Private dining at the best vineyard in Sonoma

Bricoleur Vineyards

📍 Sonoma County

👀 As part of our “Most Influential Agents” Visit California itinerary we were treated to a private dinner at Bricoleur, this was hands down my absolute favourite experience on the whole trip.

We arrived at 6:30pm and were greeted firstly by Lulu, their beautiful chocolate Labrador puppy, she kept us company most of the night like an unofficial tour guide. We were then treated to a candlelit bar wagon serving us a welcome drink as we took a tour around the property, it was pure magic.

We started with a tour of the barn which was still being renovated at the time.
The Winery Barn is a multipurpose, approximately 10,000-square foot entertaining space that can be utilized for any event. The ceiling was so high and made from redwood. The huge, glass barn doors open wide to bring in the fresh air.

Adjacent to the Winery Barn was an open air canopy of fairy lights, it was so magical to walk down and the perfect entrance to our private dinner setup in the Pavilion. The Pavilion overlooked a Chardonnay vineyard to the south and Mount Saint Helena to the northeast but it was hard to see in the dark.

The setup for the dinner was absolutely spectacular! We had a personalised menu with the chefs name and also the owners names so we knew who we were dining with, I thought that was so clever and smart as on trips like famils we are always having dinner with people and its hard to keep track. The table setting was fall vibes continuing on from pumpkin season. Lined with candles and personalised Bricoleur blankets on the back of our chairs as it was a chilly night. It was so warm and inviting.

We sat down and got to know the family behind Bricoleur, the sweetest couple Mark and Beth and their daughter Sarah. Mark grew up down the road from the winery and built this amazing future for his family. Sarah brings the young, innovative freshness to the brand and a keen eye for detail and great with social media. It was good to speak to her as the group of us were all on social media so she asked us questions about our brands and what works and doesn’t.

Mark explained the meaning behind Bricoleur | Bri · Co · Leur | French — One Who Starts Building Something With No Clear Plan, Adding Bits Here And There, Cobbling Together A Whole While Flying By The Seat Of Their Pants (which is one of their wine names).

💁🏼‍♀️Now for the food, the Guest Chef was Shane Mcanelly who they borrowed from a restaurant down the road for special events. The menu highlighted all locally sourced ingredients and was presented beautifully and tasted incredible. He was so lovely and i’ve enjoyed following his career ever since. Each dish was well thought out and presented to us along with a carefully selected wine pairing.

🍷🍴 FIRST COURSE

Hamachi Crudo. Pomegranate. Persimmon, Radish Calabrian Chile Oil, Meyer Lemon - this was not only a beautiful dish but it was so light, refreshing and my idea of a perfect starter. I would love to recreate this dish one day.

Paired with 2018 Estate Uneaked Chandonnay

SECOND COURSE

Black Pepper Strozzapreti, Short Rib Ragu, Tomato Artichoke, Horseradish Gremolata - I was most excited about this dish as I LOVE short rib, paired with the pasta perfectly cooked and the horseradish gremolata. Which was made up of horseradish, lemon zest and parsley, super fresh and delicious. The short rib was perfectly cooked and melted in my mouth!

Paired with the 2017 Estate Pinot Noir

THIRD COURSE

Grilled Beffa Springs Striploin, Potato Pave. Creamed Swiss Chard, Wild Mushrooms - The Striploin was 35 day aged from Beffa Springs which was 20 miles south of Bricoleur in Petaluma. The wild mushrooms were Chanterelle mushrooms with pink peppercorns. So spoilt to have beautifully local striploin and the flavours in this dish were so incredible. My friend is a pescatarian and she ate the same thing and switched out the striploin for an Ora King salmon fillet, which I thought was so clever as the flavours definitely work for both meat and fish. WOW!

Paired with 2017 Zinfandel

FOURTH COURSE

Pumpkin Bread Pudding. Bourbon Whipped Cream, Caramel Sauce - this dish, oh my god, I love how they kept with the fall theme from pumpkin season and gave us pumpkin bread pudding. This warmed my heart and my tummy. It was warm yet really refreshing with the cream and pomegranate seeds. It was so decadent but still light and refreshing, i’m so lucky I got to experience this.

Paired with Flying by the Seat of Our Pants" Brut

I didn’t drink the wine pairings this night as I don’t drink a lot, but the feedback from the table was overwhelmingly amazed.

We were all in such a great mood from an unforgettable dinner experience, by the time we wrapped up at around 9pm, the cold night air had set in and we were all truly under our Bricoleur blankies. Waiting for the bus to pick us up we held onto the blankets until the last farewell moments freezing cold until we were surprisingly gifted them by Sarah and the team. We were so grateful and I still have my blanket and it brings back amazing memories of this night. We thanked Sarah, Mark, Beth, Shane and the whole team, and invited Sarah to goat yoga with us the next morning.

Since this dinner, I have loved keeping up to date on socials with the build of Bricoleur. Even through lockdown I joined a few of their online cooking classes, it was the best I did during that time.

✨ The biggest thank you to The Hanson family, you have built such a beautiful space and i’d love to come back during the day and every time i’m in the USA! Thank you so much for having us, it was so memorable and truly special.