Summer in a Bottle

Sonoma’s new limoncello from Tasting Table

Olive oil, wine, farmstead cheese: The Bay Area’s edible landscape has resembled Italy’s for years. With the arrival of Hello Cello, it does so even more.

The brainchild of Fred and Amy Groth, this new Sonoma-bottled limoncello surges with the invigorating essence of lemons.

The pair worked with the citrus lab at UC Riverside to ascertain the perfect mix of lemons for Hello Cello. The result features the Eureka variety and the classic limoncello lemon, Sorrento, sourced predominantly from an organic farm near Santa Cruz.

To create their sunny liqueur, the Groths start with brandy made from biodynamically grown local wine grapes. Next, they peel the lemons by hand (up to 3,000 for each batch of limoncello), macerate the rinds in the brandy for two weeks, then sweeten the brew with agave nectar.

Limoncello is traditionally drunk straight from the freezer at the end of a meal, but it’s equally refreshing as an aperitif, served on the rocks with a hit of soda water and perhaps some muddled berries.

Until recently, Hello Cello was available only at a few restaurants in Sonoma County. Now, for your concentrated-citrus pleasure, it can be purchased at San Francisco retail shops like K&L Wine Merchants and Cask.

Sonoma Magazine goes National telling the rest of the country what a fabulous place Sonoma is to live and visit. Look for Coppola on the cover and Limoncello di Sonoma inside at Barns & Noble and Borders from coast to coast. The summer issue also features stories on the Michelin-starred Santé restaurant at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa, a tour through the killer kitchen of Therese Nugent, a look at outdoor living, 21,000 things you can buy at Sign of the Bear, a $20,000 dinner, a taste of strawberries, cheese, limoncello, vodka and chocolate, plus a feature on the fast women of the Indy Racing

A Very Cold cocktail
http://www.thrillist.com/napa-sonoma/liquid-nitrogen-fun-carneros-bistro