We made another quick jaunt up to Sonoma last weekend for the grand opening of the Patz & Hall winery in Sonoma. Justifiably famous for their Pinots and Chardonnays, P&H worked steadily to become one of the premier brands for those varieties in California. There is excellence in the bottle, of course, but part of the charm, no doubt, is the traces of the personalities of owners Donald Patz, James Hall, Anne Moses and Heather Patz.



Anyway, the winery may occupy a massive space (55,000 square feet) in an industrial park on the outskirts of the town of Sonoma (P&H is not that big; they plan to rent out some space), but the party designers managed to turn it into a space rivaling the W hotel. Never have barrels, forklifts, 10,000-gallon tanks and bladder presses been made to seem so glamorous.