VJB Vineyards and Cellars in Kenwood has formally applied for modifications to a use permit that was first approved in 2007, scaling back some previous proposals regarding business hours and events, while adding more on- and off-site parking.
The business sits on 1.5 commercially-zoned acres and fronts Sonoma Highway, with Shaw and Maple avenues on either side. Vehicle access to VJB is currently from Shaw Ave., in close proximity to two other tasting rooms and Café Citti, all of which have limited marked parking.
VJB has had its share of supporters and detractors ever since it opened.
While some in the community have praised VJB for its tasting room and marketplace with food and gelato, neighbors in the area have complained frequently about visitor parking and limousines spilling over into neighborhood streets.
Also, County planning officials have questioned the higher than anticipated level of food service provided at the facility, likening it more to a restaurant a distinction that would have required more parking by the county when VJBs use permit was first approved.
VJBs new request states that it will increase its on-site parking from 36 to 60 spots, which will necessitate removal of some of the vineyard it has on the property.
Two off-site weekend parking areas, totaling 18 spaces, have been, or will be, secured to park passenger vans or limousines, and also possibly be used by visitors who would then take a valet service to get to VJB. VJB staff will park at its Wellington Vineyards property in Glen Ellen, and then take a shuttle to work.
Back when VJBs use permit was first approved, operating hours were established as 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and plans were to install a left-turn lane from Sonoma Highway into Shaw Avenue. This would have allowed regular hours to be increased from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The left turn lane would have allowed VJB to hold 15 special events with up to 100 people, with the events ending at 10 p.m.
Now, VJB will not be asking for any expanded business hours or the 15 special events, which, according to the new proposal, negates the need to put in the left turn lane. Installation of that lane was also impossible, according to the proposal, because VJBs engineer determined that power poles would have to be moved, that right of way from adjoining property owners would have to be obtained, and that VJB has no power or authority to make this happen.
VJB is also asking for visitors to be allowed to leave the property on the Maple Avenue side of the parking lot, a suggestion made by the Sonoma Fire Chief.
As for food service, VJB wants the county to essentially agree that it is okay for VJB to have barbecued food and pizza available for consumption at outdoor tables. The countys original conditions anticipated barbecued food, states the proposal, and that the construction of the barbecue and pizza oven were done with permits.
Since the improvements have been constructed, states the application, to the extent that the barbecue and pizza and their related preparation area constitute a commercial kitchen, the improvements are already in place and have been finaled and cleared for occupancy.
VJBs use permit modification request must be approved by the Countys Board of Zoning Adjustments. Any questions about the application can be directed to Blake Hillegas of the countys Permit and Resource Management Department, 565-1392, or Blake.Hillegas@sonoma.county.org.![]()
Treglia joined the Quail Inn in December after five-plus years as chef, and food and beverage director at the San Geronimo Golf Course in Marin County.
At the Quail Inn, Treglia doesnt do the cooking, but is in charge of managing the restaurant and bar, as well as all the numerous activities and events that take place in the restaurant and banquet spaces.
The restaurant and grill is open to the general public seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Breakfast is served until 12:30 p.m. daily eggs any style, chicken fried steak, breakfast sandwiches and burritos you name it. Lunch and dinner features a wide variety of choices, including burgers, sandwiches, salads, and specials such as Fettuccini Alfredo, New York steak, fried chicken, pork chops, and fish and chips.
The calendar is full of appetizing events and fun activities, including weekday Happy Hour from 3 to 5 p.m., live music, open mic nights, Karaoke nights, Prime Rib Night the first Thursday of each month, and $8 burger nights every Monday.
Mark your calendar for the 9-Hole Indoor Putting Tournament and dinner on Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. Call 539-0415 to sign up or go to the West Pro Shop. Also, save the date of March 17 for St. Patricks Day Dinner, 5 to 7 p.m.
To find out more about the Quail Inn Restaurant and Bar, go to www.oakmontgc.com.![]()
Frimmersdorf, an Oakmont resident, is a registered representative offering securities through Independent Financial Group LLC, and a member of FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation). His experience encompasses a variety of investment opportunities including REITs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, variable annuities, fixed annuities, oil and gas programs, life insurance, IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401K Plans and Real Estate 1031 Exchanges.
At the free March 3 workshop, attendees will learn how REITs can play a part in a well-diversified portfolio.
Wine will be provided by Landmark Vineyards, and food provided by Heidi West Catering.
Seating is limited, so RSVP soon to ensure a spot. Email rfrimmersdorf@ifgrr.com, or call 539-7790.
Experienced teachers will give beginner-friendly classes with modifications offered to increase intensity or accommodate differing physical abilities. Youll leave feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready for your upcoming week.
The $15 fee includes both the yoga class and the wine tasting. Please bring a mat and water if you can; there will also be extra mats for those who RSVP in advance.
The lineup: 1st/2nd Sundays start your month with local Kenwood teacher Alicia Parks, RYT. Alicia teaches a beginner yoga class with modifications for floor or seated yoga.
3rd Sundays Shape up and Wine Down with Renee Clair, RYT of Clair de Lune Yoga. Renee offers a beginning vinyasa class that helps to join the body with the breath, the heart with the soul.
4th/5th Sundays Stretch n Sip with Autumn Buss, RYT. Autumn guides a gentle, relaxing Hatha yoga class that focuses on flexibility and core strengthening.
For more information, call 282-9231, or go to www.orpheuswines.com.
Her class is offered to anyone who is interested in watercolor painting with an emphasis on the use of lush, vivid colors and self expression. A tree, for example, could be painted red and float in the sky.
There is no restriction on age or level of painting. Beginners are welcome. Space is limited. The class takes place Saturday, Feb. 28, 1 to 3 p.m. in her studio home in Glen Ellen. Cost is $40. Call 935-3456 for details, or email wcfilmfest@aol.com.
Do you have any business news? Send it to info@kenwoodpress.com and let everyone know!
The business sits on 1.5 commercially-zoned acres and fronts Sonoma Highway, with Shaw and Maple avenues on either side. Vehicle access to VJB is currently from Shaw Ave., in close proximity to two other tasting rooms and Café Citti, all of which have limited marked parking.
VJB has had its share of supporters and detractors ever since it opened.
While some in the community have praised VJB for its tasting room and marketplace with food and gelato, neighbors in the area have complained frequently about visitor parking and limousines spilling over into neighborhood streets.
Also, County planning officials have questioned the higher than anticipated level of food service provided at the facility, likening it more to a restaurant a distinction that would have required more parking by the county when VJBs use permit was first approved.
VJBs new request states that it will increase its on-site parking from 36 to 60 spots, which will necessitate removal of some of the vineyard it has on the property.
Two off-site weekend parking areas, totaling 18 spaces, have been, or will be, secured to park passenger vans or limousines, and also possibly be used by visitors who would then take a valet service to get to VJB. VJB staff will park at its Wellington Vineyards property in Glen Ellen, and then take a shuttle to work.
Back when VJBs use permit was first approved, operating hours were established as 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and plans were to install a left-turn lane from Sonoma Highway into Shaw Avenue. This would have allowed regular hours to be increased from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The left turn lane would have allowed VJB to hold 15 special events with up to 100 people, with the events ending at 10 p.m.
Now, VJB will not be asking for any expanded business hours or the 15 special events, which, according to the new proposal, negates the need to put in the left turn lane. Installation of that lane was also impossible, according to the proposal, because VJBs engineer determined that power poles would have to be moved, that right of way from adjoining property owners would have to be obtained, and that VJB has no power or authority to make this happen.
VJB is also asking for visitors to be allowed to leave the property on the Maple Avenue side of the parking lot, a suggestion made by the Sonoma Fire Chief.
As for food service, VJB wants the county to essentially agree that it is okay for VJB to have barbecued food and pizza available for consumption at outdoor tables. The countys original conditions anticipated barbecued food, states the proposal, and that the construction of the barbecue and pizza oven were done with permits.
Since the improvements have been constructed, states the application, to the extent that the barbecue and pizza and their related preparation area constitute a commercial kitchen, the improvements are already in place and have been finaled and cleared for occupancy.
VJBs use permit modification request must be approved by the Countys Board of Zoning Adjustments. Any questions about the application can be directed to Blake Hillegas of the countys Permit and Resource Management Department, 565-1392, or Blake.Hillegas@sonoma.county.org.
New Quail Inn manager is a familiar face
Rich Tregalia at Quail Inn
When you visit the Quail Inn Restaurant and Bar in Oakmont, many of you will recognize Rich Treglia, the new food and beverage manager. Rich and his wife Stacy owned the Garden Court Café in Glen Ellen for over 12 years before selling that eatery to Rosemarie and Nick Ramponi in 2009.Treglia joined the Quail Inn in December after five-plus years as chef, and food and beverage director at the San Geronimo Golf Course in Marin County.
At the Quail Inn, Treglia doesnt do the cooking, but is in charge of managing the restaurant and bar, as well as all the numerous activities and events that take place in the restaurant and banquet spaces.
The restaurant and grill is open to the general public seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Breakfast is served until 12:30 p.m. daily eggs any style, chicken fried steak, breakfast sandwiches and burritos you name it. Lunch and dinner features a wide variety of choices, including burgers, sandwiches, salads, and specials such as Fettuccini Alfredo, New York steak, fried chicken, pork chops, and fish and chips.
The calendar is full of appetizing events and fun activities, including weekday Happy Hour from 3 to 5 p.m., live music, open mic nights, Karaoke nights, Prime Rib Night the first Thursday of each month, and $8 burger nights every Monday.
Mark your calendar for the 9-Hole Indoor Putting Tournament and dinner on Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. Call 539-0415 to sign up or go to the West Pro Shop. Also, save the date of March 17 for St. Patricks Day Dinner, 5 to 7 p.m.
To find out more about the Quail Inn Restaurant and Bar, go to www.oakmontgc.com.
Workshop on real estate investments at Landmark
Rey Frimmersdorf
Investment specialist Rey Frimmersdorf will be holding a workshop about Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) at Landmark Vineyards in Kenwood on Thursday, March 3, at 6 p.m.Frimmersdorf, an Oakmont resident, is a registered representative offering securities through Independent Financial Group LLC, and a member of FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation). His experience encompasses a variety of investment opportunities including REITs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, variable annuities, fixed annuities, oil and gas programs, life insurance, IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401K Plans and Real Estate 1031 Exchanges.
At the free March 3 workshop, attendees will learn how REITs can play a part in a well-diversified portfolio.
Wine will be provided by Landmark Vineyards, and food provided by Heidi West Catering.
Seating is limited, so RSVP soon to ensure a spot. Email rfrimmersdorf@ifgrr.com, or call 539-7790.
Yoga + wine at Orpheus
Yoga + wine takes place every Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Orpheus Wines Tasting Room in the Kenwood Shopping Center. Get into comfy clothes and come on Sunday mornings for a special pairing to nourish your mind, body, and palate. This is a one-hour, beginner/Level 1 yoga class in the main tasting room, followed by a guided tasting of three current release wines.Experienced teachers will give beginner-friendly classes with modifications offered to increase intensity or accommodate differing physical abilities. Youll leave feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready for your upcoming week.
The $15 fee includes both the yoga class and the wine tasting. Please bring a mat and water if you can; there will also be extra mats for those who RSVP in advance.
The lineup: 1st/2nd Sundays start your month with local Kenwood teacher Alicia Parks, RYT. Alicia teaches a beginner yoga class with modifications for floor or seated yoga.
3rd Sundays Shape up and Wine Down with Renee Clair, RYT of Clair de Lune Yoga. Renee offers a beginning vinyasa class that helps to join the body with the breath, the heart with the soul.
4th/5th Sundays Stretch n Sip with Autumn Buss, RYT. Autumn guides a gentle, relaxing Hatha yoga class that focuses on flexibility and core strengthening.
For more information, call 282-9231, or go to www.orpheuswines.com.
New date for watercolor class
Justine Ashton Gotthardt is offering a watercolor class on Feb. 28. Justine is a self-taught watercolorist who shows her art in select galleries and has a private collectors following.Her class is offered to anyone who is interested in watercolor painting with an emphasis on the use of lush, vivid colors and self expression. A tree, for example, could be painted red and float in the sky.
There is no restriction on age or level of painting. Beginners are welcome. Space is limited. The class takes place Saturday, Feb. 28, 1 to 3 p.m. in her studio home in Glen Ellen. Cost is $40. Call 935-3456 for details, or email wcfilmfest@aol.com.
Business Blurbs
Olea Hotel on Warm Springs Road in Glen Ellen was ranked one of the top romantic hotels in the U.S. by the TripAdvisor website The last day for Olive & Vine Restaurant in Jack London Village is Feb. 20. Stay tuned for more news on their new location in Sonoma, as well as an expansion of their event planning business, Cuvee Wine Country Events Recently arrived in Jack London Village is Hopscotch Gifts & Gallery . Check a future issue of the Kenwood Press for more information Leaving Kenwood is the short-lived storefront for Juice on the Square , purveyor of variety of cold-pressed juices. They are keeping their Santa Rosa store on Cleveland Ave., and you can still get delivery by going to their website www.juiceryco.com The next St. Francis Winery Sonoma Tastemakers event is Feb. 27, 1 to 3 p.m. St. Francis wines will be paired with baked treats from Costeaux French Bakery. Admission is free Chateau St. Jean Winery is having a special tasting Feb. 28, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with Master Sommelier Gillian Balance. There is a $35 tasting fee ($28 for wine club members). Reservations required. Go to www.chateaustjean.com/events/ Enjoy the folk-influenced music of Napa-based artist Kristen Van Dyke at B.R. Cohn Winery on Feb. 21, 2 to 4 p.m. Think Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos, Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday. Oysters from Tomales Bay will be served. The music is free (but tip the singer!)Do you have any business news? Send it to info@kenwoodpress.com and let everyone know!