I do know the city of Sonoma fairly effectively, so I used to be shocked when a good friend requested me to lunch at a restaurant I’d by no means heard of earlier than: EDGE Sonoma. With what should’ve been a quizzical look on my face, I requested, “The place in Sonoma? It’s not in Sonoma city.” “Oh, however it’s,” she mentioned, and we have now to go. The cooking there may be among the most enjoyable wherever.” I used to be able to hop within the automotive. However at the moment, EDGE was basically a personal membership for Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards & Winery members, whose restaurant was solely open to the general public on Thursday nights. Now, EDGE Sonoma is open to all, and it’s the epitome of a eating vacation spot.
Government Chef Fiorella Burton, who’s from Peru, infuses the menu with deep creativity that’s by no means overwrought. Her recipes, all pushed by native elements — a lot of that are grown at Stone Edge Farm — are balanced, ingenious and normally deceptively easy, which is just about the trifecta of success, for me. A lot of the greens and herbs that seem on the plate are grown on the property’s close by farm, a 16-acre natural, biodynamic operation totally powered by a micro-grid unbiased of PG&E that additionally removes carbon dioxide from the air.
The farm, the vineyards, the vineyard, and the restaurant are all of the work of Mac McQuown, renaissance man extraordinaire, whose imaginative and prescient to make top-quality Bordeaux-style wines in Sonoma included doing his half to reverse local weather change. Leslie McQuown is a designer, and her aesthetic is the throughline of the appear and feel of all of the properties. In 2018, Stone Edge Farm was awarded California’s highest environmental honor, the Governor’s Environmental and Financial Management Award (GEELA) within the Sustainable Practices class for its “superior know-how to generate, retailer, and distribute clear power to its property and past.”
EDGE Sonoma has a deep wine record, and its most compelling alternatives are the Stone Edge Farm wines themselves, which aren’t distributed past an unique mailing record — and the restaurant. So, begin with a glass of Champagne after which dive proper into no matter Larry Nadeau, the gracious and sensible director of eating, recommends to go together with your meal. You’ll not be led astray.
Stone Edge Farm’s Bordeaux-style Cabernets are usually not distributed past its member record, however they’re … [+]
Kim Westerman
Burton’s menu modifications as she is impressed, however you may at all times get fresh-baked bread and culinary director John McReynold’s well-known cultured butter to get pleasure from when you chart your course(s). (Learn extra about McReynolds and his recipes for creating your individual pantry within the Stone Edge Farm Kitchen Larder cookbook, which I reviewed here.)
Tasting a flight of world-class Bordeaux-style Stone Edge Farm wines at Silver Cloud Winery on … [+]
Kim Westerman
Earlier than my most up-to-date meal at EDGE, I spent the afternoon at Silver Cloud Winery, one other comparatively under-the-radar spot on Moon Mountain, the place Stone Edge farms its Bordeaux varietals. I tasted by means of a flight with the understatedly dynamic director of hospitality, Philippe Thibault, an expertise that jogged my memory that among the finest Cabernet Sauvignon in California proper now’s being grown in Sonoma. (Napa is the extra traditional origin, however local weather change is pointing towards cooler micro-climates for optimum Cab manufacturing.) It’s no shock that these wines are made by California superstars Phil Coturri (viticulturalist) and Jeff Baker (winemaker), whose mixed pedigrees may fill a ebook.
After this beautiful tasting, I drove down the mountain and into city for dinner at EDGE, I loved Burton’s refreshing halibut ceviche, the aforementioned lamb, and a 2006 Stone Edge Farm Cabernet that I hadn’t tasted on the vineyard.
EDGE Sonoma, Silver Cloud Winery, and Stone Edge Farm are an inextricable triangle of collaboration and curation, all certain by the McQuowns’ imaginative and prescient of sustainable bounty. Begin exploring by making a reservation at EDGE and reserving a tasting at Silver Cloud, ideally on the identical day for the total immersive expertise. I promise you’ll be hooked immediately — by the meals, the wine, and the irresistible idea, all of which mixed depart you fortunately satiated.
