It seems that these days, there's always something going on in the Sonoma Plaza. But get ready for the granddaddy of them all - the Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival.

Saturday, September 29 the moon will be full in the Valley of the Moon, and the organizers of VOTMVF will take advantage of the moment with their first-ever nighttime parade, beginning at 8 p.m.

It's only one highlight of the 115th annual VOTM Vintage Festival, an event that dates back to 1897.

"We're an all-volunteer non-profit with no support coming in from the City," said Paula Vinson, president of the festival's all-volunteer Board of Directors. "We depend on ticket sales and corporate donations, but we can usually make it work.

"This time it should be a wonderful night, with full moon magic," Vinson added.

The parade is themed "Get Your Glow On." Entries can be individuals, groups or local businesses.  Non-profits are encouraged to join the parade, and there is no registration fee for non-profits. Prizes are for best use of lights (one) and also for best entrant in each division, including Motorized and Non-Motorized Floats, Walkers, Mounted and more. See the parade rules here.

The Parade Route will be down First St. East, turning right onto East Spain St and marching past the Sonoma Barracks and several local restaurants and businesses; then it will make a right turn onto First St. West.

But the VOTM Festival lasts all weekend, beginning the night before with an Opening Night Gala in the historic Sonoma Barracks. Live music will feature Wonder Bread 5, which bills itself as "The unstoppable, international rock and roll party machine."

There will be over 50 Sonoma Valley wineries pouring at the Gala, and food tastings from Valley restaurants, specialty shops, and caterers to enjoy at leisure. Tickets are available on the event website.

Other events include the Annual Firefighter Water Fight on Saturday 11 a.m. at the Barracks,  the Vintage 5K run on Sunday morning at 8 a.m., followed by the Tiny Tracks Race for children ages 0 to 8 and their families, an easy half-mile beginning at 9 a.m.

Naturally there will be the Plaza Tasting both Saturday and Sunday, which Vinson predicted will turn the 8-acre plaza into a "Norman Rockwell scene." Music performers these days include the David Thom Band, Jason Bodlovich, Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s, Mad and Eddie Duran, the Carlos Herrera Latin Trio and others. Again, check the website for details.

As is the tradition, the signature event is the Grape Stomp, held both Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Plaza Amphitheater. Adult, Kid's Stomp and Corporate Stomp teams are welcome, and applications are available on the event website until the event fills up -- and it often does, according to organizers.

Of course no Vintage Festival in the Valley of the Moon would be worthy of the name without the Blessing of the Grapes, to be held Saturday at 10 a.m. in front of Mission San Francisco Solano, the last and northernmost California mission, and the only mission founded after Mexico’s independence from Spain.

Bring the kids for a history lesson, because a re-enactment of the Bear Flag Revolution starts just after, at 11 a.m., a reprise of the June 10 event held earlier this summer.

"It's always about giving back to the community," Vinson emphasized, pointing out that without City support the event relies on individuals and corporations to sponsor not only the annual Festival but the charities that benefit from the proceeds.

Last year they were able to donate $3,000 to the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation’s School Garden Project.

The Sonoma Community Center and the Sonoma Sister Cities Association are jointly launching a seven part lecture series titled “Windows to the World” starting in October of 2012.

This series will offer a variety of perspectives on the seven countries where Sonoma’s Sister Cities are found: Hungary (where the sister city is Tokaj), Italy (Greve), Mexico (Patzcuaro), China (Penglai), France, Ukraine (Kaniv) and Egypt (Aswan). This series has been designed to bring an in depth look into these regions as well as entertaining.

This partnership between Sonoma Community Center and Sonoma Sister Cities Association was formed many months ago. Bill Boerum, president of Sister Cities, recalled: “When I first proposed this concept months ago to the Community Center they immediately went for this idea and saw it very much as fulfillment of the centers intent to bring more steeply intellectual lectures to the center.”

Working together, the organizations have brought together a very high caliber of speaker, ranging from international wine entrepreneur Jean-Charles Boisset to journalist Lynne Joiner, a published China-watcher and consultant.

Other speakers will include academic authorities in their fields: Dr. Anthony White on Mexico’s acclaimed muralist and artistic revolutionary David Alfaro Sequeiros; Dr. Ken Albala on “Italianita in America"; Hoover Institution Fellow Dr. Paul Gregory on Ukraine; and former president of the Association of Egyptian American Scholars, Dr. Amir El-Ahraf on the Ecology of the Nile.

The series begins on October 10 with the Consul General of Hungary, Dr. Lazlo Kalman. Sharing the duties of being moderator for different events will be David Bolling, Publisher of the Sonoma Index-Tribune, and Mayor Pro Tem Ken Brown, also of of KSVY’s Mornings in Sonoma. Lectures will be held at 7 p.m. at the Community Center, 276 East Napa Street.

Liz Treacy, Education and Program Manager at the Community Center, worked to make the series fit Sonoma: “We aimed to attract high caliber, authoritative speakers and create an opportunity for public discourse on these special cities, with whom Sonoma is closely aligned.”

Tickets to an individual lecture are $15 and $80 for the series. Tickets will be available at the Community Center’s Box Office either by in-person purchase, phone (938-4626 x 1) or online at svbo.org.

Sonoma Community Center enriches the lives of the people of Sonoma Valley by fostering a broad range of cultural, educational and community services, and by ensuring the preservation and restoration of its historic building.

Two million dollars in grants for six urban open space and recreation projects were recommended on Wednesday for inclusion into the Matching Grant Program by the Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District.

Among the projects approved is completing access improvements and habitat restoration in Sonoma Garden Park, east of of Sonoma. The non-profit Sonoma Ecology Center, in partnership with the City of Sonoma, was awarded $102,950.

The Matching Grant Program was part of the original ballot measure that created the District in 1990. Passage of voter-approved Measure F in November 2006 extended the District’s funding toward this unique competitive grant program, which has since been offered by the District on a regular basis to City and County agencies and non-profit organizations for urban open space and recreational projects within or near cities.

“The Matching Grant Program provides support to our hard-working community partners for their grassroots efforts to meet local needs relating to recreation, open space protection, and restoration and preservation of riparian areas,” said Efren Carrillo, District 5 Supervisor.

Shirlee Zane, Board of Directors President, commented, “Contributions towards trail connection projects like SMART will help us realize the rail and trail corridor throughout the county and our goal of GHG reductions by 2015.”

“The strong interest in the District’s Matching Grant Program demonstrates how important open space, habitat restoration and recreational opportunities are in shaping the livability of our urban communities,” said Bill Keene, the District’s General Manager.

Other Sonoma County projects and the amounts recommended for funding include: Creekside Park in Monte Rio ($389,000), Forever Forestville ($750,000), Guerneville River Park ($368,000); Irwin Creek Trail Access and Riparian Restoration ( $107,290), and the SMART Pathway, Hearn Avenue to Bellevue Avenue ($282,760).

Will you be able to 1-Click Shop for a case of chardonnay? That's the question posed by a recent move by Amazon.com to get into the wine shipping business.

As reported in Wine Industry Insight the giant online retailer has kludged together an alliance among a domestic wineries to take part in the launch of the Amazon Marketplace for wine initiative sometime in the next month.

Indeed, Napa and Sonoma County vintners who attended meetings this week are non-communicative because of non-disclosure agreements they had to agree to in order to be part of the new Amazon Marketplace for wine.

Similar to the existing third-party marketplace for other products (sold and shipped by some 2 million independent vendors) Seattle-area sources tell WII that Amazon wants to have the system for Napa and Sonoma up and running in the next four weeks.

Lewis Purdue, editor and publisher of Sonoma's Wine Industry Insight, correctly called the collapse of Crushpad in an earlier edition this summer.

The news for vinters? A $39.99 monthly fee, plus 15 % to Amazon. The news for consumers? One-Click Shopping for a case of Chard.

Read the complete article here. Full content requires subscription fee.

Ken Brown, Sonoma's Mayor Pro Tem, hosts "Mornings in Sonoma" from 8 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday on KSVY 91.3 FM, and on Sun TV, cable channel 27. You can view or hear the show on the Internet too, at http://sunfmtv.com.

Today's co-host is Wally Breitman

8:00 a.m. - Donna Colfer, Certified Money Coach, Looking At Your Relationship To Money

8:15 - David Cook, candidate for Sonoma City Council

8:30 - Bob Edwards with Sonoma Valley DOG

8:45 - Laura Zimmerman gives us the Sonoma Valley Education Association update

9:00 - Jackie Lyons with October Breast Cancer Awareness month and the free mammograms they we will be offering again next month for under- or uninsured women.

9:15 - Diana Brennan calls in from the Sonoma raceway, and Shana Ray talks about "Twitter Marketing"  connecting with people using Social Media.

9:30 - Bonnie Tempesta's Back, and she's giving traditional almond and chocolate biscotti.

9:45 - Kate Eilersten & Jessica Thomason w/the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art update

Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation to help prevent sex trafficking crimes involving minors in California.

Authored by Senator Mark Leno, D-San Rafael, and signed into law Monday, the bill gives prosecutors new tools to help ensure that criminals who are convicted of sex trafficking crimes are denied access to the resources, equipment, and cash flow that would allow them to operate and commit future crimes.

“Today we are one step closer to dismantling the economic infrastructure that convicted child sex traffickers rely on to continue to lure young people into the sex trade,” Senator Leno said in a prepared statement.

“In addition to taking away the lucrative profits from these horrendous crimes, we are providing much-needed financial support for increased investigations and victim services.”

The California Department of Justice estimates that 65,000 children were lured into the sex trade in California between 2009 and 2010. Despite that, only 13 individuals were sent to state prison for human trafficking during that time.

To help dismantle the economic infrastructure that these criminal enterprises rely upon, SB 1133 expands the list of assets that are subject to forfeiture upon conviction of a sex trafficking crime.

“With this new law, California prosecutors and law enforcement officials will be able to seize assets of human traffickers, cripple their operations and aid victims,” said Attorney General Kamala D. Harris.

“Human trafficking is big business in California. It is a high profit criminal industry that is expanding rapidly across the globe, including here in California.” 

The bill goes into effect on January 1, 2013.

The primary election last June 5 resulted in the passage of Measure J, which approved a half-cent sales tax increase for purchases made in the city of Sonoma. That new rate goes into effect on Monday, October 1.

At the time, the city estimated that the sales tax will raise about $1.1 million annually, which will be directed towards roads, public safety and municipal services to make up for budget gaps left in the wake of redevelopment. Read more about the measure here.

According to the State Board of Equalization, retailers generally need to apply the new tax rates if they:

• Operate outside of the taxing area but are engaged in business within the area and sell merchandise for use in the area.
• Sell autos, boats, or aircraft to customers that register them within the taxing area.
• Collect tax on lease payments from property used in the taxing area.
• Are engaged in business in the taxing area and have merchandise sold and delivered within the area.

Retailers are considered to be engaged in business in the area if they either:

• Have a business location in the tax area,
• Deliver into the tax area using their vehicles, or
• Have a representative in the area to make sales, deliveries, installations, or take orders.

"If a retailer is not required to collect the additional tax as described above," according to the press release, "the purchaser may be responsible for reporting and remitting use tax to the BOE, depending on the circumstances of the sale or use of the property."

The base rate for sales tax in Sonoma county is 8%. Most incorporated cities in the county have higher rates, including Cotati, Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa also with 8.5% tax rates, as will be the case in Sonoma starting next week. Healdsburg, Petaluma and Windsor retain the 8% rate.

Several other cities in the state will also see their sales taxes increase because of voter-approved measures in the June election. These include the city of Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County, .25% increase); Hercules, San Pablo and Pittsburg (in Contra Costa County, .5% increase), Ridgecrest (Kern County, .75%), and Soledad and Greenfield (in Monterey County, a full 1% increase).

Assemblyman Michael Allen will no longer receive a homeowner’s tax exemption after a complaint claiming that he was no longer eligible to collect the funds was filed by the campaign treasurer of his opponent.

Allen moved from Oakmont in Sonoma County to downtown San Rafael last October following state redistricting that split his 7th Assembly District. Until Wednesday morning when he visited the Sonoma County Assessor to update to his files, he received a tax exemption on his Oakmont subdivision.

The district is on the ballot locall, with the city of Sonoma and south of it voiting in the 10th District race, and Boyes Hot Springs and to north voting in the 4th District.

The complaint was filed by San Rafael resident Bruce Raful, a certified real estate appraiser who serves as campaign treasurer to Marc Levine, Allen’s opponent in the Nov. 6 election for Jared Huffman’s seat in 10th Assembly District, the Marin Independent Journal reports. Raful has contributed $1,750 to Levine’s campaign.

According to the California Constitution, homeowners are entitled to $7,000 off the value of their property before taxes. Allen’s adjustment came in at $70.

“Mr. Allen left Oakmont for San Rafael in October of last year when he re-registered there to vote, so he wasn't entitled to the exemption that he claimed on January 1 of 2012. In my book, that's cheating," Raful told the Marin IJ.

Homeowners sign up for the exemption when they buy their property, and it does not require renewal every year. Sonoma County Assessor Janice Atkinson told the Marin IJ that it is common for homeowners to forget about the exemption when they move.

“The fact that Marc Levine would rather talk about a $70 tax adjustment than any of the real economic challenges facing our community shows the desperation of his campaign and his unfitness to be our representative,” said Jill Nelson Golub, a spokeswoman for the Allen campaign.

In July, Levine was slapped on the wrist from the Fair Political Practices Commission for a paperwork error after he failed to accurately report his sources of income.  Following the June 5 primary, where Levine came in second to Allen, the San Rafael City Council member failed to disclose that his wife, who works as the director of development at Saint Mark’s School in San Rafael, earns between $10,000 and $100,000.

Candidates are required to report earnings from businesses that are located in their jurisdiction, and Levine thought school districts were not included. He made the same mistake while running for City Council in 2009.

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A huge effort is underway throughout Sonoma County to observe "International Walk and Roll to School Day" on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

Parents, school staff, local elected officials, law enforcement, and even a local celebrity plan joining students walking or rolling (on bicycles) to school in 70 Sonoma County school neighborhoods.

Here is a list of schools in Patch towns and neighboring areas with events planned:

Sonoma: Adele Harrison Middle, Prestwood, St. Francis Solano, Sonoma Charter, Woodland Star Charter. Contact: Carole LaTorre at latorrec@aol.com or Tina Panza, tinap@bikesonoma.org, 707-545-0153 or 707-799-3911.

Healdsburg: Healdsburg Community Nursery School, Healdsburg High School, Healdsburg Elementary, Fitch Mountain, St. John the Baptist Catholic School. Contact:  Tina Panza, tinap@bikesonoma.org, 707-545-0153 or 707-799-3911.

Petaluma: Casa Grande High, Cinnabar, Corona Creek, Meadow School, Sonoma Mountain Elementary, Miwok Valley Elementary, La Tercera. For details about local bike celebrity Steven Cozza's "CasaGrandeFundo" ride, contact Bernie Album at 707-766-7056 or cadexbike@yahoo.com.

Rohnert Park/Cotati: Evergreen, Monte Vista, Waldo Rohnert, Thomas Page Academy. Contact: Becky Lunders, 707-799-1237, or Tina Panza, tinap@bikesonoma.org, 707-545-0153 or 707-799-3911.

Cloverdale: Jefferson, Washington. Contact: Blythe Houg, Jefferson PTA president, 707-591-3843.

Windsor: Windsor High School, Cali Calmécac, Windsor Creek. Contact:  Tina Panza, tinap@bikesonoma.org, 707-545-0153 or 707-799-3911.

According to promoters, walking and biking to school promotes physical health, increases safety by reducing traffic congestion around schools, and aids the environment by reducing greenhouse gases produced from car exhaust.

“I polled my fellow teachers, and they affirm kids are more alert and ready to learn on our weekly Walk and Roll Wednesdays,” says Sue McQuiddy, Safe Routes Team Membe at Cali Calmécac Language Academy in Windsor.

In Petaluma, Steven Cozza, a professional bike racer and former graduate of Petaluma High School, plans leading a bike train via a ride titled “CasaGrandeFundo.”

“While racing in Northern Europe I saw kids riding bicycles everywhere. The culture here in the US is different," Cozza said. "Even though many kids live nearby their schools, people more often drive than ride to school.”

Safe Routes Sonoma County’s celebration of International Walk and Roll to school day is sponsored by Safe Kids Sonoma County, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, Measure M tax funds, Network for Healthy California, Kaiser Permanente, and Eco2School. Clif Kid is also donating organic Clif bars, and FedEx is donating safety coloring books to several local schools.

For more information, see www.safekidssonomacounty.org or www.sonomasaferoutes.org or www.eco2school.org.

Once upon a time people didn't come to the Sonoma Valley for 90-point wines and Michelin-starred restaurants. They came for the waters.

It's true, even if it sounds like a set-up line from "Casablanca."  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the biggest draw in the valley were the hot springs, the so-called wukilawa used by the Pomo and Patwin, and the aqua caliente noted by the Spanish and other early settlers.

A quick Google search yields a sentence seen on various web sites, it reads: "In 1840, Dr. T.M. Leavenworth, an eccentric San Francisco physician, was the first to commercially develop the hot springs." But further details are hard to come by.

The waters found a more successful commercial advocate 55 years later when Capt. Henry Boyes tapped into the aquifer and struck pay dirt (to mix metaphors) at 70 feet, whence came the 112-degree water for his mineral water resort, the Boyes Hot Springs Hotel.  

Soon Northern Pacific built a depot nearby, and trains deposited Pullman cars of tourists daily to "take the waters."  That now-quaint term was at the time as common as "wine tasting" is today.

The photographic prints on the wall at the Big 3 Restaurant on the Sonoma Highway show crowds of people frolicking in the hot water Plunge, milling top-hatted about the Lawn, canoeing with ankle-length skirts on the lake, and lounging about the Craftsman-era cottages. Frankly, it doesn't look like such a bad life, aside from the skirts.

But it's not just a thing of the past. There is some very serious relaxation going on here now, every day of the year, at the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, peek-a-boo hiding just a block from the Boyes Hot Springs Post Office off Sonoma Highway 12.

Even today, the water is rich with boron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, molybdenum and a dozen other minerals, from aluminum to zinc. The list of benefits is long, and many hydrotherapy practitioners believe these waters help with oxygen transport, bone and teeth growth, neural action, insulin levels, even fertility.

It's built on the same site as the Boyes Hot Springs Hotel, which itself burned down in 1923 and took most of the neighborhood with it. The original Sonoma Mission Inn rose in its place, designed "as an architecturally accurate replica of a California mission," though which mission is not quite clear.

The rise of the Sonoma Mission Inn was stunted by the Depression, and the location never regained the panache it once had. A Sonoma lifer recently told me it stood "run down and empty for many years." Then, in the 1980s a European Spa was developed at the Inn, a lifestyle attraction that began to bring the rich and famous back to Sonoma.

Improvements continued, as the Sonoma Valley itself began to grown in the eyes of the world because of the California wine boom. In 1993 a new well found natural artesian mineral waters 1,100 feet deep (over a thousand feet deeper than Capt. Boyes found), percolating down there at 135 degrees.

That led to the biggest renovation of all, in 1999, that transformed the 33-acre property pretty much to what it is today, a luxury vacation resort built around the 226-room Sonoma Mountain Inn and its private cabins. The international Fairmount Hotels corporation had managed the Inn since the early 1990s, and purchased it outright in 2002.

Which brings us back to the serious business of relaxation, Euro-spa style. In this case it's the Willow Stream, the branded Fairmount Spa experience that focuses on "finding energy through natural elements," as spa treatment manager Heather Ingate told me last week. It's one of 16 Willow Stream Spas in the hotelier's universe, but its big advantage is that, unlike some of the Willow Streams, here natural mineral artesian waters feed the pools, and the spirit.

She took me on a walking tour of the spa complex on the north side of the 14-acre resort grounds. The space reached its current configuration in the 1999 remodel. Today, there are seven pools, including 4 Jacuzzis, an indoor Roman pool, the spa Main pool and -

"There's the Watsu pool right there," Ingate said as we stepped into the palmed-encircled courtyard. A woman floated languidly in the clover shaped pool, her spine supported by a spa hydrotherapist and her legs by a pair of children's waterwings.

"They're doing a session right now," said Ingate. "The pool is heated to body temperature, 98 degrees, and the technique of Watsu - water shiatsu - was pioneered at Harbin Hot Springs." The patient, or customer, guest, or floater, looked what one might call blissed, or at the very least zoned. "There's also soothing music piped under in the water."

In the main Spa - a long domed building reminiscent of, and built upon, a Quonset  - guests undertake a number of treatments, called Experiences on the spa menu. We're not just talking pedicures, facials, shampoo and a blow-dry, though those are available. Featured are a number of rejuvenating, revitalizes, energizing Kur -the German term for a holiday for health reasons, or "resort therapy."

Many of these Experiences include or focus around the Bathing Ritual, an hour-long circuit between hot showers, warm waters, warmer Jacuzzis and dry saunas. Center of the Bathing Ritual is the Roman Pool, the ornate 14-by-10-foot spa tempered down (from the 130-degree source water) to a comfortable 96 degrees. Two couples lounged in simultaneous lassitude, deep in the process of their holiday for health.  A complete Bathing Ritual should take about an hour, Ingate told me, more in some cases.

I followed her back down the long wide hall, where side-rooms offered Tarot, Chakra Readings, Guided Meditation, Relationship Reading and health sessions.

"They used to show movies in this building, back in the 1970s, I've heard," said Ingate.

And a few minutes later, as we walked outside past the Spa's dining court, "There used to be tennis courts here. Now we have Guided Hiking in the mornings, and the Sonoma Golf Course just down Boyes Boulevard."

The idea of recreation, even of a resort vacation, may have shifted somewhat over the decades, but in Sonoma, it all comes back to the waters. Somewhere on those grounds is the original artesian spring, now plumbed and pumped to provide a steady source of natural healing waters for personal renovation. And all the rest of it - the 268 rooms, the seven pools, the restaurant Santé (yes, it's Michelin-starred), the redwood groves, and the 100,000 annual guests who feel the magnetic pull of the Sonoma Valley - is sustained by the hot springs below our feet.

Notice anything different? We hope so - and we hope you’re as excited about it as we are! As of today, we are expanding our coverage area to include Glen Ellen, Kenwood and Boyes Hot Springs. We’ll now be featuring all the latest news, information and local business listings from Sonoma Valley.

Because so many of our users live in the valley but work or otherwise spend time in Sonoma, it was just good common sense to build on our existing coverage area.

Take a look at our profile of the young couple behind the Glen Ellen Star, the Sonoma Valley's newest must-go dining spot.

They call it "the Kenwood Castle," but the story of Steve Ledson's eponymous winery is far from feudal, but one built on dreams.

Finally, long before the first appellation or rated restaurant came to Sonoma Valley, it was known for its waters: the Boyes Hot Springs, now the prestigious Fairmount Sonoma Mission Inn.

Don’t worry: We'll still offer the same robust coverage of everything happening in Sonoma. But now we’ll be on top of the things that matter to residents of Glen Ellen, Kenwood and Boyes Hot Springs, too. As always, if you think we're missing anything, let us know!

Your editor is Julie Pendray, but while Julie is away in her homeland of New Zealand, guest editor Christian Kallen will be taking care of things in Sonoma Valley until she returns.

Get started on Sonoma Valley Patch by opening up a free user account.

Then check this article out to see all the cool things you can do with your account.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and sign up for breaking news alerts. 

Driving into Sonoma Valley from Santa Rosa, the first undeniable indication you've made it to Wine Country is a bizarrely huge stone building a couple hundred yards back in a merlot vineyard, on the north side of Highway 12 in Kenwood.

With its dark bricks, steep walls, slate roofs, spires and imposing posture, it looks like nothing less than a castle, which is exactly how Steve Ledson envisions the Ledson Winery tasting room.

"I call it a Normandy-style castle," he told me in a recent conversation.  "My family was originally from Europe, they came over in the 1800s. After I build this place and traveled over there, I started seeing stuff that looked like the Castle, looked like the design. I find it intriguing that I was dreaming all that stuff."

When Ledson says he was "dreaming all that stuff," it's not a metaphor. He originally planned the structure as a family home - he himself grew up a fifth-generation Valley resident, and lived until he was 21 nearby up Pythian Road.

But as the design for structure began to take shape, it took on a life of its own.

"I started sketching out what I wanted for the floor plan," he said, "then I started having these dreams about it. First I'd wake up in the middle of the night and start drawing stuff, then I started putting the plans and elevations I had on the ceiling above my bed.

"As I'd go to sleep, I'd lay there and think about it, and just with that thought in front of my mind I'd dream about it and I'd keep drawing. I designed it, I think, from my dreams."

Ledson, a contractor by trade who looks like he does every task on the job himself, finally decided the place was too much for his family alone. It's when unexpected drive-by visitors came to his door to ask if it was a winery that the idea began to take shape.

"1994 is when I got the idea to convert what was supposed to be my residence into a tasting room. I was actually living in that little guest house while we finished up the main house," he said.

Ledson's family had been making wine in the area since the 1800s, and although he had done so with his father, and knew a lot of winemakers, he had never done so for commercial purposes.

But he took the reins and, while his appeal to the county Planning Commission to convert a residential permit to a commercial winery permit began to drag on, became the winemaker for his first release, a 1993 Merlot from the 17 acres planted at the Highway 12 estate.

After three years of the drawn-out permit process, an appeal to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors resulted in approval of his conversion permit, and he opened for business in 1997 with a doublewide trailer parked on the property serving as the tasting room.

"We still have our first wine club member," he said. "We signed him up in that trailer - in fact I think it was him who gave the tasting room the name, the Double Wide."

The story, about Jan and Dave Holcomb of Denver, is one of many historical anecdotes on Ledson Winery website.

Now Ledson Winery has about 15,000 wine club members, leading the winery's direct-to-consumer sales strategy. Production at Ledson Winery is usually around 30,000 cases, though in recent years it’s dropped to 18,000 due to unfavorable weather, according to General Manager Mark Thomas.  

He took me on a tour of the 12,000 square foot castle, its three downstairs tasting rooms and five upstairs luxuriously appointed private rooms, its grounds, its hand-crafted ornate wood inlays cut and installed by Steve's son, Mike.

There is also a gallery of black-and-white portraits and photos of Ledson and Cunningham family ancestors, whose faces resemble (but are not) familiar figures like Jack London or Richard and Pat Nixon, Jack Kerouac to J. Edgar Hoover.

Nearly all of the wine is sold directly to those 15,000 wine club members and others whose preference in wines is known. Sometimes you'll find Ledson wines on a restaurant's wine list - specifically of course at the Centre du Vin at the Ledson Hotel, the downtown establishment he opened in 2003.

"From time to time I offer them to a few places I visit, just because I like to drink my wines," Ledson said.

Makes sense: His wines have been winning a number of prestigious awards, including the Sweepstakes White at the 2006 Sonoma County Harvest Fair, for the 2005 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc.

Still, it's a given that the Castle is his biggest marketing asset.

"The biggest draw is the building," said Thomas. "They're taken aback when they come in and see the big staircase - then they try the wines."

There are three tasting rooms downstairs, of which at least two are usually open, each named after the generation of Steve Larson's father: Noble, Winslow and Whitby. The Gourmet Marketplace is to the left of that grand staircase, where racks and displays fill the big room with zinfandels, cabernets, merlots, sauvignon blancs, syrahs and petite sirahs, just about every varietal you've come across. There are also many dessert wines and, occasionally, celebrity bottlings from the likes of Jeff Bridges, Michael McDonald and Dwight Clark. Plus sandwiches, for picnicking on the oak-shaded grounds.

There are other wineries along Highway 12, in Kenwood and Glen Ellen, leading into Sonoma. Some of them, too, are castles - Chateau St. Jean comes to mind, appropriately. In the Napa Valley, such grandiose structures are not uncommon. But it's not just that Ledson Winery is the first one you come to. It's more than that.

With its blending of fine wines, celebrity, a conspicuous display of wealth and an evident attention to detail, to say nothing of ambitious architecture, the Castle disappoints few. It's one man's Sonoma Valley dreams made manifest, in wine and stone.

For upates on this story and others happening in Sonoma Valley, please visit us on Facebook and like us, or follow us on Twitter.

It's a kind of a love story, really.

Erinn grew up in Glen Ellen, eldest daughter in a successful winery family. She loved the area, but longed for something more.

Ari was from the other side of the country, a suburb of Philadelphia so small it doesn't have its own post office. He made extra money in high school by working at a local Lebanese restaurant.

They met in the middle – at the University of Colorado in Boulder, in 1997, when they were both freshmen. But even though it wasn't until 10 years after they met that they were married, Erinn Benziger and Ari Weiswasser seemed made for each other.

Back in May, the couple opened Glen Ellen Star, a small wood oven restaurant on Arnold Drive at Warm Springs Road, where the Spanish restaurant Saffron stood for years. It's a prime location in the small community just west of Sonoma, the kind of place where everything is within walking distance, and the sidewalk ends at their place.

Glen Ellen Star also smells great, a sure indication of intrigue and quality in a restaurant. Though the local-to-table freshness of its vegetables and other menu items are partly to blame, it's surely that large wood oven in the kitchen that's due the main credit.

It's made of bricks and a marble slab, weighs almost two tons, and came in through the front window during the renovation.

"You should know when you design a restaurant that you're going to have a wood oven," Ari said.

I could see that. It's too much trouble to come in through the ceiling.

Built in Bellingham, Wash., the Wood Stone Bistro stone hearth oven has a marble fire deck that's gas-fire warmed to 600° F., plenty hot enough to ignite the oak firewood that goes in the low arc of its iron maw. From then on the slow-burning wood keeps the interior temperature hot enough to roast a pig, rack of lamb, chicken, striped bass, or pizza. That's pretty much anything on the "refined rustic" menu.

While wood oven cooking is the latest rage for Wine Country cuisine, Ari's not just a backyard barbecue chef. Cooking comes naturally to him, though it's hardly a family tradition.

"My mom had no idea how to cook when my parents were married," he told me. "So my dad asked her to take cooking lessons."

Consequently, Ari remembers the kitchen being the energy center of the house, attracting friends, neighbors and relatives. Ari himself took a job at a nearby Lebanese restaurant, where he stayed for the next four years through high school before heading to Boulder for college.

Despite meeting the girl who would eventually become the woman in his life at the university, Ari returned east and tried a bank internship, thinking a more normal career might be smart. But he rejected it: "I couldn't do the nine-to-five." So went to the CIA instead - the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park.

Meanwhile he and Erinn rediscovered each other in New York, in 2005: She was looking for a room to live in New York to oversee Benziger Winery's regional distribution, and he was looking for a flat-mate. After about six months, the future became inevitable.

For a couple years he cultivated his cooking career at prestigious New York houses like Restaurant Daniel and Paul Liebrandt’s Corton. But a young chef can only get so far in New York, especially one who is thinking about getting out of the ratatouille race and raising a family.

"I missed home," said Erinn. "It's not a real bad place to come back to."

Following the pull of family and opportunity, they returned to the Benziger family estate on London Hill Road, where they married in 2007.

Ari eventually became chef de partie at the French Laundry in Yountville, in charge of a section of the kitchen. Right around the same time that the couple’s dreams of a family restaurant began to take shape, so too did their family.

The opportunity to take over Saffron came in the same month that their daughter Noa was born, in April 2011: Saffron closed after a 10-year run, and though it needed "extensive remodeling," as Erinn politely called it, now they had motivation in the crib.

With help from Mary and Mike Benziger, Erinn's parents, they purchased the building and set about gutting it and rebuilding, with friendly local fare in mind. It opened in May of 2011, and almost from the outset it's been a busy place, with a line forming outside before the door opens at 5:30 p.m., nightly.

Erinn has worked up a geographically appropriate wine list, with a regional emphasis keeping to the farm-to-table ethic. Even many of the herbs and vegetables come from the Insectary at Benziger Winery - you can see it on the winery's excellent tour, probably the best in the county - and even the pears and other fruit may be from family trees.

The menu is seasonal, changing six or so times a year with the freshness and availability of ingredients, to say nothing of the season's traditions: expect salt-baked turkey to be a prominent element of the menu come November. On my visit, the wood oven vegetables emphasized whole roasted cauliflower, golden beets and brussel sprouts in a dangerously savory brown sugar and bacon marmalade, while tomatoes found their way into the roasted tomato soup and margherita wood-fired pizza.

Recently on the "Mornings in Sonoma" show, co-host Walley Breitman complained that many restaurants don't do justice to vegetables. The exception? "One restaurants that does a really good job with vegetables is that new one out in Glen Ellen. He really knows what he's doing - those padron peppers are out of this world."

Those padrons are blistered in the wood oven with shabazi spice - shabazi been just one aspect of the international influences that Ari Weiswasser has brought to the menu, from Argentine roasting to Middle Eastern and North African spices, even Spanish paella, an accidental holdover from the Saffron days. It fits in with one of Ari's stated goals, to make Star "a vegetable-driven restaurant."

Then there's the house-made ice creams that anchor the dessert menu, as if incentive to linger were necessary.

The Glen Ellen Star has reserved seating for up to 24 people, (707) 343-1384, at comfortable oak tables, with room for another 8 walk-ins at the counter. From the counter the view of the kitchen is intimate as a sushi bar, warmed by the radiant heat from the wood stove.

"One major advantage of an open kitchen and limited capacity is the ability to develop relationships with your guests immediately," said Ari.

There's also an outside patio with dining for 20 more beneath the redwoods canopy and summer stars, though putting a roof on it for winter is in preparation.

"I think we are rapidly building a regular clientele, because we know instantly if we are doing something right, or something wrong."

They must be doing something right. Because when you're doing what you love, this is what it looks like.

For updates on this story and others happening in Sonoma Valley, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Remember Recon? The punk power trio from 'way back at the millennium? They played from SVHS to Petaluma, and had a devoted if limited following.

Hopefully the same fate does not befall Tony Gibson this time around. Now 30, the singer-guitarist (and mandolinist) has added songwriting to his skillset, becoming one of Sonoma's most promising performers.

Gibson left his power punk career behind him when he went to USC. After graduating from USC in 2005, he landed a long-standing job the music business, working with Nettwerk Records in digital sales. Living alone, he returned to his guitar and spend more time on the craft of songwriting, but did not perform.

Then he returned to his home town about three years ago, and picked up where he left off. "I owe a lot to my friends around here, helping me get back on the stage." For the past year or so you may have caught him at the Songwriters in Sonoma events, at Meadowcroft Wines and the Community Center.

Back on the stage he is: He plays not only solo, but with the Gentlemen Soldiers, the Timothy O'Neil Band and Dan Martin & The NomaRocksteady Band, each with its different playlist and sound.

"A lot of my writing is very personal, autobiographical stories from my life," he said recently. Listen to his tracks on Soundcloud, and you'll hear influences of the Clash and Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg and Bad Religion. But he's moved on to more bluesy, indie-rock sounds, and it suits him like a glove. "It's really something I can't escape, my sound."

Lately I've been listening to Richard Thompson, James McMurty and Steve Earle, and Gibson's stuff fits right in that playlist, with more Irish than country. He's learning, and learning fast.

He'll be at the Epicurean Connection tonight, from 7:30 - 10:30, playing solo for what one of the last times this year. He's also booked at Murphy's Irish Pub on Nov. 15th.

"We're taking the entire month of October to lay down the music" of the first Tony Gibson CD, comprised of the 20 or so songs he's written since he started again in LA.

It will be self-distributed and should become available around the first of the year. "I love playing for people, but I hate it when they ask if I have a CD and I don't! I plan on really making it work for this record.'

Gibson is just 30, but he's sure-footed in music and seems to be making all the right moves, with the talent to back it up. If this keeps up, you can say you saw him when.

NOTE: The Epicurean Connection's Sheana Davis is cited in this month's Sunset Magazine as one of the top "cheesemongers" in California. It's not online, so pick up the October issue and turn to page 71. Congratulations!

Ken Brown, Sonoma's Mayor Pro Tem, hosts "Mornings in Sonoma" from 8 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday on KSVY 91.3 FM, and on Sun TV, cable channel 27. You can view or hear the show on the Internet too, at http://sunfmtv.com.

8:00 a.m. - Tyler & Aaron from Traffic Jam appearing tonight at the Phoenix Theatre

8:15 - Lin Marie deVincent w/The Poet Tree

8:30 - Tom's Trivia, and Chris Hanlin appearing at the Community Cafe Annex tonight

8:45 - Dr. Rebbeca Porino, Natural Medicine expert and teas too

9:00 - Jim Leddy calls in with the Sonoma County update

9:15 - Kathy Witkowicki, Valley Mentoring

9:30 - Robert Friedman with the Vintage Festival update

9:45 - Open

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its national, tribal, and community partners will hold a fifth National Prescription Drug Take Back Day at thousands of sites across the nation on Saturday, Sept. 29th.

But Sonoma Valley residents will find no local station for the program. The nearest is in Petaluma at the Community Center, 320 North McDowell Blvd. Other locations can be found by going to the DEA "Got Drugs?" web page and searching by zip code.

Take Back Days give the public the opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs. Collection sites are open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. 

Medicines that languish in home cabinets create a public health and safety concern because they are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse.

Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high--more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.

Americans participating in DEA’s four previous Take-Back Days turned in nearly 1.6 million pounds—almost 774 tons—of prescription drugs, most recently at almost 5,700 sites operated by nearly 4,300 of the DEA’s s local law enforcement partners. DEA’s last event collected more than double the pills as their first one two years ago, with almost 50% more participating agencies and sites this past April than in September of 2010. 

“There has been an overwhelming public response to DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events,” stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams. “This response underscores the public’s commitment in combating the problem of prescription drug abuse in our communities. The success of this event would not be possible without the invaluable support of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.”

Four days after DEA’s first Take Back event two years ago, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances. DEA is in the process of drafting regulations to implement the Act.

On the heels of the announcement of National Drug Take-Back Day (Saturday, Sept. 29) comes this warning from the Food and Drug Administration.

Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults in a recent FDA survey reported buying prescription drugs online, the agency said Friday—but those purchases could carry significant risks.

The FDA is launching a new campaign, BeSafeRX, to educate consumers about the dangers of illegal online pharmacies. Bogus pharmacies sometimes sell drugs that are counterfeit or past their expiration date and/or contain dangerous ingredients, the FDA warned.

Consumers can use the California Board of Pharmacy website to look up a pharmacy and find out if it has a legitimate license.

Here are some additional tips from the FDA's campaign website:

Avoid online pharmacies that:

1. Allow you to buy drugs without a prescription or by completing an online questionnaire

2. Offer discounts or cheap prices that seem too good to be true

3. Send unsolicited email or other spam offering cheap medicine

4. Ship prescription drugs worldwide

5. State that the drugs will be shipped from a foreign countryAre located outside of the United States

6. Are not licensed by a state board of pharmacy in the United States (or equivalent state health authority)

Would you feel safe buying prescription drugs online? Tell us in the comments.

As reported earlier in Patch, the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center at Sonoma State University is opening after more than 20 years of planning.

The inaugural program at the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall inside the Green Music Center kicks off today, Sept. 29.

For information and to purchase tickets for upcoming shows, click here.

“With the opening of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall, Sonoma State University has added a new and significant cultural dimension to this already vibrant community,” said Len Auerbach, founding principal of Auerbach Pollock Friedlander, which provided theatre design and consulting services to the new center.

The firm also collaborated with the design architect William Rawn Associates, architect of record AC Martin Partners, acoustician Kirkegaard Associates and Sonoma State University.

As the centerpiece of the facility, the 1,400-seat concert hall was designed to showcase music and the human voice as well as other performance programming.

The center also includes a music education hall, hospitality center and a recital hall still in construction. The hall was modeled after the Seji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, also designed by William Rawn, and features a rear wall that can be opened to provide viewing and listening from outdoor lawn seating for about 5,000 additional patrons.

The hall will be used for the university’s performance program, as a regular venue for the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Bach Choral Society and other Bay
Area orchestras. In addition to its formal acoustic environment, the hall provides unique flexibility for staging, variable acoustics, overhead rigging and support for a variety of popular performance events.

According to the Sonoma Index-Tribune, the Green Music Center is estimated to cost in excess of $145 million.

To read the article, click here.

As Barack Obama and Mitt Romney prepare for their first-ever presidential debate, many have made up their minds in advance about who they are going to vote for.

Some people favor Obama, others Romney. And some don't favor either of them. Now we ask you, Patch readers, to tell us who you are voting for and perhaps more importantly, why.

This is a discussion that is at the heart of the nation, and we would like to keep it clear of personal attacks, and respectful of the opinions of others. Know in advance that this comment board will be heavily moderated and we will be keeping the discussion going, in a respectful and civil tone.

That being said, who are you going to vote for and why?

The presidential debate between Obama and Romney is scheduled for Wednesday, October 3, 2012, 6:00pm–7:30pm PT., on all major networks.

Bay Area air quality is forecast to reach unhealthy levels for a third day in a row, prompting another Spare the Air alert for Monday, according to Bay Area air quality officials.

The alert, issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, means that air quality is expected to be poor and residents are advised to reduce driving and avoid outdoor activities during the hottest parts of the day. An alert is already in effect today.

Monday's Spare the Air alert is the tenth of 2012. Residents are asked to avoid driving on Spare the Air days and find alternate transit options, including biking, carpooling or taking public transit.

Monday's temperatures are forecast to reach the mid 70s in San Francisco and the lower 90s inland, according to the National Weather Service.

The alert often coincides with warm weather but other factors contribute to poor air quality, officials said. Ozone can cause throat irritation, congestion, chest pain and inflammation of the lining of the lungs. Those with asthma, bronchitis and emphysema are especially vulnerable, as are young children, seniors and those with respiratory and heart conditions.

By Bay City News Service.