Brewvine: Bonobo Winery

If you’re looking for a great wine to go with your Thanksgiving meal, on Old Mission Peninsula might have just what you’re looking for.

Whitney Amann and photojournalist Jeremy Erickson bring you to to see what else they are thankful for in this week’s Brewvine.

“Harvest went great. We had a great crop this year,” said owner and general manager of Bonobo Winery Todd Oosterhouse. “So really excited about what’s going to happen in the spring with that but it’s always a relief to get those off the vine and now we’re going to start something new.”

But before we can get to spring wines…Bonobo Winery has wine for all of your holiday season happenings.

Starting with what to serve with that long awaited Thanksgiving Day meal.

“We have a great pinot noir that came from right out here at our estate and a great rosé which is made from pinot gris which is a little bit different than most rosés,” said Oosterhouse. “Now those things set up wonderfully with your turkey, with your different side dishes that you are having for Thanksgiving and it’s not going to overpower the food but it’s going to compliment it so well.”

If you don’t want to become a holiday homebody, a fireside winter wine tasting might be just the thing to keep your seasonal spirits up.

“This time of the year everyone thinks ‘oh, I can’t get out’, ‘I’ve missed my moment to go to the wineries’ but really this is the best time to come,” he says. “Versus a month ago when it was like ‘ok, we’ve got to wait a half an hour just to get anywhere and get a taste of wine’ now you walk right in, talk to some people and have those great conversations and really just soak it all in.”

And when you make your way out to the winery, you can help Bonobo celebrate a major milestone.

“This December is our five year anniversary. A very exciting time. A lot of changes happened out here not only on Old Mission Peninsula but in the winery and we put together a commemorative bottle,” said Oosterhouse. “So it’s just an exciting time to go through those changes and just celebrate that whole occasion for us and we’re excited to see what the next five years is going to bring.”

And as they wrap up their first five years at the winery and we begin a New Year, you can book a holiday party of your own in one of Bonobo’s beautiful private rooms or join them for their big New Year’s Eve bash.

“We love to get people out, to get them to just to have a great time at the winery,” he says. “We have a great New Year’s Eve party that we do; three course meal that we put together. You can catch a bus from downtown, you get back out here, have your meal and then get a bus back downtown if you want to keep things going.”