Back in September the wine was flowing at Petaluma Educational Foundation's epic 'Rewind the Twine' annual Fundraising Bash at the Sunset Line and Twine Building.
By the time Timo's case of 2006 Que Syra came up in the live auction, the competitive juices were flowing and kind, generous, community-minded folk started bidding up the opportunity to come crush with us this harvest season.
The promise of a harvest feast at the end of the morning's travail up and down those steep, stony hillside staircases, must have been the biggest lure, as I listened to the bids go up and up!
Needless to say, I was delighted to learn that the item went to a fantastic group of Petaluma folk who were truly keen on the authentic experience of hand picking the grapes and getting into the spirit of some hard work and fortitude before the feast!
Wonderful too, to have local kids in the vineyard participating in an age-old ritual of bringing in the grapes. Especially with PEF fundraising money from this auction item having gone directly to serve all Petaluma schools. We could not have asked for a more fabulous morning of mellow sunshine after the blistering heat of the past week.
And by the time our late harvest lunch rolled around, we were a very relaxed bunch of revelers, intent on little more than making as big a dent in the winemaker's stash as possible, and tucking into a giant, Italian pot-roast, roasted root veggies and potatoes, Karen's pasta salad, salami's, fresh, herb-infused mozarella, olives, crusty breads and an incredible pear and cranberry upside down cake, also from Karen's kitchen.
Fellow winemaker Jeff (Karen's hubby) and grape-growing neighbors Steve and Judy were on hand to share this 'exclusive' auction item lunch, with lots of hands-on clean-up help from the lovely Lesley, plus manual-muscle power supplied by visiting Rivetti cousins. Needless to say we were all as happy as clams by the time the sun started its late afternoon shift down below the top of the hill above the turning vines. Also part of the auction item was a one-year membership to the Petaluma Gap Grape Alliance and a Terrific Tours wine tour for 6 of Petaluma area tasting rooms with picnic lunch.
wonderful life all that sunshine and hard work making super wine. How that makes me envious.
Posted by: mum | Monday, October 20, 2025 at 11:29 AM