Enoteca Next Door

Today I took a little break and Mike and I went on our usual Sunday excursion, this time to Sonoma square. Lately we've gotten bored with the fare on the square, and we were feeling like branching out, but didn't know where to go.

It turned out to be a gorgeous, sunny day, and there were tons of people on the square. We popped into the lobby of the Swiss Hotel, read the menu, found some familiar sounding Italian fare and had a satisfying, if fairly ordinary lunch. The wines by the glass list was Sonoma-centric, as is usually the case in this town. I am certain that the price I paid for the Bargetto Pinot Grigio (the waiter mysteriously corrected me "Pinot Gris.") would have paid for the whole bottle-- at retail. It tasted pretty cheap. Sorry, Bargetto. Food was just fine-- we ate everything, but we weren't raving about it. The plateware was embarrassingly scuffed*, and the service was relaxed. To the point of being slow. Our server was weeded, as they say, but we really didn't care. I don't want to dog the S.H., because it was a pleasant atmosphere, the food was fine, and we had a nice time anyway.

*Restaurant owners and chefs: Black marks on your plates are inexcusable! Black marks on plate rims come from plates being tossed into the same dish tubs as the saute pans and pots. Look at your plates, and if there are gray and black marks around the edges, these plates do not belong on the tables! Buy new plates, (if you're cheap, maybe you can scrub the marks off with Bon Ami) and while you're at it, buy two different colored dish tubs and never, ever let pans (or sheet pans, or anything metal) and plates (or cups, or bowls) sit on top of each other or go through the dishwasher together. No matter what you are serving at your restaurant, no matter what price level, your chef's food looks like garbage on a dirty plate. Allowing these plates out into the dining room advertises to your customers that you are lazy and to your staff that your standards are low, and they will behave accordingly. Do I make myself clear? Later we can talk about dirty windows and pepper shakers.

So, glad I got that off my chest. Back to the rest of the day in Sonoma. Next stop was the kitchen store, to comparison shop Le Creuset and other French/Dutch ovens. And to look for a kitchen timer and a new salad spinner (wore mine out). The selection was surprisingly limited in the kitchen timer department. I just want an old-fashioned, white metal timer that goes ding. Ding-a-ling. Whatever. No such thing. Ladybugs, birdies and egg-shapes, all made out of plastic, some digital. My plastic timer rang itself right off the counter and onto the floor and now it doesn't ding anymore, so I'm looking for the Studebaker of timers.

Next stop, the reason for this post: Della Santina's Enoteca "Next Door". Though the signage is a little confusing (I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to open the door, or go to the next one) this new "wine bar" half a block off the square and next to Della Santina restaurant, is such a neat find. It just opened recently, in the spot that used to house a cheese shop.

I don't know about you, but when I think of a wine bar, I think snooze. I'm not really interested in a lot of California wines, and I don't care who got what in the Wine Spectator. I don't want to sit around a bar with a bunch of yahoos comparing cellar size and which verticals of Robert Parker's 90-pointers they have in them.

When I think of an enoteca, I'm a little more intrigued. Maybe they'll have cheeses and charcuterie; maybe they'll be pouring something different and interesting. Enotecas in Italy can be such fun spots to find out about unique wines and have a bite of something savory to eat. Enoteca Next Door was just what I was hoping for. The person pouring was the owner, Ron, who greeted us from the other end of the room when we walked in. The wall behind the bar was loaded with a selection of wines from, oh, ten or eleven different countries. Grapes I'd never heard of, regions I'd never seen. Reasonable prices. Fun stuff. I chose a glass of Argentinian Torrontes, a grape I'd never heard of before two weeks ago, when I had a taste from a bottle that a foodie friend brought home from a recent trip there.

This wine is so incredibly aromatic, tantalizing and floral that you don't know whether to drink it or dab it behind your ears. I know when I say that, that you think two things: sweet, and yuck. You are probably suffering from viognier or gewurztraminer-induced backlash. I was, too. I was very suspicious of the beautiful aromas, thinking they might lead to a flabby, overly-alcoholic or insipid palate. This wine is nearly as zingy and tangy as a Sauvignon Blanc, but with more delicacy and less gooseberry, and those pretty aromas linger through the whole glass. If you find it, try it. Now. Did I mention it was $12 a bottle? That's right, t w e l v e. It tasted like $30.

Mike had another Argentinian wine, a Malbec. He said it was just what he was looking for, but I couldn't break away from my new love affair with the Torrontes long enough to care. Ron gave us a couple of tastes of some other wines, a super-fragrant (again) low-alcohol Moscato, and another weird varietal mashup white that we also enjoyed. He was friendly and informative and we enjoyed talking with him. We're not big wine shoppers, because we have access to a lot of wine at home, but we bought six bottles (two of the Torrontes) and picked up information about their wine club. I think it will become a regular stop. Especially since Mike forbade me from opening one of the bottles we bought with dinner tonight, because they were "to share with our friends".

If you are in Sonoma and looking for something different, definitely check it out.

Ron also recommended the following restaurants:
La Salette
General's Daughter
Della Santina
Cafe de la Haye
Eldorado Kitchen
Harvest Moon
The Girl and the Fig

By the way, Della Santina's Enoteca is not to be confused with Enoteca Sonoma a few blocks away, which is, in my opinion, actually a California wine bar.

PS- Grandpa, don't let on to Grandma that I was out drinking wine again today. It'll be our little blog secret.