The situation: date. You’d like a change of scenery. You’d like some wine when you get there.
Plus, come to think of it, you’d like to drop a fast fact or two about George Washington. (Dates love that.)
Your options just got narrowed down to: Sonoma Cellar, a wine bar with a thing for California grapes, soft-opening Monday in Old Town. (See the slideshow.)
You’ve been to winery tasting rooms, so this will all feel familiar—the bread, the cheese, the clever little wine stoppers for sale. Except rather than juice from just one winery, they’ve already got 120 different bottles, ramping up to about 600 labels, mostly Sonoma.
And it’s in a 205-year-old row house, full of original woodwork, which happened to belong to the deacon who presided at Washington’s funeral (there’s that aforementioned G.W. trivia).
You can check out the bistro upstairs for some crab cakes or fish tacos. Or soon, the back patio, complete with fire pit and fountain. But probably you’ll gravitate to the bar, made from a Mount Vernon maple tree. (Yes. More Washington.)
Then, start running through the day’s pours. Or just taste until you find a bottle to take home.
