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Top California Winery Wedding Locations

This story originally appeared in California Winery Advisor. When thinking of the perfect location for a wedding, does anything conjure up romance more than a vineyard? Vineyards are picturesque. There is a romanticism. The views are ideal for photographs. And vineyards can fit all wedding styles, from intimate to large, informal to formal. While there are many wineries with event space, not every winery is able to host a California winery wedding. Here are four wineries from Sonoma to Paso Robles offering unique venues for wineries.

Top Sonoma County Winery Wedding Locations

Rolling hills and valleys, groves of majestic redwood trees and world class wines, Sonoma County stretches from the Pacific Coast in the west to the Mayacamas Mountains in the east. There are more than 400 wineries within the 17 appellations. One of these appellations is the Sonoma Valley AVA which centers around the southern portion of Sonoma County and includes the towns of Santa Rosa and Kenwood where two of the California winery wedding venues are located.

08 June, 2017

Maude May 2017 – Strawberries

Big, ripe, juicy strawberries signal that summer is here. And that was the featured ingredient in Maude's May menu. I had been looking forward to this menu for months as I love strawberries. I buy them fresh and put them in my smoothies, on my yogurt, in my salads or dip in brown sugar. And now I was going to see how Maude utilized the red berries. We sat down and started with a glass of Champagne Tarlant Cuvee Louie. Fresh and bright with a touch of brioche notes, we said "cheers!" and were ready to start.

The first dish was a large plate of clam shells fanned on a plate like flower petals. On the top was a shell that had a few pieces of fruit and a green leaf. Simple in presentation, it was full of flavor. The fruit was mango and strawberry, compressed in their own juices with a little heat. And wrapped in the leaves was goeduck.

06 June, 2017

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Ricardo Zarate’s Rosaline LA

I first tried the delicious Peruvian flavors of Chef Ricardo Zarate in 2009 when he opened Mo-Chica inside Mercado La Paloma in Downtown Los Angeles. I last saw him in 2015 when his first book, entitled The Fire of Peru: Recipes and Stories from My Peruvian Kitchen, was released and he was hosting a Peruvian pop-up called Once (on-seh) in Venice. And, lucky for Los Angelenos, he is back with the opening of his new restaurant Rosaliné, Please The Palate's "pick of the week."

Rosaliné, named after his mother, is located in the former Comme Ca space on Melrose and La Cienega. The restaurant is slated to open in mid-June but I was fortunate to get a sneak peak this past week at the final LA Food Bowl Hanging with Harris dinner and Santa Barbara County Wines, raising money for No Kid Hungry.

03 June, 2017