It was a cold day in January. The taxing holiday restaurant rush was behind me, and I needed a weekend sneak-away to find my center after that most frazzling time of year had subsided. A friend at Healdsburg’s Lambert Bridge Winery mentioned the vacant guest house. I had to summon massive inner strength to avoid sprinting to Healdsburg that very second. In high heels. From Texas.

Healdsburg is an extraordinarily charming small Sonoma town, home to many great restaurants, a handful of great bars (both wine bars and otherwise), and a population of characters as warm as they are memorable. The allure of margaritas at the small bar inside Ravenous, or shuffle board at John & Zeke’s, are strong pulls indeed, but at the end of my stay it took both a village and wild horses (again summoned from within) to tear me away from the inviting guest cottage at Lambert Bridge.

About a mile away from the storybook Dry Creek General Store (best sunset beers in Sonoma, FYI), the LBW cottage is perched at the back of a vineyard just off the gently winding Lambert Bridge road. My arrival at the cottage was the spiritual equivalent of really good foot massage. The front room is outfitted with a cozy small couch, two reading chairs, windows looking out across the vineyard, and the ultimate factor in any seriously relaxing sneak-away: a fireplace. More relaxation beckoned from the huge front porch; overlooking vines just steps away, and bathed in sunlight. I took to bundling up and sitting out in the starry darkness of the night’s wee hours, listening to absolute silence occasionally broken by chirpy bugs, faraway wolves, and mystery creatures snapping fallen twigs from the trees behind the cottage.

In the morning I wandered the few paces down to the Tasting Room. The weather was crisp – little fogs of breath puffed out of joggers running by in hats and gloves. I wanted to say hello to my friend Andy, LBW’s national sales manager, and managing son of this family-owned winery. Andy’s also the delivery guy, the Tasting Room manager, the marketing planner, the local tour guide, the hospitality specialist, and Dad to the much-photographed, infamous winery dog Gus. Lots of hats are worn in this labor of love.

The Tasting Room at Lambert Bridge is stunning. In January, a blazing fire greets you from a huge fireplace on your right, music hums, a wall of windows to your left reveal a temp-controlled room with rows of chalk-marked barrels stacked ceiling-high, and honest smiles from behind the tasting bar give the instant impression that this not just a happy place to visit, but a happy place to work. (Tasting the wine each morning is surely a good way to start a work day.)

Andy was brainstorming with the winery’s personal Chef over a Springtime cooking event to hold on the lush front lawn. Gus was lying on his side nearby, tail wagging. He kept his eyes on me without moving his lazy head, sizing up his chance of a belly rub – he was victorious.

Gus, with his smiley dog demeanor, is a microcosm of the big picture at Lambert Bridge. The winery’s humble motto, and indeed the prevailing lifestyle, is “Great food and great wine, shared with great friends.” The group behind Lambert Bridge greets all guests with open arms (and open wine – huzzah!), whether you’re staying in the cottage, spending an afternoon at one of their wine celebrations, or swinging through the Tasting Room on your way from Dry Creek Vineyard, A. Rafanelli, or Quiverra - all about a half mile away. For my three days, I lived the motto to its full extent.

Great wine (which I could literally wax on about for pages, but will choose just one - Sophie’s Choice! - for brevity) included the unctuous (yes, I said it), scrumptious, mouth-flooding Maple Vineyard zinfandel. Composed from one of life’s greatest combinations since salt & pepper, the Maple zin is co-fermented with petit sirah which gives an explosive finish to a very smooth mouthful of ripe berry fruit and sneaky, sultry spice. A six-year-old Lambert Bridge chardonnay deserves a mention for gorgeous fruit and acidity whose liveliness belied their age.

Great Food started with an impossibly delicious lunch at Zin Restaurant. If you don’t treat yourself to the beer battered green beans with mango chutney salsa, why bother eating at all? Try them with LB’s sauvignon blanc for a WOW food and wine moment. Zin’s lunches are much coveted because of “homemade soups to die for” says Andy, and a pulled pork sandwich rivaling anything I’ve had in Texas.

Shared with great friends – the Wilcox family, their employees at Lambert Bridge, and the generally charmed population of “the ‘Burg” made me feel less like a Sonoma first-timer, and more like a welcome player in the long-standing history of the love for wine. Bartenders strike up conversations as though you’re catching up after an extended hiatus; unfamiliar faces raise their glasses to toast from across the room. There is a coaxing vibe just under the surface that suggests someone could, at any moment, order a round for the house. Nobody is a stranger in Healdsburg, residents and passers-through alike.

A guest book in the Lambert Bridge cottage tells the story of many, many happy times. Guests from around the world spill wine, laughter, love, and thanks onto blank pages, compiling an unintentional novel that reads like a never ending fairy tale – a tale you will whole-heartedly identify with by the time your trip comes to an end.

Three days in the tucked away guest cottage at Lambert Bridge brought me back to center, energized and relaxed, just like I’d hoped. Great food, great wine, shared with great friends. Is this motto the recipe for the most energizing, relaxing, centering experience available on Earth? The folks at Healdsburg’s Lambert Bridge Winery are sure making a strong case for it.

Lambert Bridge Winery
4085 West Dry Creek Road
Healdsburg, CA 95448
Tel: (707) 431-960
www.lambertbridge.com

- Written by Emily Resling (missing.an.i@gmail.com)

Emily Resling is a Senior Editor for Vezeo.

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