Tag Archives: Sones Cellars

Going out with a … bash

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I leave Tuesday morning at 6:20 in the morning. I have one bag packed. I have a lot of work to do Monday to ensure I can go dark for two days while I travel. I have a doctors appointment as well as several last minute errands. I should have spent today packing and getting ready. Instead I spent today helping my mother prep for a going-away/multi-birthday bash.

And tonight with good food, good wine and good company we celebrated, at Sones Cellars, not only my departure but a slew of big birthdays. 50. 21. 75. 30. It has been a very big year.

“Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard”

Despite my complaints about packing, for me the hardest part of moving has always leaving behind awesome people. Colin & Carina. Peter & Jess. The Sones. The Munsons. Jean. June. The list is endless. But tonight’s party gave me a chance to spend a few minutes with each of them. Of course there were faces missing. There were people I would have liked to have seen one more time. And with so many people to talk to – I didn’t get to spend as much time with everyone as I would have liked. But nonetheless I got a chance to say goodbye and go out with a bash.

Thank you to all of the friends and family to came out tonight to lift a glass and celebrate: You will be sorely missed but not forgotten. Cheers to a new adventure!

It’s time to say goodbye…and embark on a new adventure

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Crazy, fun, hectic, a little exhausting, sometimes painful and maybe even a little embarrassing. Worth every single moment.

Today was my last day as an employee at Sones Cellars. It’s is the end of an era. I have poured, sipped, blended, savored, punched down, picked grapes. I have stood on the bottling line, behind the bar and at countless events since January 2011. It’s the longest I have ever held a single job.

And it has defined my goals, dreams and my latest course of adventure. Without the Sones Family and the Sones Cellars Family – I would have never considered applying to the Bordeaux International Wine Institute and I wouldn’t be leaving the country in 10 days.

So today – despite the nostalgia and a bit of sadness – we celebrated. With wine-glass margaritas (because what else could be better on a hot Saturday evening), chips and home made salsa and guac, good friends and a lot of laughter. Followed by a delicious dinner at my favorite Santa Cruz Italian eatery – and a Sones Cellars Team tradition – Tramonti.

To all of the friends I have made over the past 30-some-odd-months:  Thanks for sharing the journey! You will be missed.

“If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked!”

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Wine in its many forms has been gracing tables, parties, flasks and more for hundreds of years. With technological advances and better production some things have changed, some things have stayed the same and some things have been forgotten. But in celebration of the Bard himself, Shakespeare Santa Cruz and the spirit of exploration Sones Cellars has created their very own Sack. Oxidized, fortified and sweetened – Sack was once what passed for white table wine in Elizabethan England. White wine was imported from Italy or Spain. But given the limitation of the times upon arrival in England the wine would have spoiled and been oxidized. To return it to a drinkable state it would have been fortified with either brandy or sherry and then sweetened. After doing the research the Sones’ created their own – awesome – version. Served warm, cold or mixed in a cocktail it is a fun taste of history.

Last night I joined the Sones family and the Sones Cellars Family – for a picnic and a wonderful – and Sones Cellars sponsored  – performance of Henry V in the UC Santa Cruz Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen. (Shakespeare is always better when it’s performed outside, don’t you think?)

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The past two seasons, Shakespeare Santa Cruz has put on performances of Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2 – the inspiration for the research, creation and bottling of the Sones Cellars’ Sack. Of course, much of the historical record about Sack comes from Falstaff’s famous drunken soliloquy in Henry IV Part 2. It follows then that this year the festival added Henry V to the line up.  If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area I highly encourage you to make the trip to Santa Cruz visit the Sones Cellars tasting room to try some Sack and enjoy a performance of either Henry V or Taming of the Shrew. I can say that Henry V was magical and I can’t wait to see Taming of the Shrew.

Click here to visit the Sones Cellars website.

Click here to learn more about Shakespeare Santa Cruz.