Wine Country Harvest

After graduating from college back in 2001, I moved to Sebastopol with my bandmates for a hiatus from the rigors of city life in San Francisco. We'd had enough of paying exorbitant rent for both apartments and practice space (we liked to play loud), so we found an old farmhouse up north that needed some love but gave us the space and solitude we were looking for while recording our demo. There was something about Sebastopol that felt free, as if the news of the outside world didn't matter nearly as much as the local weather. I remember taking a phone call on the porch of that house nine years ago today to let us know that a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center, and having to walk down the road to the flea market to buy a television so we could follow the news on a dusty old set with rabbit ears.

After all these years, not much seems to have changed. The same old dilapidated barns still make postcard pictures against a horizon of mature oaks, and the same old rusty farm equipment still gathers dust along shoulderless country roads. Independent businesses still dominate the commercial landscape, and old vine zinfandel, the rural. Most importantly, local food and wine are more valued than ever, making Sonoma Country one of my favorite places to eat and drink... especially at this time of year!

I occasionally travel to the area to play gigs at Harvest Moon Winery, but last week I returned exclusively for dinner at the home of winemaker Randy Pitts and his fiance, my good friend and songwriter extraordinaire Alison Harris, along with several other friends, old and new. Randy and Alison's home is just a few blocks away from Harvest Moon, so we stopped by the winery before dinner to help Randy with the afternoon punchdown. This is the process by which the cap of grape skins and other organic matter that forms on top of fermenting wine is punched through and pushed back into the wine with the help of a tool that resembles a huge potato masher. The punchdown helps to extract color and flavor from the grapes, while also reducing the threat of bacteria that can grow in the cap as it dries out.

The winery was buzzing with a sense of harvest time urgency, which made it a particularly fun time to visit. Workers on forklifts moved barrel after barrel of wine to make room for all the work at hand in the crushpad, and Randy made rounds to check on the progress of his young wines in their various stages of development. After a walk around the vineyard and a glass of sparkling gewurztraminer, we jumped in the van and headed to the house for the main event.

We didn't have a plan for dinner, other than to pillage Randy and Alison's amazing garden and pair whatever we found with way too much good wine. Their backyard shows off the banquet that the Russian River Valley has to offer, from zin vines to olive trees to organic fruit and vegetables. Wine glasses in hand, we walked through the garden and marveled at the delicious ingredients at our disposal. We picked tomatoes, peppers, beets, corn, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, onions, garlic, basil and rosemary, all of which looked and smelled incredible.

The theme of the night was farm to table, and the freshness of our food and wine was unmistakable. We gathered around a small fire and watched as our recently harvested goodies transformed into a beautifully roasted vegetarian medley. Less than an hour after picking them, the fruits of our labor were in our bellies! For the remainder of the night, Randy led us through an assortment of regional wines, no bottle originating more than a few miles from where we sat and celebrated, and we chatted happily until the moon rose about food, wine, land and localism.

If you haven't yet tasted Harvest Moon's wine, you really need to. Save yourself a trip to the supermarket, because it's only available directly from their website or at the winery itself. I'll be back for a gig there on November 7th for what promises to be a fun afternoon of food, wine and music.