While their registration link said it was “sold out” for 350 diners to the free event last Tuesday, at least 500 people showed up to honor and donate to the Sonoma Sherpa Club’s fundraiser to help flood victims in Nepal. Generous donors gave more than $100,000 to help those suffering, and the families of thousands of people lost.
In the scores of fundraisers I have attended or helped organize, this was one of the best presentations I have seen. Videos played during the wine and appetizer hour, a Head Llama led prayers taught and sung by Nepalese women (many of whom we see working very hard all around Sonoma) and who dressed for the evening in their formal native outfits. They sang both the Nepal and U.S. national anthems, followed by a fabulous video, by local resident Sonam Jangbu Sherpa, of the horrible flood itself. The video left everyone staring straight ahead or weeping. And there were speeches by event coordinator Christian Dupree, Sonoma Mayor Ron Wallander, and California Sherpa Association president Gombu Sherpa. Nawang Phingo Sherpa emceed the event.
The theme for the evening was, “From the Heart of Sonoma to the Peaks of Nepal,” which aptly described the crowd’s emotions. Among the memorable translated quotes, “Once we see ourselves, no one is seen as others.”
And then there was the food, prepared by at least 20 Sherpa and other chefs, and cheeses donated by Gary Edwards. There was so much food that even people who hadn’t registered could have plenty, with leftovers for the taking. And there were lovely ceremonial white scarves, called khatas, that were given to all of us to honor those who lost their lives in the floods. Thanks to Sonoma Community Center for loaning silverware and plates.
Roche-Toberfest Oct. 10-11
Yes, the Irish Roche family also had a German grandmother, so why not celebrate the winding down of their harvest season?
Lots of music, games, Mara Roche’s Aunt Momo’s food and Roche wines and beer will be available for purchase. Aunt Momo will whip up her raclette with sausage, potatoes, gherkins, Reuben sandwiches, soft pretzels, Bavarian pâté and cheese spread, Alpine charcuterie, apple strudel, and ginger doodles, with loads of mustard and horseradish around.
Juke Tannins will play on Saturday, and David Barker will perform Sunday. No entry fee. 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., 22097 Bonness Rd., Sonoma. (707) 935-7115.
Lusting for lobsters?
The annual lobster sale, offered by Soroptimist International of Sonoma Valley, rolls around this month to help support women and girls further their education and advance work opportunities.
This year, you can order a 1.25 pound lobster, either fresh or cooked, for $43 each. Yes, the price is higher this year, but the lobsters cost more, as do the same-day flights from Maine to San Francisco. Always delicious for a treat.
Order your lobsters by 5 p.m. October 15 by calling (707) 732-4239, or go to si-sonomavalley.org Pick them up on Saturday, October 17 between 9 a.m. and 12 noon, at 670 West Napa Street, Suite C (in back), Sonoma.
Sangiacomo Home Ranch Harvest Party
One of Sonoma’s favorite, and most generous, wine families offers a fabulous hands-on, down-to-earth experience on October 25 at the Sangiacomos’ Home Ranch, to celebrate their 57th harvest.
Guests get to pick fruit from the vines, meet the vineyard team, get an up-close experience with the farm machinery, and ask questions on how it works, all of which will be interesting because the Sangiacomos have always been leaders in the latest winemaking methods, while respecting history. And you get to enjoy lunch from The Butcherman BBQ truck, along with music by the Jacob Philip Benning Duo.
And the Sangiacomos have kindly extended their Early Bird pricing for Sonoma Sun readers through Sunday, October 4. Early Bird pricing is $125 to public, $100 for wine club members. After October 4, $150 and $125. The all-inclusive lunch and wine tasting runs 12 to 3 p.m.. Advance tickets required. Tickets at sangiacomowines.com/harvestparty/, 21545 Broadway, Sonoma.
New Neighbor’s Table at Sonoma Mission Inn
You might want to try the new Neighbors’ Table, on Thursday nights, at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, where Sonoma native, and Santé Chef de Cuisine Jennifer Venezio, offers a three-course dinner priced to attract neighbors of the hotel for an excellent dinner out.
The menu varies, and might include a Little Gem Caesar salad or soup of the day, roasted Rocky chicken with seasonal vegetable bean ragout, or corn ravioli, and chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce or a coffee cracker or gelato of the day. $49 is definitely competitive with other local restaurants’ two- and three-course dinner offerings. Wine and beer specials are additional. 100 Boyes Blvd., Boyes Hot Springs. (707) 938-9000.
Sonoma Ups and Downs
While Gundlach Bundschu filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, it definitely is not going anywhere, nor is it closed. If you can, support this historic family and winery on one of Sonoma Valley’s most beautiful sites.
And to top all that off, The Bundschu family winery was awarded the honor of “Best Winery in Sonoma” in the Index-Tribune’s annual popularity contest.
Founded by Jacob Gundlach and Emil Dresel in 1858, the winery was selling 150,000 cases of Bacchus Table Wines a year by the 1870s. They made the wines here in Sonoma and stored them in a wine vault in San Francisco until the fire following the 1906 earthquake burned down their property and the vault.
While the winery was closed during Prohibition, son-in-law Charles Bundschu and his son Walter took care of the vineyards in Sonoma. During Prohibition, their grapes were much sought-after by wineries that got licenses to make sacramental wines. Some of those included Inglenook, Almaden and Sebastiani.
Walter’s son Towle, and his wife Mary, returned to Rhinefarm ranch and raised pears, cattle, and wine grapes. In 1967, their son Jim talked his father into planting the whole ranch in grapes, and they relaunched Gundlach-Bundschu winery in 1973.
Now their kids, Jeff and Katie, run Gundlach-Bundschu together, after Katie closed her Abbot’s Passage tasting room and mercantile, which was located on Madrone Road at the earlier site of the Parducci family’s historic Valley of the Moon Winery. Valley of the Moon was owned for a short time by the Stewart Family of British Columbia and run as Madrone Vineyards Estate. The Bundschus had purchased the 60 acre Madrone Vineyards property for $11.6 million in 2020, for Katie’s Abbot’s Passage endeavor.
As Michael Coats mentioned on my KSVY radio show last Friday, a whole lot of fun originated at Gundlach-Bundschu, including Kate Kennedy’s summer Shakespeare productions, the Sonoma Valley Wine Patrol that used to hold up the Napa Valley Wine Train when the patrol felt like it, and Jim Bundschu also organized the hilarious “Marching Vineyard” entry in the former Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival parade, when we still had a daytime parade.
Buying the old Valley of the Moon property for Abbot’s Passage in 2020, just before the COVID pandemic drove winery visitors down, was a serious jolt. And it came on top of other investments and loans. Together it all put the family’s liabilities higher than their assets. Hopefully investors, or even a buyer, will materialize and keep the family involved to preserve our precious Gundlach-Bundschu, one of California’s oldest wineries.
The photo of the Bundschu family, published last week in the Sonoma Index-Tribune, inaccurately includes Towle Merritt as vice president of Gundlach-Bundschu. Merritt left the winery in 2023 and now runs his own organic and regenerative vineyard management company, serving both Sonoma and Napa valleys.
Bankruptcy often gives an entity a time and chance to reorganize, get some debts forgiven, find investors to cure their debt, or sell the property or business. It should be noted that both Signorello, in the Napa Valley, and Robledo Family Winery, in Sonoma, also filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2026. Ray Signorello spent seven years rebuilding his winery after it was destroyed in Napa Valley’s 2017 Atlas Fire, and now it might be sold in foreclosure auction in early October, 2026.
The wineries are still open, and you can help them by either purchasing their wines on site, or visiting them for some fun, conversation.
Oso and Parkside closed
David Bush closed his treasured Oso restaurant last Saturday after 12 years of making silk out of a sow’s ear kitchen, on East Napa Street. Possibly the first chef in Sonoma to offer his deviled eggs with crab or caviar, he also attracted loyal locals and many chefs who could get a snack after work.
Apparently, local government’s demands that he basically install a new kitchen were just too costly in this economy. Bush had hoped to make that happen when he rented the Parkside location next to Oso. And when this all came down, the Sonoma Valley Jazz Society had just announced a series of musicians in residence to perform at Parkside.
Does anyone else remember the old Parkside bar at that location?
Is one person’s loss another person’s gain?
Sometimes.
Some people see a downturn as a good time to find a new location, new home, new business, or even scoop up a winery or two. Even if those entities are doing well and look prosperous, an old saying is that “everyone has their price.”
Jean-Charles Boisset has done a fabulous job of buying and restoring Sonoma’s Buena Vista Winery, Napa Valley’s Raymond Vineyards, Elizabeth Spencer Winery in Rutherford, Oakville Grocery, and the Calistoga Depot and Distillery, as well as DeLoach Vineyards west of Santa Rosa in the Russian River Valley. He and wife Gina Gallo purchased Flora Springs winery, partly known for its creative architecture, in St. Helena and turned it into a spectacular attraction.
And now, when wine tourism is down due to international tariffs, threats, war, and changes in consumer habits, Boisset just purchased Carneros star Artesa Estate, from Spain’s Raventós Cordiniu, for a reported $40 million – allegedly $34 million now and another $6 million later, according to the Napa Valley Register. The property includes more than 350 acres and the winery.
I remember on my first visit to Artesa, while working on one of our guidebooks, I approached with a huge smile brought on by the architecture and, particularly, the pyramid covered with grass to keep it cool inside. The winery started as Cordiniu Napa, then became Artesa Winery, and now is called Artesa Estate by Boisset.
Boisset was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying Artesa will become an even “greater art destination” than it is now. He had also long been interested in the nearby Di Rosa Preserve property, which was once listed for $10.9 million. But in August, 2026, di Rosa announced acquisition of 164 acres of its property by the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District, and the Land Trust of Napa County, to create a “shared opportunity of protecting an important Napa County landscape while supporting the continued vitality of one of the region’s unique cultural institutions.” The acquisition includes the Milliken Peak hiking area, according to the Chronicle.
Dead Letter opening more envelopes
A tease from the girl & the fig: Sondra Bernstein and John Toulze are speeding up their Dead Letter restaurant delivery to seven days a week, with no word yet on when that envelope might open.
Looks like they might start with pop-up dinners on three Tuesdays in October. They say check your email box for that letter, dead or alive. Cheers!
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