Our first stop was out to the west of Occidental on Taylor Lane, visiting Kurt Beitler of Boheme wines. Kurt farms several vineyards in the area, including the famed cool climate Que Syrah. He is in some pretty high end company, with vineyards like Summa, Thieriot, and others in the area. No winery or tasting room here, we tasted bottles on Kurt's deck, overlooking the dairy farmlands of western Sonoma County, with a crystal clear view to the Pacific, and even the Farallon Islands in the far distance. The wines were fabulous, with great concentration, restraint and elegance. A producer I highly recommend for those looking for this style. In 2007 Kurt has decided to create another label, called Bodega Rancho (after the original Spanish land grant of 1844), under which his Syrah will be bottled, and I assume other non Pinot/Chardonnay wines. www.bohemewine.com

Tom Dehlinger chose this weekend to open the winery to mailing list customers, and pour a sampling of 6 Syrahs from recent vintages. I have been lucky enough to be buying and drinking Dehlinger wines since the 97 vintage, and have learned that Tom's syrahs are classic wines that develop beautifully if given the chance. I can't think of a wine that hasn't been better with at least 10 years of age, and most will easily go 15-20 with ease. This collection did much to reinforce that experience even more. A wonderful vertical of wines.

John Raytek, who along with his wife Phoebe Bass owns and produces Ceritas wines, gave us the nice opportunity to sample his two 2008 wines. Though recently bottled, they showed beautifully. Production is down quite a bit in 2008, but 2009 was good to Ceritas, and there should be a bit more to go around. John's "day job" is assistant winemaker at Copain, another of my favorite producers, so there is no surprise that John's own Ceritas wines follow a similar style. John has worked hard to find vineyards that produce wines of intensity, depth, elegance and finesse.

We've been to Holdredge a couple of times, but it is always so packed on barrel tasting weekend that it's hard to spend any time with John. This year we headed over there first thing Sunday morning, so the crowds were still asleep, and we were able to take time to sample what turned out to be some fabulous wines John has produced in 2009. A highly recommended stop, just on the edge of the town of Healdsburg. Some of the 09s were being offered at fantastic futures prices, not sure if this is still available, but I'd give them a call and find out. Thanks again to John for a truly entertaining visit, and some great wines.

Had to make the traditional annual stop at Rochioli. Though they don't participate in the Barrel Tasting festivities, they always have the next vintage of Estate wines on the bar. Maybe it was the incredible quality of all the wines that came before, but this year's Rochioli wines seemed just a little more tame and ordinary. Very good, but not attention grabbing.