![\"Ryme](\"https:\/\/www.sonomamag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/thumbnail_19_09_02_RYME_Clambake-12-1024x683.jpeg\")
But in recent years, the wine club pickup party has become a moveable feast and house party all rolled into one. \u201cRather than making it formal, it\u2019s really about a celebratory hang,\u201d says Megan Glaab, who runs Ryme Cellars in Forestville with her husband Ryan, who often mans the grill at parties. \u201cWhen we started looking at what we wanted to do for our pickup parties, it was kind of like, \u2018What do we like to do at home?\u2019 We gather with people, have fun, eat, and enjoy some wine. Our customers have become our friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with music, seasonal food pairings are a huge part of the equation. \u201cWe always do oysters in April because they\u2019re so delicious coming out of the cold months of winter, and they pair well with high-acid whites,\u201d says Pax Mahle, owner and winemaker at Pax Wines in Sebastopol.<\/p>\n
Likewise, earlier this spring Bricoleur Vineyards in Windsor brought in a crew of Hog Island oyster shuckers to pair bivalves with wild mushroom risotto. But pairings are always personal taste. \u201cFor our open houses, it\u2019s like unlimited wine,\u201d says Mahle. \u201cYou just come in and drink anything with anything you want. If you want to tap the Syrah with the oysters, I\u2019m down with that. That\u2019s why we do a harissa mignonette. There\u2019s no wrong answer.\u201d<\/p>\n Come for the wine, stay for the party. That\u2019s the mantra at Peay, where Uneda Eat chef Rob Hunter wheels in a 20-foot flatbed truck loaded with a restaurant-sized pizza oven, firing up 150-200 pies for the party. The nomadic Point Arena chef leans heavy on homemade fennel sausage, broccolini and mushrooms he forages in the woods of Mendocino. It all goes perfectly with Peay Pinots and Syrahs, which are less about big, fruity, jammy notes, and more about good acids, and earthy, forest-floor flavors.<\/p>\n Peay always lays out a spread of Soyoung Scanlan\u2019s Andante Dairy cheese, made in Petaluma. \u201cIt\u2019s just for tasting,\u201d he says. \u201cWe put out as much as they can possibly eat. You can\u2019t get Andante Dairy cheeses very easily. We put out tons of it, and we watch people just mow through it. Like, I can basically eat this stuff until my face hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n But what works at some wineries, doesn\u2019t always work at others. \u201cIf you lay out a cheese wheel and just let people attack it, within an hour it can look pretty ugly,\u201d says Duncan Meyers, owner-winemaker at Arnot-Roberts in Healdsburg. In the past, they\u2019ve also gone the taco or pizza truck route. \u201cBut it gets messy,\u201d Meyers says. So they turned to The Spinster Sisters owner Liza Hinman for small seasonal bites, usually one veggie and one with meat. \u201cThere\u2019s no utensils or waste, you grab a tart or a mini quiche, pop it in your mouth and keep tasting.\u201d<\/p>\n The key to pairing with Arnot-Roberts wines, he says, is to find something earthy and savory, like a crostini with chanterelles or morels. Or, \u201cit\u2019s hard to beat charcuterie or p\u00e2t\u00e9\u2014savory, salty, and not overly spicy.\u201d<\/p>\n This time of year, it seems there\u2019s a rolling pickup party circuit on almost any given weekend. Some club members try to juggle several in a day. \u201cI always stay in touch with Scott Schultz at Jolie-Laide and Pax Mahle over at Pax winery, because we have similar customers, and we often have releases at the same time,\u201d says Meyers. \u201cLiterally, Pax just emailed me earlier to say, \u2018Hey, I saw you\u2019re having a party on the 13th. So are we, but let\u2019s work it so we don\u2019t conflict on hours.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n And for those East Coast wine club members still awaiting their latest shipments, there is hope. \u201cWe do get responses from our people in New York, saying \u2018Oh man, I wish I lived in Sonoma County. I\u2019d love to be there.\u2019 Well, make a trip out,\u201d says Meyers. \u201cThis is the perfect excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy Peay always smiles when he sees a familiar wine club member who drives down from Canada every year to make the pickup party rounds, loading up his trunk for the long drive home. At Ryme, Glaab has a few members who just can\u2019t stand missing out. \u201cWe actually have people who fly out for pickup parties, just to be a part of it. You would be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n An East Coaster by birth, Mahle is hardly shocked. As he puts it, \u201cNothing attracts a good time like a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The wine flows freely, the food is delicious, and the summery vibes are never-ending at local release parties, where club members pick up the newest wines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":115255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,1308,2620,2602,5,25147,749],"tags":[25292,2880,2092],"layout":[5591],"class_list":["post-115243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eat-and-drink","category-lifestyle","category-magazine","category-wine","category-things-to-do","category-top-wineries","category-whats-new-sonoma-county","tag-pickup-parties","tag-sonoma-county-wineries","tag-wine-club","issue-may-june-2024"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Bricoleur](\"https:\/\/www.sonomamag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Bricoleur-Winemaker-Cary-Gott-Greet-Guests-and-Pours-Isla-Rose-Brut-Rose\u0301-1-1024x1365.jpg\")