{"id":938,"date":"2018-04-30T14:50:36","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T14:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=938"},"modified":"2024-06-29T17:36:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-29T17:36:27","slug":"dry-creek-general-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=938","title":{"rendered":"Dry Creek General Store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonoma County has several rather distinct wine growing regions, each of which specializes in certain grapes that flourish in their respective terroirs.\u00a0 There\u2019s Russian River for Pinot Noir, Alexander Valley for Cabernet Sauvignon and Dry Creek for Zinfandel.\u00a0 Every place grows Chardonnay.\u00a0 For wine tasters, one of the problems with the broad spread of Sonoma County is that wherever you go to taste wine, you\u2019re pretty far from a place to buy lunch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of The Press Democrat<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Dry Creek sector, you really have only one choice: the Dry Creek General Store.\u00a0 This emporium on Dry Creek Road comes complete with a lot of history.\u00a0 It\u2019s an attraction in itself, beyond the food.\u00a0 It has been open since 1881, serving gold miners, bootleggers, travelers and locals for decades.\u00a0 In its day, it has sold all sorts of provisions, as evidenced by an ancient photo on the store\u2019s web site (http:\/\/www.drycreekgeneralstore1881.com<\/a>) proudly stating that hardware and dry goods are for sale.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Dry Creek General Store is a combination delicatessen and gift shop.\u00a0 The deli side of the store makes sandwiches from a wide variety of meats and cheeses \u00a0on artisanal breads, together with salads.\u00a0 The other sells\u00a0 cutesy things that nobody needs but that are pretty little gifts.\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t always this way.\u00a0 In recent memory, the meats were ham and roast beef, the breads commercial white and whole wheat.\u00a0 The rest of the store wasn\u2019t a gift shop.\u00a0 They sold nails and pots and towels and, and, and \u2013 the stuff of a true rural general store.\u00a0 Yuppie sandwiches and merchandise make the store more accessible to many travelers, at the expense of authenticity.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the bar adjacent to the store.\u00a0 As of this writing, it\u2019s closed, because some patrons thought it was okay to take their drinks away with them, a violation of local licensing laws.\u00a0 The owners are fighting to get their permit back and so the bar will surely be open soon.\u00a0 Then you will be able to see a crazy collection of general store memorabilia hanging from the ceiling and you can down your beer while sitting on a horse saddle.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll be able to share that beer with a few locals who look like they stepped out of a time warp or from central casting.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Dry Creek General Store<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019ll arrive on a day when there\u2019s a barbeque going in front of the store.\u00a0 Depending on the day, you\u2019ll be able to buy brisket or sausages or even crabs.\u00a0 While there\u2019s no documented evidence of such cookouts in the old days, it feels like a throwback to a communal past that may never have existed, but ought to have.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the reason to make sure you visit the Dry Creek General Store in your wine tasting travels.\u00a0 It\u2019s a real part of the past, now adapted to the needs of the present day.\u00a0 The people of the area don\u2019t need a general store when there\u2019s a Walmart just down the highway.\u00a0 In our times, there\u2019s money to be made in wine tourism, so the store serves this generation of customers.\u00a0 Come and feel a part of the past as you munch on a sandwich out on the porch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonoma County has several rather distinct wine growing regions, each of which specializes in certain grapes that flourish in their respective terroirs.\u00a0 There\u2019s Russian River for Pinot Noir, Alexander Valley for Cabernet Sauvignon and Dry Creek for Zinfandel.\u00a0 Every place grows Chardonnay.\u00a0 For wine tasters, one of the problems with the broad spread of Sonoma … Continue reading Dry Creek General Store<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":941,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}