Bryan Zupon

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past couple weeks.  I've been traveling, culinarily of course.

On my recent road trip from Seattle to San Francisco I had some solid meals, saw some beautiful scenery, and drank A LOT of wine.

Between stops in the Willamette Valley, Sonoma, and Napa Valley one winery really stood out, however.  Not necessarily for the quality of their wine and certainly not for the beauty of their facilities but for their down-to-earth approach to wine.  This is not down-to-earth in the salt-of-the-earth, farmer sense but in a youthful, irreverent one.  It's wine with a bit of rock 'n' roll thrown in the mix.

I'm referring to Roshambo Winery located in Sonoma Country.  There are several reasons why this place is pretty cool.

1) The wine is tasty and affordable (and only costs $5 to taste several).  The 10 bottles I somehow managed to squeeze into my suitcase clearly attest to this.

2) The tasting room, while perhaps pushing the rock 'n' roll vibe a bit too hard, is friendly and unintimidating.  A vintage Pac Man arcade game takes care of that.

3) Not only is the winery's owner, Naomi Brilliant, pretty hot, but she's succeeded in inserting her personality into her winery.  This is terroir of a different sort, but for a young drinker I find this very exciting.  When I asked if Brilliant was in fact her last name, I was told that it was.  I was quickly informed there was more to the story, however.  It turns out that at her wedding both Naomi and her husband were interested in changing their last names.  Naturally, they let their wedding guests decide what new last name they would adopt.  If that's not the most rocker thing in the world, I don't know what is.

4) They have a freaking tour bus.  Come on now, how cool is that?  I'd be their groupie.

You know that scene at the end of Sideways where Miles has that breakdown in that Disneyland winery?  This is not that tasting room.

Naomi Brilliant – Not your typical winery owner

It's like this winery was designed for people like me

Photos courtesy of Roshambo Winery