That's what they say about wine. After a weekend in California, i am overwhelmingly convinced that it is true.

I arrived on saturday morning, and after brunch at Rudi's Can't Fail Cafe in Oakland (eggs beni on hash browns and Pete's coffee so black that even if you wanted milk in it, it wouldn't have changed color), we were on our way to Sonoma County. Incidentally, today i found out Pete's just opened up a shop in Boulder's newest yuppy 29th Street Mall development, and i couldn't be more disturbed. It's like i just found out my liberal grandmother has secretely been voting republican this whole time. They have gone the way of Starbucks and i will never think of them in the sam light. Such is life in a capitalistic society. Anyway, we met some of Carly's friends at the new Coppola winery outside of Healdsburg and enjoyed a tasting and a few bottles of wine at the estate. It was close to 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky the entire time i was there. The sun setting on the golden vineyards while enjoying a nice chilled glass of viogner was an exceptional way to spend my first evening in california. We then went back to the time share that Carly's friends had arranged for the weekend and sampled a few more bottles before heading over to a party at the Roshambo winery. The winery's clientele - mostly young bay area hipsters - combined with live music, good wine, and a pirate theme made for a quality evening of drunken debauchery. The DJ was great and i had more fun dancing than i've had in a long long time. The occasional shooting star overhead was a nice touch.

The next day we went to an italian family-run vineyard called Passalacqua. We walked through their vineyards and tasted the sun soaked grapes, which are so sweet this time of year, like little warm bursts of sunlight. Then we sampled some excellent sauvignon blanc and zinfandel while sitting in the grass of their beautiful gardens. On our way out of town we stopped for the best food in Healdsburg (if you can't afford Michelin rated 3-star restaurants) at El Sombrero Taqueria. I had the best chicken tacos i've had outside of mexico and Carly and i shared a beautiful serving of ceviche. Also ordered a styrofome cup of orcheta, which is a spiced rice drink, and it came out of one of those 5 gallon tanks that is constantly stirring as if to keep bacteria from growing on it and you wonder how long it has been doing so (i recon that's the only proper way to drink orcheta). Promptly fell asleep on the drive back down to the City, but Carly woke me up as we began driving across the Golden Gate Bridge... it was partly obscured by a golden fog warmed by the sunset and just then my favorite Ray Lamontage song came on.... I felt like i was still dreaming. I think it was then that i realized i will live in S.F. some day. Soon.

That night we were pretty exhausted so we went out for some delicious thai food in Berkeley and went back to Carly's and fell asleep in front of a movie. On monday, Carly took a half day off work and we started the day off right by going to a chocolate cafe in Oakland. It was the only "must stop" for me during the whole weekend, as i had been reading their blog from time to time for the past year and was keen to try their much touted dark hot chocolate. Indeed, it was like drinking a melted dark chocolate bar in a cup. Except better. If you have never had a quality cup of hot chocolate, please make it a priority in your life very soon. It felt like i was tasting chocolate for the first time and part of me never wants to drink hot chocolate ever again because there is no way it can ever taste that good. But i will. [view pics from the weekend ]