One of the benefits of living in Northern California is the proximity to lots of world class wine. Here we try to keep track of some of the experiences we have had.
Orin Swift Winery
The 2 Cooks went to Napa and visited Orin Swift Winery.
Review – The BevMo 5 Cent Sale
People have asked what is good to get to take advantage of the BevMo 5 Cent Sale. First, the not-so-secret is that BevMo always has wines on the 5 cent sale. When they do the big advertising for it they have more selections but you can find good wines there any time.
What we like is we can get wines that are normally $20 to $30 for basically half price. This brings the very drinkable wines into the $10 to $15 category. Below are some of our favorite Chardonnay and Zinfandel selections from the sale.
Also when you make purchases you are sent coupons for various other discounts that you can add to the wine sale. $10 when you spend $75, etc. It’s really not that difficult to take advantage and stock up as needed.
Review – The Costco Bordeaux Box
Many of you have seen the Bordeaux Box at Costco and are probably wondering whether it is any good. We took some notes going through a couple of these boxes. here our impression.
Value for the price: Pretty good. There are two really nice wines here, one that is fairly good and one we would rather use for cooking.
Chateau Pitray Premiere Von Bordeaux. This is our least favorite in the box. It does have nice dark plum with soft tannins but left our mouths a bit sour and unhappy.
Chateau Les Grands Maréchaux. In the nose – Plum, Stone Fruit, Raspberry, Plastic Raincoat, Vinyl maybe? A Dark plum raspberry fruit that changes to spice notes of Nutmeg, Cumin, Cinnamon. A very pleasant lingering finish. This one reminds us of a California style wine.
Chateau Le Gardera Bordeaux Superievra. First nose of Alcohol and Smoke followed as it opens up by Plastic, Spice, Plum, Bay Leaves, Old Shoe leather. Soft mouth feel with soft tannins, jammy, a bit velvety with a clean finish like water
I love the finish on this wine. It leaves behind a little fur but it dissolves quickly, leaving behind a fresh taste like a drink of spring water with a tingly alcohol after feel.
Chateau Taussin 2016 Bordeaux. Faint nose of Cherry, Plastic, Tobacco, Coffee. Soft mouth feel. Easy drinking red table wine.
That is our review. Your Mileage May Vary.
Grgich Revisited
One of our favorite wineries is Grgich and we stopped in again for a tasting. Our last experience here was the phenomenal Library Tasting experience, which we reviewed earlier. This time was just an opportunity to taste these fantastic offerings.
The winemaker here has had quite an influence on winemaking in Napa. He put California on the map by winning a competition in France and he was principal in discovering the roots of the Zinfandel Varietal.
They offer several different tasting flights. We opted for the Miljenko’s Flight. Tasting began with the Essence Sauvignon Blanc. This wine has a big flavor with lots of grapefruit and we found it a bit tart.
Carneros Chardonnay. This wine is not malolactic fermentation – lately everywhere we go people emphasize this point in their Chardonnays. Personally, we like what malolactic fermentation does to Chardonnay so that’s no selling point for me. A light crisp lemon flavor to this one.
Napa Valley Chardonnay. This is the wine that first brought us to Grgich Hills. A big buttery Cougar Juice style of Chardonnay. We continue to live this wine.
2013 Zinfandel. Chardonnay may have brought us here but Zinfandel keeps us coming back. The 2013 is starting to drink really well – dark stone fruits with rich tannins.
2013 Cabernet Sauvignon. Some fairly minimal notes on this one. Very drinkable, Dark Pum, Soft Tannins.
2014 Violetta Late Harvest. Spicy and Sweet
We always recommend this experience for the tasty wines. If you have a chance to schedule the library tasting it’s even better.
T (707) 963-2784 | F (707) 963-8725
1829 St. Helena Hwy, Rutherford CA 94573Jigar
We found this winery entirely by accident. We went to Forestville on a recommendation to visit another winery and they were closed in spite of their posted hours. We walked across the street and had a pleasant visit at Jigar.
The wines are all from the Russian River appellation and we found them well crafted.
2014 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. Pretty, delicate color to this one. A very juicy pinot with big round berries and a bright cherry finish. A delightful wine.
2013 Sedition, Chenoweth Vineyards. This wine is the first from the combination of Jigar Patel and Josh Bartels of Sedition Wines. The result was so good they have continued to combine efforts. A nicely drinkable wine on the lighter bodied side with nice fruit that lingers on the palate.
2014 Peters Vineyard Pinot Noir. Big, bold flavors bursting in the mouth with dark cherry, mineralogy and bright acid notes.
2014 Graham Family Vineyards. This one has a beautiful bright color, Big cherry fruit with a bright finish.
Featured around the Tasting Room is Ganesh. Kelly has an interesting relationship with Ganesh so she was instantly drawn to the place. I found the poster below interesting in a Northern California sort of way.
We recommend a visit to Jigar. Their wines are quite nice and the tasting experience is enjoyable.
6615 Front Street
Forestville, CA 95436
707.820.1225
email: [email protected]
Dry Creek Vineyards
For years we have come into the Dry Creek Valley by taking Lytton Springs Road and turning left on Dry Creek Road. In an effort to expand our horizons and discover some new things we turned right on Dry Springs Road and right away came across Dry Creek Vineyards. We were nicely impressed with their wines and will become more familiar with them over time as we joined their wine club.
This is a fairly busy tasting room. We started off with one very informative person and were passed along to another very informative person and in the process got a lot of great stories about the winery, the wines and the vineyards. In the whole process we didn’t get the best tasting notes but here is what we have.
2014 Fume Blanc. Some connection to Robert Mondavi. Reused Oak.
2014 Somers Ranch Zinfandel. Light, Spring Water, delicate flavors.
2015 Wallace Ranch Zinfandel. Still a light Zin but with more structure and more tannins.
2015 4 Clones. Getting into a big juicy Zin – just how we like them.
2015 Vogensen Ranch Zinfandel. This one had a great nose of stone fruits and spices.
Beeson Ranch Field Blend. I’m fond of field blend wines. It harkens back to the old days when planting a variety of grapes in your vineyard would give your wine a special character all its own, and distinguish it from your neighbors. This vineyard is 135 years old.
2014 Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 45th Anniversary. Beautiful Spring Water big Fruit chewy Cab.
After all these wines we are experiencing a little tongue fatigue. I really liked these last two wines but can’t tell you much about them.
2014 Terroir Series.
2009 Endeavor Cabernet Sauvignon.
We had dinner at Singlethread Restaurant in Healdsburg, CA and one of the pairing wines was this elegant 1993 Zinfandel. This wine really held up well.
We took a bottle of Chardonnay home and it paired very well with Crispy Skin Salmon and Fingerling Potatos prepared by Kelly.
This was a wonderful tasting experience and we look forward to getting to know Dry Creek Vineyard wines better in the coming years.
(800) 864-9463 x104 or [email protected].
3770 Lambert Bridge Rd, Healdsburg, CA 95448
VGS Chateau Potelle
A friend recommended this experience and we are so glad she did! This boutique winery is located in St. Helena and we were hosted by Anthony, a knowledgeable gentleman with a background as a chef. The experience is all about wine and food pairings – with exquisite examples of both. A lot of the descriptors they provide are food-based, and unique ones at that, such as watermelon rind and lightly toasted coriander.
Even though it was a coolish day we were hosted in a lovely outdoor setting near a bubbling fountain, protected by a large hedge. There is quite a bit of highway noise as 29 runs just the other side of the hedge. If that is likely to bother you, ask for inside seating. It didn’t distract from our experience however and it was enjoyable being outside. These are all limited production wines and not to be found anywhere else.
Upon arrival we were presented with a glass of the delightful VGS Riviera Rose. This is made from 100% Cinsault grapes from Sonoma County’s Kick Ranch. We are not familiar with this varietal and what an introduction this was! My notes include delicate water and faint peach in the nose, exquisite and understated. Their notes include the aforementioned watermelon rind and lemon blossom along with white stone fruits and strawberries. This wine has a beautiful creamy mouth feel while remaining light on the tongue and bursting with summer fruit flavors of berries and maybe a hint of spice.
We enjoyed the Rose while our host set the table and prepared our pairings. We had time to read about the coming offerings and admire the beautiful stemware. The presentation here is pretty much flawless with a folio containing a lot of whimsical yet deep information about each of the wines on offer. We asked and were told that VGS stands for Very Good Shit.
The Sauvignon Blanc was paired with an English Pea Roulette with Goat Cheese and Meyer Lemon. I have been looking forward to making pea puree and sauces this summer and we had an opportunity to discuss the chefy side of that with Anthony. This is a crisp and fruity Sauvignon Blanc from Napa grapes with grapefruit and pear forward in the nose. Their notes include crushed stones and the sense of terroir. A lot of zing in the mouth with citrus notes and maybe some white sugar. This wine is fermented and aged in Concrete Egg and neutral Oak. We have had other Concrete Egg wines that we were not as fond of but this one works well.
The Chardonnay was paired with Maine Lobster Salad, Fennel Puree and Pancetta, a savory bite that set off the wine. Rich and creamy both in the nose and in the mouth feel. Sophisticated acidity and a lack of any astringent oak qualities leave room for a buttery richness and a great long, lively finish. This wine is fermented mostly in new french oak, but we didn’t get a lot of the hints of sour/bitter/acid that can sometimes come from oak, but rather a very structured richness.
As delightful as all of these wines are, there was still a star of he show for us. That would be the Silver Lining. This is a Cabernet dominant blend with Petit Verdot and Petit Syrah from 2014, 2015, and 2016 that was created in the aftermath of the Napa fires and benefits the Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund. Nose of coffee, tobacco, dark stone fruits, freshly trimmed hedge. Strawberries, bright cherries, tongue tingling finish with comfort spices. Paired with a House-Cured Sopressatta and a pequillo pepper hummus. This wine is so very drinkable and a particularly lovely thing to find.
Hard to tell from this picture but this bottle is floor to ceiling covered with tiles.
The last wine on this experience was the Potelle Two, another Cabernet dominant blend. This is a gorgeous dark, almost purple color with complex stone fruit, leather and spices. This was paired with a very pleasing bite of Smoked Liberty Farms Duck Breast with Fig Mostarda on Papadum. The savory mustard is a beautiful complement to the rich spice of the wine.
Finished off with this nice chocolate bite. We highly recommend this experience. Very Good Shit indeed! Reservations are required.
VGS Chateau Potelle Tasting House and Garden
1200 Dowdell Lane
St. Helena, CA 94574
707.255.9440
www.vgschateaupotelle.com
Toulouse Vineyards and Winery
Toulouse was a bright spot in the Anderson Valley. We enjoyed their wines very much and it was a beautiful and welcoming tasting experience.
We didn’t take any notes and we brought some wine home but it’s been over a year since we drank it……
We will definitely go back and we recommend you stop in there as well.
http://www.toulousevineyards.com/
[email protected]
(T) 707-895-2828
(F) 707-895-2829
Open Daily 11:00am – 5:00pm
Phillips Hill
A really nice stop in the Anderson Valley is Phillips Hill. In the summer they utilize a rustic setting underneath the building for tasting.
We enjoyed the wines and the experience but didn’t get much in the way of notes or pictures.
They have a room full of the tastes and textures of wine. here are a couple of our favorite characteristics.
We often get a strong scent of leather in the nose of the wines we tend to like the best.
https://www.phillipshill.com/
Tasting Room:
5101 Highway 128
Philo, CA, 95466
T (707) 895-2209
Winery: Mailing Address
25690 Greenwood Rd
Elk, CA, 95432
T (707) 895-2209
We are open 7 days a week. 10:30am – 5:00pm
Lula Cellars
At the Northwest end of the Anderson Valley is a very unpretentious tasting room for Lula Cellars. These guys make some great pinots and the tasting experience is very casual. A giant old dog has the run of the place and other people are invited to bring theirs as well.
Like I said, Pinot. These are really good. One of the Mendocino Pinots had a nose like it was grown next to a pot farm- really quite distinct. It didn’t do anything much with the taste but was interesting.
707.895.3737
Handley Cellars
One of our favorite stops in the Anderson Valley is Handley Cellars. Lovely Pinots and Chardonnays. We were hoping to get back in the summer of 2017 but it wasn’t in the cards. We don’t have many pictures or wine descriptions from our previous visits.
Here are some wines we tasted last visit. This was a pinot flight. Some lower elevation, some higher, some closer to the coast, some inland. It was very interesting.
We arrived about ten minutes before opening and The guy working, Chris I think, opened the doors and said come on in. He was wonderful to talk with and gave us a great tasting experience. These are the ones we took home.
One thing we enjoy about the Anderson Valley is a certain style of Pinot Rose that has a lot of character from the skin. The Handley is great this way. This is good tasting experience and I hope we get back that way sometime soon.
Open 7 days a week
Summer Hours: 10am to 6pm
Winter Hours: 10am to 5pm
Mazzocco Sonoma
Located on Lytton Springs Road in the northern part of the Dry Creek Valley, Mazzocco makes a wide variety of single vineyard Zinfandels. The first time we stopped here they were pouring all 100% zins – no blends. We promptly joined their wine club and have been enjoying their Zinfandel for a few years now.
This was an early spring trip. Nothing much growing yet.
They do make a Chardonnay. Last time through we tried one with grapes from Stuhlmuller Vineyards in Chalk Hill. Clean, easy fruit with an alcohol tingle at the end.
What we really come for are the Zinfandels.
Having tried many of them, we definitely have our favorites. Pony, Pony reserve, Smith Orchard Reserve along with the Fog are our favorite Mazzocco Zinfandels so far.
2104 Fog – Has some of the typical Mazzocco naugahyde nose – like seat covers on a ’56 Bel Aire. Minerals up front in the mouth that remind us of the minerals in Kona Coffee – the flavor you would get from licking Pahoehoe. A really nice bold fruit, plum, cherry, easy on the tannins.
2014 Verano – Spicy nose with plastic – the aforementioned naugahyde. Seems young and impetuous. Big juicy fruit – some apricot even – with a dry finish.
2104 Warm Springs Ranch – This is a warm wine with tannic fruit, caramel notes. Because of the tannins this doesn’t make our top picks list. We do have a Warm Springs Reserve in the cellar to try one of these days.
2104 West Dry Creek – This is nice, soft, fruit wine with cherry and plum. Very approachable.
Pony, Pony reserve, Smith Orchard Reserve along with the Fog are our favorite Mazzocco Zinfandels so far.
We really like Mazzocco wines and we enjoy the Wilson Family of Artisan Wineries which we joined when we joined the Mazzocco wine club. There are nine wineries spread out from Hopland in Mendocino County, the Alexander Valley, through Dry Creek and Russian River to Sonoma Valley. We have visited them all over the last couple years.
Antoine Favero, the winemaker at Mazzocco is also the winemaker at Jaxon Keys, Soda Rock, and some of De Lorimer.
http://www.mazzocco.com/
707.433.3399 or 800.501.8466
Cesar Toxqui Cellars
A great find in Hopland, California – Mendocino County, just north of Sonoma, is Toxqui Cellars (pronounced toe-ski). Cesar Toxqui loves the land and the process of winemaking in tune with nature. He times parts of his process by the cycles of the moon and makes a really beautiful, totally organic wine.
This is a nicely full flavored Sauvignon Blanc. It’s citrus, it’s light, it has a little bit of vanilla melon before it leaves with a sticky cantaloupe finish. The Nose – Honeydew Vanilla Caramel.
The 100 Year Old Vine Zinfandel is fantastic. Cherry Caramel Plum jam with a nice tingly alcohol. No surprise at 15.1 percent.
Wilson Winery
We love Wilson Wines. The Wilson Family of Wineries has 8 members at this time. When we joined the wine club for Mazzocco we joined the wine clubs at all these wineries. We set out to try them all though that would take us from the Alexander valley to the Sonoma Valley. It took a few trips but we made them all. I’ve got to say our favorite is Wilson. The Zinfandel is beautiful fruity without being tannic at all, which is what our palette enjoys these days.
They have a beautiful deck you can use for picnics on a sunny day. Last time we were there it was 110 degrees so not many people were outside.
We come for the Zin and Zin we shall have. The 2014 Nolan Zinfandel just has a nice big fruit, sweet and juicy. All these wines are very drinkable. We took a few bottles of this one home.
The winemaker is Diane Wilson, and she makes the wine at two of the other Wilson Family Wineries. She is our favorite of the three winemakers.
Paired with lamb. We had a little of two wines. Life is good!
The Tasting Room has been really busy both times we have been here. This has made it difficult to have much of a conversation with the server, which I would like to do. All one can do is enjoy the wine.
Heartland Zinfandel – I love this wine and I have had some interesting observations about it over time. Nose – Vanilla in a field of wild onion flowers. Plastic on your Grandmas ‘couch. Ripe Plums and Blackberries in a plastic bucket. Mouth – Big, Plum Fruit, ripe and jammy.
For large parties if you call ahead, both times we have been here there ha been a bridal party or some group of mostly women enjoying the back bar and slipping into the cellar for a tour.
Another fine Wilson Zinfandel is the Tori. We enjoyed it so much we forgot to take notes.
This is in the tasting room.
This is our new go-to winery for a while. Recommended. Expect good wine and a very busy, scattered tasting experience.
http://www.wilsonwinery.com/
Open Daily 11AM – 5PM
1960 Dry Creek Rd, Healdsburg CA
Email: [email protected]
Phone us direct at (707) 433-4355
Robert Young Estate Winery
This is the place to go for Chardonnay! Located in the Alexander Valley, they have a family feel as well a a bit of old school. Small tasting room so we like to get there right at 10:00 when they open.
We tasted three Chardonnays the last time we were here:
2015 Chardonnay Area 27. This is fermented in a large egg-shaped cement vat so 50% concrete and 50% neutral french oak. This is a nice Chardonnay, but after trying several bottles of this and the net one with various pairings we prefer:
2015 Alexander Valley Chardonnay – Tropical Fruits an baked goods. Warm fruit with a beautiful silky mouth feel. this is a Chardonnay to come back to again and again.
2014 Barrel Select – New Oak, full malolactic. This one had less appealing characteristics for our palate.
A nice map of their vineyards.
We come for the Chardonnay bit we also tasted a 2013 Petit Verdot – Nice cherry candy fruit but really tannic on the finish.
2013 Scion Cabernet Sauvignon – didn’t take any notes.
Beautiful estate in a beautiful location. For us, all about the Chardonnay.
Tasting Room:
Open daily 10:00am – 4:30pm. Closed Tuesdays.
Tastings and Fees vary per Experience
Robert Young Estate Winery
4960 Red Winery Road,
Geyserville, CA 95441
Contact by Email:
For Tasting Appointments:
[email protected]
For Wine Club:
[email protected]
For General Information:
[email protected]
Telephone
707.431.4811
Robert Young 2017 Chardonnay on the vine.
Foley Sonoma Winery
Touring around the Chalk Hill Wineries, they are all part of the Foley Family of wines. We stopped at Foley Sonoma on one of our trips south. A beautiful entryway leads to the tasting room overlooking their vine testing area.
This particular day there was a lot of smoke in the air, a LOT! – all the way from Humboldt to San Francisco. It had been around a few days so there might be some smoke flavor in the 2017 vintage.
2015 Osborn Semillion Blanc. This is a blend with some Chardonnay which gives it more depth than usual with this varietal. Caramel notes and pineapple upside down cake.
2016 Rose – Light skin contact. Delicate, sweet.
2015 Sangiovese – Bright Fruit.
2014 Patty’s Patch Zinfandel – Big fruit, a little sour and a little tannic.
2014 Old Vine Zinfandel – Soft mouth feel. Moe sugar, too tannic. left my mouth unhappy.
Merlot – Again with the tannins – unripe persimmon. Nice big fruit.
Chardonnay – A light feel with a lot of alcohol and nice fruit.
Tasting Room Hours 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
(707) 433-1944 or toll-free at (800) 433-1944
For parties over 12 people, please contact our Tour Group Sales Specialist directly at [email protected] or (707) 657-4859
Septentrio Winery, Arcata, California
Septentrio Winery is an off-the-beaten-path find right here at home in Tinytown (Arcata, CA). We first noticed this wine at one of our go-to local restaurants. They had this Septentrio Napa Chardonnay on tap. We tried it once and have been hooked ever since. This Chardonnay has light notes of melon, tropical fruit, butter, vanilla/baked goods with a silky mouth feel. We found it bottled at the Arcata Co-op.
This is the special Reserve. We found out later they also have an unoaked Chardonnay, all stainless with a little malolactic action that exhibits some melon and tropical fruit characteristics.
Another wine that I want to feature here is their 2016 Viognier. This to me is an incredible wine with a big fruity nose and flavors of floral and fruit that we don’t usually see in this varietal. I really love this wine – and I think it really shows off the winemaker’s abilities and goals of bringing out the aromatics and unique qualities of the grapes without adding a lot of outside ingredients to make it work.
We had the opportunity to pay a visit to their winery recently and had a fantastic time with the winemaker, Jared Sandifer, and his nephew, Mason Bell. They had just picked up some Pinot Noir Grapes from the Benbow area and were working on de-stemming when we showed up.
Click for video of the Destemmer in action
Jared is a quick study, has a real affinity for his craft and access to some really good resources both for knowledge and for grapes. He has been working this venture for about 5 years and come up with some really good wines. Mason wanted to learn all he could about winemaking, jumped in head first and has become an invaluable part of this operation.
Jared’s partner in this venture is his wife, Tynel Jael. She showed up while we were there but didn’t get in any of the pictures.
There were several bins of fermenting grapes on the skins around that needed to be punched down. Quite a pretty operation. Jared can be heard giving us a little information about the process in this video.
The grapes are sourced from a variety of places in Northern California. They have their own Pinot Vineyard in Fruitland Ridge here in Humboldt. We’ve seen the Pinot from Benbow, also in Humboldt, and other grapes are sourced from anywhere from Napa, Alexander Valley, Dry Creek to Anderson Valley and probably some in between. With a wide variety of grapes to start with Jared has a lot going on, from blends to estate wines that show off the characteristics of single vineyard fruit. We tasted 15 wines while we were there. Here is a picture of their award winners from this year’s Humboldt County Fair.
We started with Pinot Gris which I found had some unexpected characteristics. It was big with a rich fruit, even a little buttery. Looking back, this was foreshadowing what we experienced with the Viognier a couple wines later.
Second up was the unoaked 2015 Chardonnay I’ve described above.
And again the Viognier I’ve described above – but let me just reiterate here that this is a really good wine!
2014 Rose of Pinot – but not the one I read about on their Facebook page where it sounded like it would be one of those big Pinots with lots of skin and bold flavor. This one was an accident. It had some caramel flavors and tangy fruit but was not the big Pinot Rose I was hoping for. I think that will be coming in the 2015 vintage.
We tried a 2016 Rose of Cabernet. This one had grapefruit on the nose. Nothing else really stuck with me.
2014 Sonoma Pinot. This one had a great nose – the kind where you get rubber and plastic and leather and roses and cherry all at once. But it was just a warm up for…….
Single Vineyard Pinot from Petaluma Gap. All that nose above plus black cherry flavors and a great mouth feel. This was a nice wine and I’ll have to find out more about what the label says so we can find it again.
We moved on to a couple things I didn’t care for as much. A Tempranillo with a lot of acid and somewhat sour fruit – and a Pinotage that was big and bold with a lot of tannins. This one may be good in a couple years, it has a lot of potential.
Syrah. Beautiful nose, fruity with a soft mouth feel. We drank this one recently with a Prime Rib dinner and it was heavenly.
Of course by now the tongue is getting a bit numb and the observations a little foggy but the best is still coming up. All this time we have taken breaks to finish the de-stemming, punching down some grapes and have some snacks our generous hosts provided.
Time to bring out the Cabs. First up was a 2014 Cabernet from Amador. For us it was too tannic and not what we like at all. This might be a wine to lay down for a long time.
2013 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. A dark, rich wine with a beautiful nose and a lingering cherry on the palate. We took this one home and it stood up well there.
By this time it is more than the tongue that is getting fuzzy. Wine tasting can be so challenging!
We tried a 2015 Cab – from where I don’t know – and I just wrote down ‘Very Nice.’ So there you have it. Very nice.
At this point we went into the cellar. Less notes, more pictures. We tried a couple things that are not ready yet. The most striking was a Petit Verdot, usually used for blending but he has something going with this one. Hopefully there will be a few bottles as a stand alone varietal because I think he brought something good out of those grapes.
They have a couple wines on tap in local establishments, using Nitrogen as a propellant. Some of these kegs are specifically for that purpose. Others are reserve wine for topping off the barrels as they evaporate.
This was a great experience and this will be a winery to watch in the coming years as I expect Jared will continue to grow in his craft and make some interesting wines.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=septentrio%20winery
Husch Vineyards
We have been wine club members with Husch longer than any other winery. One of the great benefits is $1.00 shipping on a case. We wish more wineries would do that. Another benefit is their annual picnic, which just happens to be around his birthday every year. Free for club members, it’s a fine opportunity to spend some time in Mendocino and the Anderson Valley.
Here are a couple of the tables with wine and food pairing. Vin Gris of Pinot Noir and Cabernet.
We got to do some barrel tasting of the components that go into their Grand Oz.
And take a selfie in the vineyard.
We have enjoyed Husch Chardonnay for at least 30 years and it’s interesting to check out their higher end Chardonnay and other wines they make.
Husch’s workhorse Chardonnay. Very drinkable and distributed widely – found in restaurants and stores everywhere.
This was a very special Chardonnay with lots of rich flavor. A little butter, some tropical fruit.
The Dry Gewürztraminer is a light summer version. We didn’t find it spicy like some Gewürztraminer, but rather a refreshing grapefruit punch.
Another good Husch summer wine. The skins were not on this one long, just enough for color and not a lot of flavor. Flowers in the nose and a sweet, drinkable wine.
http://www.huschvineyards.com/
Castello Di Amorosa
This place was just a bit too much of a tourist trap for us, in the Napa area. It had been recommended, so we went but ended up not even tasting the wine. Everything was really expensive – even just a look at the castle. We got some pics from the places we could go for free and called it good. They certainly had plenty of people willing to pay for the tour and tastings.
Chateau Montelena
This beautiful winery was part of the 1970’s event that put Napa on the world wine map. Their Chardonnay won first place at a French wine competition. The winemaker at the time went on to Grgich Hills.
The grounds of this winery are fabulous in an old school way. Swans and formal gardens and a castle-like attitude.
We spent quite a while poking around here. The swans had a nest going and were a tad testy so there were warning signs about. We gave them their space but they still chased us off.
It’s a really cool place and they open earlier than everybody else so if you are like us and like to get the day started they make a good first stop.
The Reisling was interesting – in a really good way. A true representation of the grape that wasn’t just all sugar. Of course their Chardonnay is exemplary for the taste of the grape – not all buttered up like we love so much.
The Zin – this was really good, but not the fruit bomb we like at other places. It had a rustic approach to the grape that is really nice. Unfortunately, our server had to put down all other Zins while describing this one. Hey! They are all different and nobody is stupid for liking any of them.
We got to taste two cabs which were remarkably different, yet both were enjoyable.
It was an overall great experience and we would recommend this to anybody. We took a lot of pictures. We will spare you most of them.
Tasting Room open 9:30 to 4:00
Raymond Vineyards
We had a little extra time before our appointment at Grgich so we stopped in at Raymond Winery. We had no idea what to expect – or even if there was something to expect. The owner likes to party and keeps this place as a party palace.
When we walked in we were asked which tasting. We thought the cellar sounded good so she said “Down the rabbit hole you go,” and directed us to this hallway.
Passing through the doors we encountered the cellar with the stainless steel tanks all quite lit up.
There was also a dinner table set up for a party.
Some wine was poured but there was not a lot of information given or attention paid – and a lot of distractions.
We did get some interesting pictures.
https://www.raymondvineyards.com/
Grgich Hills Winery
We did a really nice sit-down tasting at Grgich Hills with the winemaker’s daughter. The tasting took place in their library, which has a bottle of every wine they have ever made. It was quite the experience.
We got to taste some unique and interesting things we wouldn’t have tasted otherwise. Unfortunately we enjoyed the experience without the distraction of taking notes.
At home we tasted:
2012 Grgich Miljenkos Old Vine Napa Zinfandel. – Nose – Plum, a latex clad mistress, nettles, fern, a rhubarb pie. Mouth – Dark, dark, dark cherry, Mature Tannins, thin feel with a bright fruit explosion. Finish is nice, tingly alcohol…. gasoline…..soft tannins. Kelly says – No aftertaste, smooth, a little tart on the sides of my tongue but in a good way.
Grgich Hills Paris Tasting Chardonnay – Nose – Warm, soft fruit, fresh grapes. Mouth – Soft mouth feel,. Lush, creamy fruit, caramel, vanilla, pineapple upside down cake.
T (707) 963-2784 | F (707) 963-8725
1829 St. Helena Hwy, Rutherford CA 94573 www.grgich.com
Duckhorn Winery
We stopped at Duckhorn when we had an hour before an appointment close by. We waited for them to open and right at 10:00 they had a lot of appointments, ours included. We sat at a nice outdoor table and were served a good collection of wines. We’re pretty sure there are more pictures somewhere and we will post them if we ever find them.
They have beautiful grounds and we enjoyed walking around looking at things.
Oh – the wine was really good, too. Our server was busy with several other tables so we only got a little of his attention. The Buckhorn Chardonnay is already legend. Among the other tastes, The Discussion was notable.
When the time came and we had to leave I couldn’t find anyone to help sell me wine so we left empty handed. Even our server was not available to complete the transaction. We will come back when we have more time.
https://www.duckhorn.com/
Tasting Room opens at 10:00, Reservations are required.
Matrix Winery
Part of the Wilson Family of Artisan Wineries, we visited Matrix expecting Chardonnays and Pinots and in that they did not disappoint. We tried to taste outdoors but it got too windy. They have a cool fountain in the entryway.
We have had wines from grapes grown at Bacigalupi Vineyards at several different wineries. This one has a nice Chardonnay.
Again, in addition to several others they have the Pinot from Bacigalupi as well.
Tasting Room is open 11:00 to 5:00
(707) 433-1911
Coppola Winery
We decided to stop at Coppola on one of our many trips south. To say it was far more than we expected would be an understatement. We found the Disneyland of wineries with exhibits, bars, a restaurant and a pool.
There was so much going on here that this is going to be more of a travelogue than a wine review. In fact, the wines are pretty good, but maybe overshadowed by everything else that is going on here.
To begin, we walked n and went right upstairs to a wine tasting zone. I’m not sure what made us think this wine tasting would be better than the other opportunities downstairs, but except for the museum pieces and the good wine the experience was disappointing. We got a girl who set out the mat, poured the wines, sat back and didn’t talk to us much. These are the wines we tasted:
The wines here are very good – no problem in that department – it’s just difficult to concentrate with everything else around. Here is what we saw upstairs:
Here’s a Chardonnay we took home and paired with a shrimp pesto dish.
And a nice, fruity Director’s Cut Zinfandel. Very drinkable.
Downstairs we found an entire museum and a restaurant. We will leave the restaurant to our foodie blog. Here is the Godfather Desk – they wouldn’t let me sit behind it.
The skulls are my favorite! If you are staying in the area you can pay to use this as a day resort with pool. There isn’t any place to stay though so you have to really watch the wine intake or bring a designated driver along.
As you can see, this is quite an experience. And the wine is good also.
Winery open 11:00 to 9:00 – Tasting and restaurant may be different hours
Rombauer Vineyards
We love Rombauer, and most people we know do as well, though there are some who disavow anything so mainstream. Rombauer reduces the iconic
“cougar juice” in their big, buttery Chardonnay which really shows off the malalactic fermentation prevalent in Napa Chardonnays.
The view from their deck is expansive and breathtaking.
Our first visit here we arrived a little before they opened and spent some time in their sculpture gardens. They have lots of beautiful flowers and many whimsical, unique sculptures.
Rombauer Zinfandel is a big, juicy fruit bomb with a lot of sugar. The Fiddlehead Zinfandel is one of our favorites.
For our second visit we arranged a cave tour. This was a fun and informative way to taste some wines and get a little education in the process. Here is the entrance to the Rombauer Wine Caves:
Inside the caves, the barrels are on individual, yet interconnected racks. Rack technology has progressed over the years and these accomplish several things. For one, they will help hold the barrels during an earthquake. The Napa earthquake a couple years ago toppled many of the large barrel stacks and that is a concern. Another rack feature is rollers. The barrels need to be rotated at regular intervals and rollers help with that.
These caves keep the wine at a controlled temperature while it is aging and doing its wine-y thing. We approve.
Tasting Room is open at 10:00. Reservations are highly recommended.
707.963.5170
St Anne’s Crossing
Our last stop in Sonoma Valley was St Anne’s Crossing. We are members of the Wilson Artisan Wine fFamily, have been making our way to all of the wineries, and this was the last one on the list for us. We have now earned our Wilson Wings.
This winery is known for their Zinfandels – and they have quite a variety of them. We also tasted a Chardonnay.
Tasting Room is open 11:00 to 5:00
707-598-5200
https://www.stannescrossing.com/
Chateau St. Jean
Our second stop in Sonoma Valley was Chateau St. Jean. This beautiful estate is filled with formal gardens which make a lovely setting for an outdoor tasting if the weather is right. They have an area with rows of the different varietals nicely labeled.
We sat outside and were treated to some excellent wines.
This building on the grounds caught our eye:
We will be back and will try to take better notes next time.
Tasting Room opens at 10:00
Kenwood Winery
Our first foray into the Sonoma Valley and our first stop was Kenwood. We had to wait around for them to open so got some pictures of grapes. It was early in the year so they are tiny.
Kenwood wines bring out the best of Sonoma Valley grapes from the Rose’ of Pinot to the series of wines from the Jack London Vineyard. The Zinfandel is rich and dark with a large fruit palate.
Each year they create an art label for a unique Cabernet Sauvignon and they have this showcase with many of them represented.
Their single vineyard series gives one an opportunity to experience the unique terrior of the vineyards.
We enjoyed our visit to Kenwood Winery and expect we’ll be back.
Tasting Room open 10:00 to 5:00
(707)282-4228
Hook and Ladder
We were first introduced to Hook and Ladder several years ago during a visit to Guerneville. This Sonoma County, Russian River Valley winery is a spin-off of the DeLoach family and carries on that reputation for excellence.
Both of our visits here have found excellent Zinfandels. We felt their winemaking had matured even more in the intervening years. Notable finds include Station Ten Red Blend. Station Ten is the firehouse in San Francisco from which Cecil De Loach retired, and the winery has the firehouse theme.
This wine is a blend of their oldest Zinfandel grapes with a small amount of old vine Carignane and Alicante Bouschet from the same vineyard, combined with Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon from their Los Amigos vineyard, to enhance the berry and spice profile of the blend.
Another favorite was the Gambogi Ranch Zinfandel.
A beautiful dark colored wine with full, rich fruit flavors; berries, cherry, and a little raspberry on the finish.
Another blend we enjoyed was The Tillerman. In fire-fighting parlance, a “tillerman” steers the back of a hook & ladder truck.
This deep colored wine is a blend of grapes from their Los Amigos vineyard. The 2013 vintage yielded delightfully ripe, richly flavored Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Sangiovese. They added Merlot to the blend to add opulence. Berries, black cherry and spices in this one.
The Tasting Room is open 10:00 to 4:30
707.526.2255
http://www.hookandladderwinery.com/
Iron Horse
Our search for Sparkling Wines brought us to Iron Horse. Off the road a ways on a gravel drive, this is a popular winery with several tasting stations. Kelly had the sparkling wine flight while I had the still wines.
All the wines we had here were good but the sparkling wines are their forte. They were all very light with a flavor range from somewhat sweet to quite dry. The Summer’s Cuvee, only available at the tasting room, has just the right balance of sweet and acid. The tasting facility sits on a hilltop with great views of grapes everywhere.
This was a good stop and we’ll probably be back. Suggest you make reservations but they will accommodate regardless.
Once home we had the Iron Horse Brut on a sunny weekend. Full flavored and very dry as the name would imply. Quite delicious.
Breathless Sparkling Wines
Miss Kelly likes her sparkling wine on occasion so we set out to find some sparkling winemakers in Sonoma County. We found Breathless in a little industrial park in Healdsburg, just a couple blocks from Willi’s Raw Oyster Bar, our go-to lunch stop in this quaint city.
They had a nice outdoor area that has an interesting feel since the building has a shipping container style for tasting and as it was a beautiful day that’s what we did.
These were really good wines! This was just what we were looking for-a nice boutique shop with great wines.
We took several bottles home and this one already met it’s end. Miss Kelly enjoyed this over the weekend with the perfect stopper that let it keep the bubbles.
Edit: Had to head south again and decided one more wine club membership couldn’t hurt so we signed up! You get to pick your delivery months which is unusual. This should keep the bubbly section of the wine cellar complete.
When we stopped in the second time it was 113 degrees in Healdsburg! We availed ourselves of their indoor tasting experience. We also took some notes on the wines.
Quirky and elegant is the description for this place. We especially loved the Peacock table.
Here was the menu. Suffice it to say that all these wines are delicate and subtle.
Blanc de Blanc – Peaches, peaches, peaches.
Brut – Delicate for a Brut with dry characteristics but not staunchy or severe.
Blanc de Noir – Peaches and bubbles. What more could you ask for?
Brut Rose – Strawberries in nose and mouth.
Moscato – Pineapple upside down baked good. Snickerdoodle. Apricot tart.
We highly recommend this winery!
499 Moore Lane, Healdsburg, Ca 95448
General inquiries and wine orders:
Tasting Room: (707) 395-7300
Chalk Hill Estate
Our second stop on the Chalk Hill adventure ended up being Chalk Hill Estate. They had a tasting option that was all wines only available at the winery. In researching the area we read a lot of negative reviews about the experience here but we’re happy to say we had a good experience. Didn’t get many pictures and didn’t take any wine home.
We will definitely pass this way again so we can take some of this wine home.
Aaaaaand we did! We went back to Chalk Hill in September. It was very early in the month and driving in we saw that a lot of their grapes had already been harvested. Must be something about this micro climate because we hadn’t seen quite that level of harvest anywhere else on this trip.
We tasted a rose that was juicy, light, a very pretty wine.
That was followed with a 2014 Viognier. Typical of Viognier, this was light with caramel and tropical fruit in the nose.
We tasted a 2014 Chardonnay Musque Oaky nose, BIG nose! Caramel finish. Light easy fruit, butter.
The prize here for me was the 2014 Syrah. We don’t often drink Syrah and it has to have something that grabs our attention. This one definitely did! Big fruit and a szechuan pepper finish, I wanted to save this one for a Prime Rib pairing. We had some friends over and voila! It was delicious.
It went downhill from there for a while. We tasted a Malbec that had the characteristics of unripe persimmon. I wrote down big fruit but undrinkable.
That was followed by a 2013 Claras. this one had big fruit on the tongue. The nose was reminiscent of the bowl of plastic fruit on grandma’s table.
Then the Zin. Being partial to Zin we enjoyed this one. I got leather and sweat socks on the nose with a nice big, juicy fruit in the mouth.
We have had two good experiences here so if you read the bad reviews on Yelp, just ignore them and give it a try.
Tasting Room Hours: 10 am – 5pm daily
707-657-4837
Roth Estate Wines
Our final stop on Chalk Hill Road for this trip was at Roth Estate. I was looking forward to their Cabernet but they only had one on the tasting menu. nevertheless, their wines were delicious. We had a lovely outdoor tasting on a rather warm day.
This beautiful tasting room would be a great experience with friends.
We started with a Sauvignon Blanc that was refreshing while we got settled outside. I noticed melon, pineapple, tropical fruit with a soft mouth feel. We had this again and experienced an evergreen forest. The Pint Gris had a lot of melon and minerals.
The Chardonnay was fruit forward and the Pinot was on the lighter side.
We finished off with an excellent Cabernet. We would have taken some wine with us but we were on our way to Hawaii and would have had to leave it in a hot car for 10 days.
So….. since we couldn’t buy wine on that trip we went back to Chalk Hill in September and did some more tasting. This time Charity helped us to a 2014 Carneros Chardonnay. Caramel in the nose, nice buttery fruit.
Among the highlights was this 2014 Trenton Road Pinot Noir. This wine is big, fruity with a spicy finish.
We brought this Chardonnay home and enjoyed it on a sunny day in Tinytown. It is a light, easy drinking wine with lemon and tropical fruit.
Open daily from 10 to 5
(707) 836.7030
Stuhlmuller Vineyards
We made a foray over to the Chalk Hill area. Our first stop was Stuhlmuller Vineyards at the end of Soda Rock Road. We had a great time with Mathew (with one ‘T’) and tasted some really nice wines. He strayed a bit from the menu, which is always nice.
We started with three Chardonnays, all of which had remarkably different characteristics. They were all quite good and I got a picture of this one:
And then it was on to the Zinfandel. We tasted several – again with completely different characteristics.
Then it was on to the Cabernet. Chalk Hill is known for their Cabernet and I was really looking forward to checking out that aspect of the appellation. This was a very drinkable wine and enjoyable.
This sign was quite informative:
We found the Stuhlmuller tasting experience to be wonderful and would recommend it.
Back at home we had this 2014 Estate Zinfandel. Maybe it was our palate that day but this was not as good as we had remembered. One of those wines where the finish leaves you thirsty and not very satisfied. We have some interesting tasting notes from this one. Lots of alcohol in the nose but only 14.2%. Cherry candy with naugahyde after tones – kind of like a Denny’s without the pancakes.
Now open 7 days a week, 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Reservations requested for groups of six or more
For reservations, please call: 707.431.7745