Day Twelve: Sonoma Valley and Oakland

Today, Zach arose early to get Penelope a checkup. His Uncle Keith’s connections worked wonders, and Her Majesty’s Minivan got new oil and new shims (to solve the mysterious squeak) for a very reasonable expense. We then journeyed up to the Sonoma Valley—wine country—to meet Jason’s Amherst friend Matt and Matt’s UCLA friend Andrew. The seven of us piled into Penelope and hit the Valley. At the Kunde Vineyard, a brittle tour guide ushered us into the manmade caves where they store their wine. A few people on the tour asked what wine was.

We continued on to three more vineyards in the Valley: St. Francis, Kaz, and Arrowood. While Arrowood won for best quality and value (we may have accidentally walked out on the bill…), Kaz won for attitude. Kaz is a small, family-run operation. Growing on just a handful of acres, they produce about 5,000 cases a year. Kunde produces 125,000. Kaz’s tasting room is in a building best described as either a large garage or a small barn.

UCLA Andrew was curious about how port is made, so the staff showed us the distilled grape spirits added to wine to increase alcohol content and stop fermentation early, leaving behind the natural sugars that give port its sweet flavor. This stuff weighs in at 96% abv. It smelled a bit like nail polish and tasted like burning. Eventually, we had to leave the cool, dark tasting room, filled with wine and good cheer, and face the merciless afternoon sun.

After a quick dip in the pool and a tour of Matt’s beautiful new house, which is currently under construction, we headed back to Oakland to meet Keith for dinner. He treated us to a delicious dinner of gourmet burgers at Barney’s.

We then returned and retired for a second night at generous Uncle Keith’s.