This week our regular Monday night excursion took us to a Sacramento institution, The Firehouse. Located on the same street as the noisy and bustling bars Old Sac is known for, we had dinner on their patio which reminds me more of a small European village than pedestrian Old Sacramento. Serene water fountains drown out any sounds from the outside and birds chirp as if Snow White herself was present.Although we had a great dinner (the high point of which was the opening course of foie gras paired with a Sauternes) the real evening got under way after dinner when we were escorted through both of The Firehouse's Wine Cellars by Mario Ortiz, who holds not one, but three titles - General Manager, Wine Manager and Sommelier.
Quite honestly, I was unaware that there was a wine collection this extensive in Sacramento - combined, the two cellars hold over 16,000 bottles of wine - easily the largest collection in Northern California outside of San Francisco.
The collection was built almost entirely by Mario, who started at the Firehouse as a bus boy at age 16. I was given an opening to order something off the list so after much debate, I went with a 2003 Harlan "Bond". I seriously started crying when I smelled the bouquet on this wine since the palette was not too far off of pure ecstasy.
We then tried a 2002 Scarecrow and found it to be equally as delightful with a silky velvet texture - and although the cellar itself looked more like a dungeon, I literally imagined that this could easily be my heaven.
My companion almost got the best of me and wanted to cap the evening off by opening up a Lokoya, but I put a halt to the festivities to save it for our hands down return to Firehouse which will happen very, very soon and I hope to see you there!
Quite honestly, I was unaware that there was a wine collection this extensive in Sacramento - combined, the two cellars hold over 16,000 bottles of wine - easily the largest collection in Northern California outside of San Francisco.
The collection was built almost entirely by Mario, who started at the Firehouse as a bus boy at age 16. I was given an opening to order something off the list so after much debate, I went with a 2003 Harlan "Bond". I seriously started crying when I smelled the bouquet on this wine since the palette was not too far off of pure ecstasy.
We then tried a 2002 Scarecrow and found it to be equally as delightful with a silky velvet texture - and although the cellar itself looked more like a dungeon, I literally imagined that this could easily be my heaven.
My companion almost got the best of me and wanted to cap the evening off by opening up a Lokoya, but I put a halt to the festivities to save it for our hands down return to Firehouse which will happen very, very soon and I hope to see you there!
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