Sonoma Country Life

World's Most Followed Travel Blogger Takes a Vineyard Tour in the Petaluma Gap

Ever had the urge to sell up shop and take to the open road? Indefinitely. Wheresoever and for just how long the road might take you? Fantasy or fiction? For one man it remains a mind-boggling, free-wheeling reality.

Today's most -tracked travel-blogger, one extraordinary Gary Arndt of Everything-Everywhere.com did the unfathomable by putting his home on the market, selling his biz  - yes, packing his kit, lock, stock and barrel and making a clean sweep of the front doorstep on his way out to discover the big, wide world.

Since 2007, Gary has enjoyed the rarefied, remarkable experiences of globe-trotting at his own pace, taking in unlimited and for most of us, undreamed of sights, sounds and cultural experiences of intrepid, unrestricted transcontinental travel.

So what was Gary doing in my backyard this sunny, early October afternoon? Tea time in the British/American vineyard easily extends to an impromptu, private homestead vino-tasting event when Petaluma's unofficial ambassador of travel and tourism, Anastasia Schuster stops by. This time with fellow Twitterer, Gary on a whistle-stop tour of Petaluma Gap cool climate vineyards, large and small.

Gary's travels are followed by close to 100,000 on-line fans - many of whom are most likely about to read about Petaluma for the very first time! 

Inviting him up into the hillside vines for a taste of a classic, sun-ripened cool climate syrah grape, I was wondering just how many backyard vineyards Gary has come across on his travels. "The first," he confessed as we peeked into the world's smallest un-bonded winery (shed) at barrels and bottles and the garagiste's collection of tubes and pumps and testing paraphernalia! 

Toasted Gary's travels with a bottle of 2007 Que Syra and sent him onwards on the road to everywhere with a bottle of Petaluma's best home vintage as a memento of his visit to these parts.

Keep an eye out for Gary around town tomorrow (Tuesday).

Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent Will Work for Wine (and 60 Grand)

 

Want to know what the big-time buzz is amongst wine country bloggers this week? Someone out there in the grape-growing homeland of Northern Sonoma County is actually offering to pay for posts. Shock and amazement. It's not often that a budget of any denomination surfaces in the blogging arena. You name your top few blog reads and I'll wager a bet that only those employed to bolster the sagging coffers of the mainstream media are making much of a paycheck.

There are certainly some stand-out success stories where bloggers have carved out a specific niche to warrant the hundreds of thousands of hits to justify an advertising draw, but most bloggers, like myself, do it to bolster multi-platform pontifications of writing prowess (you're not supposed to know what that means, don't worry!). Or maybe we simply have too much to say!

Still, there's a rather tempting gig currently being touted around the blogosphere from one locally-based, blogger's site to another (and clear across the country for that matter)  - that of an in-house blog job as Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent for Sonoma County's very own Murphy-Goode Winery.

This was one slick move by the marketing folk at Murphy-Goode, who borrowed the idea from Australia's Queensland (Great Barrier Reef) Tourism and have bought themselves a spectacular fifteen minutes of widespread, wine-world fame by offering a sixth-month gig to live and work in the heart of viticultural heaven up in Healdsburg,   blogging, podcasting, facebooking and twittering to the hearts content. For ten grand a month.

With wine and lifestyle blogger's eyes boggling in unison at keyboards across the country at the very thought of working for pay, vine-studded, scenic accommodation and wine, it should be a fun headhunting episode to follow on-line. For applicants are required to make a promo video of themselves pitching their credentials. For those who fancy putting themselves on Murphy-Goode's website with all the other wannabe Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondents, this will be the wine country's first on-line reality show of sorts.

That's not to say that I don't think it a cool idea. What is really, truly awesome about Murphy-Goode's campaign is that it brings a bit of glamour to the blogosphere and illustrates the fundamental value of great blogging in today's fast changing market for news and lifestyle features.

Have Your Say - It's Dialog Day for Subscribers

An email message from one of my number one comment makers here at Sonoma Country Life prompted me to post a quickie on the subject of regular reader dialog.

Because most of my lovely, loyal readers receive my posts via email subscription, the comment section doesn't come up in your in-box at the bottom of the blog. Nor do you get to see any of the other stuff on the web page of Sonoma Country Life.

This is fine and dandy and makes the process of perusing a post much swifter than wading through all the rest of my stuff I have on the page. But if you've ever been burning to make a comment on one of my posts, please do feel free to take a moment and click on the Sonoma Country Life heading at the top of the post, which will transport you onto the full site and hey presto, there is the comment section at the bottom, ready and waiting for your words of wisdom!

I do receive quite a few emails from readers who have lots to say about some of the stuff I write about, and I'd love to see these posted for everyone else to read. Don't be put off by having to add your name and email address. Lots of comments come with screen names and your email will never appear online.

Hope to hear what you have to say!

A Bevvy of Bloggers

 
Once upon a time here in Petaluma, the famous, historic, dark and delightful Speakeasy Bar in the back of Volpi's Italian Ristorante was the place to spot one's fellow scribes and local hacks of varying notoriety imbibing a refreshing liquid libation of his or her choice.

Nowadays its all about our morning java. Today's P'Town writers and bloggers are a tea and coffee lovin' lot and most mornings of the week, a motley crew of creatives can be found around the convivial tables of Aqus Cafe at Foundry Wharf.

This morning was certainly no exception. And especially, for the blogging mamas amongst us, who were granted the first back-to-school-day, liberating opportunity to grab a quick skinny latte (in a bowl, please!) with the lads and lasses of some of Petaluma's most publicly opinionated!

My rendezvouz with Bottom of the Ninth's Suzanne and Mouse in the Pantry's Mel (pictured above with babe in arms of Aqus Anchor Girl & Guy, Lesley & John seated) was bolstered in the blogger's present department by the subsequent arrival into the premises of both Petaluma 360's Peter Welker and Gio Benedetti. Five local bloggers in one coffee shop at the same time makes for an all-new reputation for Aqus, I'd say. Top spot in town for Bloggers.

And if that wasn't enough energy for one morning, the smart boys behind Project HERE were likely plotting some amazing new community enterprise in the corner, giving us blogger's even more buzzable posting material for '09.

Day After Boxing Day Blog

About now the short, dark days tend to blend into one another and there's little chance we're tempted to take down the tree or the fairy lights outdoors as these beacons of shimmery festivity keep us in a cheery mood now that Christmas has passed.

Over the past several years of Michaelmas on Rivetti Mountain, the 24th, 25th and 26th have become an annual three day stream of immediate family, friendship and feasting in a style superbly suited to the simplicity of Southern Sonoma Wine Country, and though we have been most fortunate to toast the season with fine local wines and wonderful company each day, one of the highlights of those three lovely days of merrymaking is always the traditional Boxing Day do down in Keokuk Street.

A gathering of loud and naturally obnoxious Irish, English and those of an American heritage who can make heads or tails of all that confusing banter about strange sounding, antiquated Anglo Christmas traditional foods and antics, Boxing day is to Christmas Day, what January 1st is to New Year's Eve. A day of celebration without the expectation of glitz, glamor, or overly-effusive gift giving!

Boxing Day dates back to centuries past when it was customary for the wealthy Lords and Ladies of the manor to give gifts to to household servants and other lowly paid individuals within their community. Extra generous landed gentry were occasionally known to take the rare initiative to actually reverse roles for an hour or two on Boxing Day, inviting the peasants to lord it up in the great hall for an afternoon as they waited on them. Well, it was only once a year.

Nowadays, Boxing Day is observed as a national holiday in many parts of the English speaking world, insuring that most everyone gets at least two days off to wine and dine on left-overs, squeeze in a visit to the in-laws, nap and play cards with the kids!

For those who grew up with an Irish/English Christmas, Boxing Day is the best day of the year to roll out the barrel of long-missed winter treats and stretch out the spirit of Christmas Day just a little bit longer.

Pulled myself up by the bootstraps today to tackle a couple of impending editorial deadlines, entailing a trip up North to Healdsburg's hidden tasting rooms tucked away in swirling fog of blanketed old vines. Not a bad gig to have to go back to work for!

 

Notes from A Writer's Desk

It's been quite a day. No time for much of a post except to decompress from some of the situations I manage to get myself into without even leaving the home office.

Wrote and designed a spiffy press release for a new Petaluma Gap member on a recently released, award winning wine. Having had the opportunity to sample it last night, along with fellow winemakers Jeff and Timo and Maggie from Scotts Labs, I certainly had some seasoned pros putting in their two penniesworth for helping me out with an accurate synopsis! How can this be considered stressful work, you might well ask?

Only in that I've spent a large portion of the day performing my very best, unadulterated British accent into 56,000 telephone recordings for my friends the producers of the Great Dickens Christmas Fair to fully authenticize their festive 800 line.

Technology appears to be closing in on me at every moment of the day - something new to absorb and learn and implement with every application and gadget. Do you feel that way? I guess this virtualization aspect of modern life is going to keep our brains from getting sluggish, at least.

So, now that my telephone performance skills are officially off the charts (let's hope the remnants of my nice English accent entice thousands and thousands to splurge on Dickens Fair group tickets for friends and family this festive season), I've squeezed in some time for exciting politics. If you follow my blog closely, you will probably recall recent activities mentioned involving many of my fellow P'Town progressive girlfriends. Let's just say that freedom of expression can go amazingly far in a very short period of time, igniting all sorts of fireworks on both sides of the proverbial fence.

With one major deadline looming for a 3,000 word lead story in an upcoming magazine, another to redraft from edits, plus several bins of rapidly fermenting grapes in the garage below my home office, my processing overload is officially on overload.

Immense congratulations to Patti and John and Audree Looper, our dear friends and neighbors on the safe arrival of beautiful little baby Olivia in the wee hours of this Wednesday morning. So, so glad you all made it down the freeway and into the city in plenty of time for what sounds like a super-speedy delivery!

  

Das ist gut! C'est fantastique!

Remember the late Ian Drury's epic lyrics  "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"?

"In the wilds of Borneo and the vineyards of Bordeaux......." Couldn't help but have this song of the 80s spring to mind whilst perusing my favorite google earth widget to the left of this column (if you are a subscriber, please hit the Sonoma Country Life heading now and it will take you to the full blog page).

For I finally seem to have cracked a central and south American readership. Every now and again a new reader pops up in some obscure outpost of the world, but rarely south of the seemingly impenetrable U.S. border.

I'm now wondering which blog post has pulled the readers from Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Guatemala. Could it be the Palin posts? Quite possibly the one key issue guaranteed to pull in readers from around the globe. Or maybe it was my jam donut cake recipe that did it. Who can say for sure, except that it's a small world after all and it's pretty amazing to watch those little red dots pop up on the map of the world whenever someone reads about our bucolic Sonoma Country Life and the things that make our small community a far away place for foreigners to relate to.

Comments do come in from around the world, so please remember to check in on the full blog page every now and again if you feel the urge to post an opinion which might be of interest to our friends in Turkey, Portugal and Bolivia, Japan, India and Taiwan!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Email

Last summer's innovative Ghosts of Olompali living history event offered the opportunity to time travel back to the Gold Rush days of California, during which women's rights were at the forefront of this incredible period of American history.

Never before had the acceptance of women's rights been more critical as bold and empowered pioneers blazed unfathomable trails towards a bright new future for all. 

To think that the blood, sweat, tears and toil of this unrivaled era of American evolution could be washed down the drain by a daring Republican 'maverick's' ruthless nomination of an extremist Vice Presidential candidate, is not being taken lightly by the great, great granddaughters of the American West (and East).

Emails are shooting across the country with Winchester-rifle-precision, blasting into the inboxes of women of all generations, race and religious denomination.

The latest sent to me today most eloquently quotes Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston, of the Women Say No to Sarah Palin Campaign, which calls us all to immediate action:

"Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms.Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire the
librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet."

"We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and all together devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and that we've so
demonstrably benefited from."

"First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly."

Send a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation. Include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence. womensaynopalin@gmail.com. Responses will be posted on a national blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin." Palin as VP would be history in the un-making. Wave your banner online.

Bloggers' Respite By the Beach

Took a few days off from the blogger's beat. Hung out at the beach in Santa Cruz with the boys and caught an amazing sunset and full moon over the sea. Setting off on the road without a laptop or internet accessible cell phone is a rarity these days for those of us in the communication/media biz, but all the more essential because of the fact that we live so much of our lives in front of one screen or another.

Was just starting to relax when the rally to return to the rat race called. Santa Cruz in the sunshine has a special pull all of its own. So close to the crazed existence of the San Francisco Bay Area and yet so far.

Three days. Three sons. One guitar. Three boogie boards, one beach chair, one chilled out Mom. If you were one of my loyal readers who emailed me to ask me where I've been hiding out these past few days, here are some photos from the fab little, cozy beach-side cottage we found by the side of the Pacific ocean this week....

Much Ado About Nothing

Boy am I slacking in the blogging department. It's not that I haven't done anything post-worthy in the past couple of days, it's just that I've been intent on wrapping up the reason d'etre of last week's epic Canada expedition. All word processing energies have been sucked up into that particularly intriguing hemisphere, I'm afraid.

So little time to waffle on about my usual daily discoveries. Except to tell you that I made a really mean traditional English steamed treacle pudding last night (with custard) and should probably think about sharing the recipe (except for the fact that few of my American friends have steamable pudding basins in their culinary armory!)

Spent this evening (what Monday?) with Petaluma's very own sommelier to the stars, a fascinating Santa Cruz Mountain-based winemaker, a local photographer and our buddy the all-things wine expert Jeff at Pari and Kamal Azari's West Petaluma WInery, dining in a most delightfully decadent Persian fashion for the start of another wintery week!

Considering I actually threw my back out this morning, I rallied to the course of wine country life and hope to be able to crawl out of bed in the morning to write something slightly more entertaining for my devoted one or two readers!