California Wine (take 2)

 Mike and Joel couldn't resist the urge to again visit the California wine country (for obvious reasons). This was our second trip together to the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento and our excuse to do some tasting. We didn't stop at as many wineries as last time, but we did return to several favorites, and discovered some new ones in the Alexander Valley. We like to have a relaxed time talking about the wines and winery business. 

A few snaps from the trip are captured below, click the pictures to download the large image.  Several of the wineries have better pictures and more information posted on line. In case you missed the pictures from last time they are still posted at Mike & Joel's trip to the wine country 

Unified Wine and Grape Symposium

What fun! Hundreds of exhibitors, selling everything from grape harvesting machines to wine-making yeast. I love this show. Always something new and different. This time, more glass vendors were showing screw-top  bottles and caps. We haggled with several people about label machines, talked about which vines might grow best in our climate and tested electric pruning clippers. Hard to imagine a purchasing agent going to yet another trade show, but the variety is fascinating. My favorite toy was a copper-pot brandy still (at about 10,000 Euro) and was only large enough to make about 1 bottle of brandy at a time. I really want one of these for Christmas (hint).

Food

Bear Republic Brewing Co, Healdsburg.
Crowded, noisy, fun. Lots of good brews (try the Hop Rod Rye), creative burgers and excellent pasta. This brewery is on our must-do list each time we go! It's the best reason to stay in Healdsburg. Healdsburg also has many other good looking restaurants, but somehow we just haven't had the time to check them out. 

http://www.bearrepublic.com/ 

Tasting:

Yes we tasted some wines (who would have guessed). We only stopped at a few wineries this time, opting to spend more time at each. Prices were all over the map, but by sticking to smaller ones, we did find some very good values. A lot of the wineries were selling wines in the tasting room that are only available there.  We only bought what we could carry and stopped when the credit card melted. I've include a few notes about what we tasted below. Darn the bad luck! Looks like you may have to make the pilgrimage to get a taste.

Cline Vineyards

One of the select wineries we had on our list. Has always been one of my favorite old-vine zinfandels and seemed like a good place to start.  At the bottom of the Sonoma Valley, somehow I had always missed this beautiful little winery. Check out the '02 Big Break Zinfandel and the '03 Ancient Vines Zinfandel.

http://www.clinecellars.com/ 

Ravenswood

Another of my favorites for zinfandel. Ravenswood is also in the Sonoma Valley hidden behind the town. They were the busiest of the tasting rooms that we stopped in. In addition to the great  zinfandels found in markets and restaurants, Ravenswood also was tasting a lot of vineyard select zins and a Petite Syrah made from Teldeschi vineyard grapes (remember the Teldeschi stories from last time).

"No Wimpy Wines"  is the Ravenswood motto displayed in the tasting room and I agree. Just the way I like them.

http://www.ravenswood-wine.com/rwd/index.jsp 

Wine Clubs?

So what's with this wine club thing? Seems like everyone had a club. Someone selects a few bottles of wine that you probably can't yet buy retail then ships them to you AND offers a discount on purchases. What could be wrong with that model? Yep, I agree, so I joined one, or two and saved some money on purchases. O.K., so I joined more than that. The good news is that I might take some interesting wine to the next dinner party. The bad news is that I'll have drink a lot if wine to keep up. Drat, I hate it when that happens!  

Domaine Chandon

This was 1st on our 'must hit' list. Wonderful dry champagne, an amazing tasting room and brandy. Bill the tasting room manager was using Blues music to help motivate the other three staff members to fill the oil lamps. Kind of a special ceremony. The Tasting room and retail complex includes a huge tasting room, many large decks, nice (but expensive) restaurant and sells cigars. Blues went well with the Reserve Brut (aged 3-5 years).  

www.chandon.com .

Bill said they make about 300,000 cases of champagne a year and have about 140 employees. We could hear the noise but missed the tour. I think I want the golf cart tour.

Is 10:00 in the morning too early to taste Champagnes? Nah!

They aren't making any more Brandy. Don't know why; it's GREAT. Complex, woody and smooth. Fortunately they still had a few bottles left 

V. Sattui Winery

Yep, we again stopped for Lunch Sattui. The have some wonderful vine covered buildings and large tasting room. It's amazing how many different wines they make, and apparently sell. I couldn't resist the Madeira. This is also where we first tried and got hooked on ossau irraty cheese.  www.vsattui.com .

Yes. Winemakers (and their friends) drink wine with lunch. mmmmm Teleme Cheese, Prosciutto Crudo
ham and a crisp Sattui sauvignon blanc. I should mention that we picked up the Teleme cheese and ham at the Sonoma Cheese factory (www.sonomacheese.com ).  I first learned about Teleme cheese from a college professor, very light, mild, room- temperature kind of cheese. Darn near only made at one place anymore and well worth finding.  

FieldStone Winery

From Napa Valley we drove north into the Alexander Valley. Neither one  of us had been there before and we were looking forward to trying some new wineries. Fieldstone was a lucky stop. Check out the crisp Viognier and tasty Petite Syrah.

http://www.fieldstonewinery.com/ 

White Oak

What a beautiful building and grounds. Very Tuscan in color and style. Look for the many animal sculptures around the grounds. I liked the smooth merlot and syrah. The zin was good as well, but I was saving myself for Sausal.   If you visit, get a tour of the large-format bottle cellar. What a temptation! Fortunately, we didn't have enough room left in the car. I would definitely visit again and spend more time. 

http://www.whiteoakwinery.com/ 

Sausal

We had seen the Sausal label in a painting and heard that they produced a good zinfandel so we just had to stop. The ancient zinfandel vines, so neatly head-pruned, make an awesome sight. Many of these vines are over 100 years old. It's a beautiful place to visit. Of course we tasted and purchased a bottle or two of zin. I think I like the Ravenswood or Cline better. The Sausal was a little fruity for me. Although it was nearly the last stop of the day, so I would try it again. 

http://www.sausalwinery.com/ 

Simi

I haven't stopped at Simi Winery in over 25 years. Still in the same great location north of Healdsburg, nestled among some giant redwood trees.  Simi used to make some of my favorite reds, but not any more. The Sauvignon Blanc was fruity and the cab was good, but not high on my list. I like most of my red wines in the old-world style, heavy, tannic and dry, preferably with some body. The musty aroma takes me back to days in the oak forests and reminds me that barrels aren't just for catching rain water. In the end, Ravenswood motto says it all for me and reds.

http://www.simiwinery.com/ 

Vineyards

One of the fun facts you learn when traveling with a winemaker is the difference in pruning and trellising techniques. In these pictures you can see several different styles. Could be the grape variety, the water, how they plan to harvest, the amount of sun and even the orientation of the rows. A good topic of conversation. Each winery owner has a reason for why they did it that way.

This field was huge. Just getting to the other end of this row would be a safari. Amazingly, this wasn't the largest field we passed, just one of the interesting  ones.

Early Spring is my favorite time of year in Northern California. Cool, some rain (a lot of rain this year), everything is lush green and very few tourists. Around March the wildflowers will start blooming and it will be even more beautiful. Plan lots of extra time to stop and see the flowers!

Probably vineyard owner. I wonder if he rents the place out to tourists?.  

Notice the estate on top of the hill (click for an enlarged view). If you know the person who owns this estate, I'd love an invite. What a great location and view. 

After a long day we kind of ran out of steam. Can you tell? We again stayed near Healdsburg on Highway 101. We like staying in that area instead of the Napa valley. Prices are lower and with just a few minutes travel you can be in any of the many wine regions. Since most don't open before 10, it's an easy schedule. This time we stayed at a condo in Windsor just south of Healdsburg. Nice place!