 lemon cucumber plants.

I ask him how many tomatoes does 20,000 tomato plants produce (I was looking for tonnage or something–I don’t know how you measure tomatoes). He blinked and looked back at me: “A lot.”

He grows between 35 and 40 different varietals, but his mainstay is red beefsteak.

“Do you have any secrets to growing tomatoes.? His eyes are smiling as he tells me — “Trial and error.” He’s been doing it for 10 years, he just figured out what worked and what didn’t. He knows that’s not what I asked and follows up by saying: “Would you give your secrets away?” But he does explain a bit further.

“I grow in Dry Creek Valley. What’s good for the grapes is good for my tomatoes.” Which turns out to be sandy loam soil and sunlight. He also tells me it’s important to plant at the right time, and pick at the right time (which I guess isn’t really anything new.) He plants in April and May (depending on the weather) and the harvest is ready by mid-July through October.

He tells me about staking the plants so they grow up-not out. He tells me about watering them until they’re ripe, then stopping the water before the skins split. He tells me about figuring out how to do things right and making those things repeatable year after year.

He also says that he only grows the tomato varietals he likes. He tried others once, but the fruit could tell he didn’t really like that variety. His customers could tell he didn’t really like that variety–so he just decided he’d never do that again.

I ask him if there is such a thing as a tomato competition. He laughs and said certainly. One year he won awards in five categories from the Kendall Jackson Tomato Festival: aroma, all other colors, orange & yellow, red, and cherry.

He started by selling his tomatoes to high-end restaurants. Bistro Ralph here in Healdsburg was his first. Over the years, Underwood Bar and Bistro and Willow Wood Market Cafe in Gratton sell his tomaotes, Syrah and Willi’s Wine Bar in Santa Rosa. His latest account is Cyrus Restaurant here in Healdsburg. He also does most Farmer’s Markets in the area. I’ll have to check specifically. His tomatoes are also in some produce markets. I noticed them in Big John’s the other day and out at the JimTown Store. And, he tells me later–the Pacific Market in Santa Rosa.

If you’d like to try his tomatoes in more of a social setting, Bovolo Restaurant featuring his tomatoes in one of their BIG NIGHT dinners on Sunday, 14 September 2008. Here’s the menu:

hand thrown MARGHERITA PIZZAS
black pig bacon BLT PANZANELLA
rosemary rubbed PRIME RIB / tomatoes / white corn / fingerling potatoes / salsa verde,
TOMATO + WATERMELON SORBETTO / candied mint + basil / cornmeal shortbread

Let me know if you go. And let me know what you think about it. Minimally, let Dan know what you think of his tomatoes–leave a comment.

Advertise on the Healdsburg Map

Purpose of the Healdsburg Map: To get people out and about strolling and walking around Healdsburg. To find and tell interesting stories about people, places, and things on the map.

Size of Map: 15 inches x 15 inches
Size of Advertisements: 2 inches x 2 inches
Number of Advertisements on the physical map: 60
Cost: $150
Initial Print Run: 10,000
Target Publishing Date: October 2008
Distribution: HealdsburgMagazine.com, Hotel Healdsburg, and all other advertisers. Eventually, I would like to create a website: HealdsburgMap.com–there are so many possibilities.

Price includes:
2-inch by 2-inch advertisement on the Healdsburg Map
1 picture or graphic of advertiser’s choice (one that connotes your business)
Up to 30 words description (pay attention to your keyword phrases)
Visual reference on the actual map
Directory listing on the map

Advertise on the Healdsburg Map

Purpose of the Healdsburg Map: To get people out and about strolling and walking around Healdsburg. To find and tell interesting stories about people, places, and things on the map.

Size of Map: 15 inches x 15 inches
Size of Advertisements: 2 inches x 2 inches
Number available on the physical map: 60
Cost: $150
Initial Print Run: 10,000
Target Publishing Date: October 2008
Distribution: HealdsburgMagazine.com, Hotel Healdsburg, and all other advertisers. HealdsburgMap.com as I develop the site.

Price includes:
2-inch by 2-inch advertisement on the Healdsburg Map which requires:

• 1 picture or graphic of advertiser’s choice. It has to be an active picture. One that draws my viewer into the action (of your business as well as connotes what you do. For example, Topel Winery just signed up to be on my map. I went into their new tasting room to discuss the photography requirements. As soon as I started talking about what type of picture I required, they knew exactly what they were going to do. They are going to take a picture of their tasting room wall onto which the sun is shadowing the logo from their front window. Doesn’t that make an exciting-engaging picture?
• Up to 30 words description. Active verbs. Engaging text. Pay attention to your keyword phrases–how you want to be found on the internet). For example here is the 30-word description for 14feet.:

14feet. Off the plaza on Center Street. Mix of mid-century modern and industrial-era home furnishings. Our vintage collection includes pottery, lighting, textiles, found objects, and unusual art.

• Visual reference on the actual physical map.
• Directory listing on the map.
• Directory listing on my website.

As soon as I start getting the content for the actual map, I’ll be posting them on the website as examples. MEANING….I NEED THE WORDS AND PICTURES IMMEDIATELY. TODAY. IF NOT SOONER. SVP.

Send me an email (jen [at] HealdsburgMagazine.com .

PS: If you need a photographer, I know a photographer (Stephen Boyle Photography). Photography services will be an extra charge, but I can organize the businesses who want him to take the compelling pictures and work efficiently.

On Bottle Shock, the Movie

This movie is just two stories in many about the Judgment of Paris tasting in 1976. I’m not going to recap the movie. There are reviews are all over the internet. You can either read them or just see the movie yourself and decide.

Personally, I liked the movie. Really. It was a feel-good movie. And what is entertainment if you don’t feel good about it? It also helps that there is a local history associated with the movie. I went on Saturday evening with a friend who is in the wine industry. He picked out things that I would never know (and for the life of me, I can’t remember now).

And two people in the audience last night introduced themselves as Charles and Helen Bacigalupi–who it turns out–own some vineyards over on Westside Road who supplied about 40% of the grapes to Chateau Montelena for their 1973 Chardonnay. They couldn’t stay around and talk later though, harvest had started and they needed to get back to it.

I tried to find out what the 1971 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay label looks like–to see if it had to reference the appellation. I don’t know what the regulations were in the 1970s. Regardless, I can’t find it on the internet. I might just have to go and pay a visit to the winery itself.

There were a few monologues that were a bit too much–for me. I mean really, do you know anybody who talks like that? “You have to grow up, with the soil underneath your nails.” If that is true, why isn’t growing hops as romanticized as growing grapes? What does a field of hops even look like? Or potatoes for that matter? Why aren’t there stories about the farmers who grow beets?

After the show, co-producers Marc and Brenda Lhormer talked to the audience a bit. They were excited to share their stories about making the movie, about taking creative license–in order to tell a movie story. But mainly, they were excited about making the Paris tasting a digestible historical event for the greater public. And filming it in the Napa and Sonoma Counties.

My favorite actor: Alan Rickman by far. I’m a fan of Alan Rickman. Maybe I’m just a fan of his British accent. His accent just added to his air of pomposity–especially when he speaks French.

My favorite quote–Jim Barrett saying to Steven Spurrier: “You’re a snob. It limits you.” My thoughts exactly. You might enjoy the finer things in life, but what those things are should be definitely be defined by the individual.

My favorite anachronism: the ice pack in the boxing ring. The friend I went with had a few more: “Merlot in the 70s? Nobody knew what that was then. They were only using it to blend.” I’ll have to look that up.

What did you think?

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