How to celebrate Fat Tuesday

When the staff at Meadowcroft Winery began brainstorming for a signature annual party they could make their own, tasting-room manager Phyllis Hyland immediately thought of her childhood in the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun country.

“Every Mardi Gras in Eunice, I remember the men would come around in the morning on horseback to each house and they’d collect money or a chicken or whatever you had for the big party later that day,” she said.

When they approached owner Tom Meadowcroft about importing Mardi Gras to Sonoma Valley three years ago, “At first he was a little concerned because it didn’t quite tie into his background,” said Hyland. “But once he got that it was really just one big excuse to party, we were off and running.”

What makes the annual Mardi Gras bash at Meadowcroft a little more flavorful than most in the North Bay is the insistence on authenticity — they leave the most important details to Louisiana Cajuns who still do it the best.

Every year, Hyland ships in 25 pounds of crawfish (aka “mudbugs”) from a supplier in Louisiana. That’s why the crawfish etouffee tastes so fresh. Spicy andouille sausage is flown in from her hometown of Eunice (pop. 10,398), made by the LeJune family, who have a smokehouse behind their house. Since they don’t ship, Hyland’s mother has to go to their house, buy 60 pounds of sausage and package it with dry ice before sending it to the winery each year.

“The mailman can smell it through the package every time he delivers it,” says Hyland.

They’ll use the sausage for red beans and rice and a barbecued sausage appetizer bathed in a special sauce they fly in from Ville Platte, Lousiana.

What makes it distinctly Wine Country is washing it all down with a few zinfandels or rieslings — to the tune of Rhythmtown-Jive, one of the longest running Mardi Gras party bands in Sonoma County.