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pbm -> SONOMA REPORT (in appreciation for all the suggestions and guidance) (8/3/2008 7:01:34 PM)
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SONOMA REPORT
I'm only about halfway through with this but I figured I'd post what I have as I was starting to feel guilty given that I had promised a follow-up in appreciation for all the advice. If there's enough interest in the remainder I'll be happy to post it.
I’ve organized this by sections so you can skip to whatever (if anything) in which you’re interested:
• Background/Caveats
• Accommodations/Location
• Tastings/Wineries (incomplete)
• Standout Wines (incomplete)
• Standout Tasting Experiences (incomplete)
• Overall Impressions of Sonoma(not started)
• Restaurants (not started)
Background/Caveats
First, some background to keep things in perspective. I certainly don’t consider myself well-schooled in wine. Quite the opposite in fact as the more time I spend educating (enjoying) myself the more I realize how much I don’t know. I’m fairly certain my palate and ability to explain what I’m tasting is limited at best – but damn it I’m going to practice until I get better! Therefore, please forgive the rather pedestrian tasting commentary. Also, I’ve provided some brief background on the purpose of the trip and non-wine related aspects so what’s here could provide insights for those thinking of traveling to Sonoma. Last, it was our first time there so some of this will probably be more of interest to those in similar circumstances.
The objective of the trip was to celebrate our anniversary and that means having to balance the interests of my wife with my interest in getting to as many tastings as I could. Hence, our muutally agreed upon goals:
• 20 tastings over six full days in celebration of our 20 years;
• some downtime for her to enjoy the spa (but I could still go taste);
• a relaxed schedule – in other words no back-to-back-to-back appointments, etc;
• dinners at the best restaurants we could find with the exception of a couple of nights where we just took it easy;
• exercise to burn off the calories and toxins; and
• a few other things that I probably shouldn’t get into (sorry Serge.)
With that as the plan, we picked up the convertible Mustang at the San Francisco airport, set the dial to the all Bruce Springsteen station on Sirius satellite radio (from which it never strayed), and headed to McArthur Place Inn and Spa in Sonoma Valley.
Accommodations/Location
McArthur Place was absolutely perfect -- beautiful grounds, not pretentious in the least but top notch service and accommodations. For some reason we were upgraded to a deluxe suite so that didn’t hurt. It had a nice quiet pool and Jacuzzi area near the spa and you could order drinks and food there. The one aspect I would not recommend is the restaurant – Saddles is a completely average steakhouse that we ate at the last night there because we were leaving in the morning.
For us, the location was perfect as well. We could walk to Sonoma Plaza, bike to vineyards, and were a short drive south to Carneros and local Sonoma Valley wineries as well as the southern end of the Russian River Valley. We rented bikes from Sonoma Valley Bikes on Broadway and took some nice reasonably long (5-15 miles) rides over flat terrain and were able to do tastings along the way when we wanted. (Be careful of the hand drawn map they provide though. We were halfway to Napa one time before realizing our mistake which I completely refuse to believe was user error.)
This does lead to the first piece of advice. Sonoma County is huge. Definitely think through where you want to go and choose your accommodations accordingly. Though there’s not much traffic the two lane roads are easily slowed down with trucks and farm equipment and it can easily take you 90 minutes to drive from the bottom (Sonoma Valley) to the northern most wineries in Geyserville. The other wildcard is Highway 101 which if you hit at rush hour or if there’s construction will be slow going.
In brief, going north from Sonoma Valley you hit a number of appellations but from a locale standpoint you go through: Santa Rosa with Sebastopol to the west, Windsor, Healdsburg, and Geyserville. ANY of these areas have more than enough wineries for you to spend weeks exploring. For me, I love to drive, love Springsteen on the radio, and wanted to experience the whole area to at least some degree so I didn’t mind starting at one end each day. However, if that’s not the case for you or you don’t have as much time, Sonoma Valley might not be ideal. I can say that when we go back (and we will) we’ll probably stay up in Healdsberg as it appeared to be a very nice town, a bit more sophisticated in some ways (nice shopping for my wife as well as a fantastic Charlie Palmer restaurant for example), and closest to the most wineries.
Wineries/Tastings
This section provides general information on where and what we tasted. Given that you receive about a half-dozen wines at each vineyard, I’ve saved the more detailed notes for the section on specific standout wines.
You may recall our goal, for the most part, were those small wineries whose product we couldn’t get back east and was representative of the region to the greatest degree possible. We love meetings the owners and winemakers at these places as their passion and knowledge make the experience that much more enjoyable.
1. McKenzie-Mueller
Technically M-M falls outside of Sonoma but some of their vineyards straddle both Sonoma and Napa so that’s good enough for me. By any measure McKenzie-Muller is our favorite winery. Karen McKenzie and Bob Muller run a family operation. It’s his full-time job while she’s a teacher. They are a delightful couple who schedule tastings by appointment but will spend as much time with you as you want. They’ll take you down to the warehouse behind the house they live in (pictured on their label) and put out some glasses on a barrel and pour away.
They make an amazing variety of wine – virtually all from estate grapes – sauv blanc, chard, malbec, cab sav, pinot noir, cab franc, and have just introduced a meritage. For me, the stars are the Pinot Noir, Cab Franc, and Chard. They range from $30 - $50 a bottle and are the truest expressions of those grapes (if such a thing exists) that I’ve found. The pinot is definitely burgundian in character. It’s lighter, crisper, more complex than Russian River pinots. I highly recommend their wine club. Unfortunately, you won’t see much of their stuff outside of CA.
2. Ceja
One of the tricks we use is to ask the small, winery owners who else we should be visiting. Bob and Karen at M-M recommended Ceja. Right up the street from them it is the first Mexican-American owned winery and woman-owned at that. They have a more formal tasting room but it has a fun feel to it as it’s run by family members. More importantly, their Pinot is very good and reasonably priced. We also tasted a sav blanc, a Vin de Casa (38% syrah, 62% pinot), a merlot, and a cab sav. Frankly, all were good with the pinot and meritage being the most notable.
3. Mayo Family
I’ve heard nice things about the reserve tasting room which features a wine-food pairing but, frankly, found the atmosphere a bit disappointing – somewhat sterile. Much the same could be said for their wines. Perhaps if I had done the food pairing it would have been a better experience but since I was on my own I just tasted at the bar. I had a 2006 pinot, 2006 zin, 2005 merlot reserve ($50), 2005 cab franc, and 2005 cab sav. The latter was the best – smooth, not too much alcohol, touch of creamy vanilla, and oak though perhaps a bit young. My notes next to most of the others read “nothing special.”
4. St. Francis
This is an obvious exception to the small winery focus. Being that our son is a complete lover of animals and my wife is a Sunday school teacher we had to stop at a winery named for the patron saint of animals. Pretty much what you would expect. Beautifully ornate tasting room and completely forgettable wine – we tasted 2005 Old Vine Zin, 2004 syrah, 2005 Wild Oak Syrah, 2005 Mouvredre, and a 2002 Kings Ridge Reserve Cab. Nothing memorable.
5. Christopher Creek
This was ideal. A little but perfectly serviceable and friendly tasting room somewhat off the beaten track with a range of wines to rival that of a major producer – virtually everyone of which was reasonably priced and either good or very good. We tasted a 2006 Viognier, 2006 chard, 2005 zin (Dry Creek), 2004 zin (Russian River). 2005 syrah (Russian River), and the 2005 estate syrah (Russian River). All the reds were substantive wines but the latter was the star of the show though the 2005 non-estate syrah more than held its own – I actually detected the aroma of grilled meat – how perfect! Even better, the prices ranged from $26-$32.
6. Nalle
Definitely a trip highlight. We drive up and a man (who we soon learned was Doug Nalle) was outside watering the roof of his warehouse. He calls it an above ground cave because he has planted a six-foot deep garden on the sloping sides thereby keeping the interior at a constant temp in 60’s.
Doug was a very interesting guy. Somewhat of a curmudgeon in the sense that he has strongly held opinions that tend to look down upon the recent trends in wines and wine-growing but completely open and friendly. We spent about an hour and half just tasting and talking and actually walked through the vineyard a bit with him as he showed us some 100+ year old syrah vines. He told us about how the land was originally his in-laws and that they didn’t want anything to do with growning grapes. Eventually, he was able to convince them to let him take over the property but they didn’t want anything to do with the operation. He’s now turning things over to his son but clearly takes pride in being a contrarian. He’s a big fan of the burgundian style pinot, very critical of the “California style”, and is advocate of “dry farming”, free-standing vines – essentially old-school.
If you have a chance to visit with Doug he’s come to represent to me at least the essence of Sonoma. The farmer grape grower as opposed to the corporate.
It probably doesn’t hurt that he makes a damn good bottle of wine. We tasted the 2006 Russian River, Hopkins Ranch Chard, 2006 Pinot Noir Russian River, Hopkins Ranch, 2005 Cuisine Cinque, Dry Creek, and the 2006 Zin Dry Creek Old Vines. The pinot and zin were the stars.
7. Frick
In some ways this tasting was a bit disappointing but still well worth the effort even though it was some distance from a “main” road. It’s a delightful, small, rustic tasting room at the top of a mountain. Bill Frick pours his own tastings and also advertises himself as “owner/winemaker, tasting house staff, sales mngr, office mngr, and vineyard worker.” He’s as curmudgeonly as Doug Nalle but with somewhat less charm. He prides himself on producing rare varietals, unusual blends, and small production runs.
I’d compare his wines to Christopher Creek in that they are good values and very drinkable though nothing that would rate super high – the numbers 87-88 come to mind. All are between $20-$25. We tasted a 2006 Grenache blanc, 2006 Cinsaut rose, 2005 Cinsaut, 2005 Carignane, 2004 Merlot, 2003 blend (syrah/merlot), and 2003 and 2000 syrahs. I’d buy any of these for the price if they were available down the street but the best of the tasting were the Carignane, Cinsaut, and Syrah. All were substantive but restrainted somewhat fruity but true fruit – not of the “bomb” variety.
I wouldn’t hesitate to make the trip if you’re in the area because of the uniqueness of the wines and the value.
8. Papapietro-Perry
The tasting “room” is part of collection of winery tasting rooms outside of Healdsburg in a converted warehouse area. Well-worth the effort. This is also a good example of why I wanted to educate myself about Sonoma. Clearly a well known producer I just never had encountered their wines.
The wines simply blew me away. Again, there were the earthy fruits and nice finish of the burgundian style pinots. We had the 2006 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 2006 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley, Charles Vineyard, 2006 777 Clones Russian River Valley. The first are $43 and $49 respectively while the latter weighed in at a hefty $72. Again, earthy fruit, simple, restrained, nice finishing. The 777 was the most complex, elegant wine tasted on the trip up to that point. I just hate the price.
9. Joseph Swan
This was another experience, like M-M and Nalle, that represents what we love to find. We thought we had a 3pm appointment. A late start forced us to call and leave a message that we’d be there around 3:15. We get to a split in the road where there’s a sign for Joseph Swan but the only thing there is a house and a small dirt road going past the house where you could do a u-turn. As I pull through I see someone and ask if they know where the winery might be. A fairly brusque older gentleman asks me why. I explain about the appointment. A woman with him heads over and explains that they’ve just closed the tasting room for the day and she “put all the wines in the house” but if we want to come up to the porch we can do the tasting there. As it turns out, the woman was Lynn Berglund – wife of Rod Berglund who is the owner and winemaker who took over from Jospeh Swan in 1987. Swan was a pioneer in Sonoma. You can learn more about him from their website: http://www.swanwinery.com/history.html.
We go up to the porch and Lynn comes out of the house with a case of opened bottles. She and my wife sit on two rocking chairs while I perch on a railing while their dog Pappy sleeps at my feet. She’s as nice as anyone you’ve ever talked to. Told us about how her mother was We then go through about twelve wines. Given the hospitality and conversation I didn’t think it polite to whip out my notebook and start jotting down the wines, etc. After going through the tasting she offered to walk us down to the warehouse and tasting room. To be honest, we didn’t need to go but she offered more than once and after her kindness we felt it rude not to take her up on it.
Back in the car I simply wrote “Porch tasting! Varied in desirability but the pinot definitely had character.” They also make zin and syrah. I can say that we joined four wine clubs during the trip (maybe five, I’ll find out over the next twelve months) and this was one of them so that gives you some indication of the quality of much of what we had. The QPR made it even more desirable with most wines falling between $20 and $35. After we joined the club Lynn brought out a bottle of their estate pinot noir from a few years back and gave it to us as a gift. I honestly got the impression that she would have invited us to stay for dinner if her 80 year old mother hadn’t been scheduled to arrive to go swimming with her later in the afternoon.
In thinking about the visit afterwards, I realized that the variability in what we tasted had to do with the experimentation that Rod enjoys. Lynn talked a lot about how he’s always ripping vines out, grafting new vines, using new production techniques, etc. This lends itself to a real hit or miss outcome with their wines. This was confirmed by a few other folks I spoke with on the trip. Perhaps not the best situation for a wine club but it should be interesting.
The other dominate impression this visit made on me was that when you strip away all the trappings of the wine industry, wine aficionados, and general BS, this is still farming. And a small family farm is tough work. What Lynn was most excited about was the new driveway they were having put in behind their modest house and some new plumbing. I know they’re sitting on millions of dollars worth of vineyards but it was an interesting contrast to the hedonistic and corporate world of wine we’re so often exposed to.
10. Merry Edwards
This tasting was hands down the most education, professional, and delightful relative to the wines of the trip. It was the first of four tastings I did on my own that day as my wife did whatever wives do in spas. As bad as I feel for saying it, I have to admit, from a pure wine perspective it was the best day of the trip.
(more to come on Merry Edwards)
11. Lynmar
12. Hartford Family
13. Gary Farrell
14. Siduri/Novey
15. Hanna
16. Chatuea St. Jean
17. Sebastiani
18. Bartholomew
19. Gundul Bunsch
20. Benchmark
Standout Wines
I’m not at a point where I’m comfortable providing numeric ratings. Simply put, the wines below are the most enjoyable ones we drank; wines we’d share with our best friends, make an occasion more special just by opening, and represent a good value from our perspective. We purchased most of them. Where I jotted down prices or had some additional data handy it’s included.
1. McKenzie-Mueller 2005 Pinot Noir – light cherry, crisp, perfect for summer, opens nicely after 30-45 minutes, and should cellar for 3-6 years like most of their pinots; had it again after returning and it held up nicely with some spicy sushi
2. Ceja 2005 Pinot Noir, $40 – spicy but smooth, almost velvety, not as earthy as M-M; said my wife “the kind of wine I like
3. Ceja 2005 Vin de Casa, $20 – again an overall sense of smoothness, some vanilla, very drinkable now and a good value
4. Nalle, 2006 Russian River, Hopkins Ranch, $42 – my notes only say “the real thing”
5. Nalle 2006 Zinfandel, Dry Creek, Old Vines, $32 – this is where I began to appreciate what I came to understand as the “traditional” or “terroir” driven Zin of Sonoma. Lighter, crisper, with just a hint of white pepper, and lower alcohol. Nalle prides himself on fighting the fruit-bomb trend. This is 85% zin, 8% petite sirah, 4% carignane, 2% mourvedre, and 1% syrah and alicante bouchet. Aged in French Oak for eleven months. 995 cases.
6. Papapietro-Perry 2006 777 Clones Russian River Valley, $72 – complex, elegant mouthful of a variety of fruit – some black cherry, spice, and a whole bunch of stuff that just has a little party in your mouth but not a loud, obnoxious party, more of a gathering of friends who though different have known each other a long time and get a long real well.
Standout Tasting Experiences
Overall Impressions of the Wines of Sonoma
Restaurants
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