Cornerstone Sonoma
Meadowcroft and Keating Wines
We went to a (great) wedding at Cornerstone Sonoma this
summer and did briefly check out a couple of the businesses and gardens the
next day but we did not make it to the two tasting rooms on site so we decided
to make a quick trip there last weekend.
For starters Cornerstone is a totally cool place. It sits on nine acres and their description
on the website reads- An ever-changing series of walk-through gardens,
showcasing new and innovative designs from the world’s finest landscape
architects and designers. But also
located on the property is a collection of unique shops, galleries and two
tasting rooms. You can really spend quite
a bit of time exploring the art and gardens which include exhibits like the
Mediterranean Meadow, Earth Walk, Garden Play and the Flying Fence. A couple of the shops have amazingly cool
stuff. My favorite is called Artefact
Design and Salvage. This place has the
coolest design stuff from throughout the world.
This is a salvage yard extraordinaire.
Tesoro is a great flower store and Potter and Green had really unique
garden stuff. A store called Zipper has
unique art and unique books. So even if
you don’t drink wine you can come to Cornerstone. There is also a restaurant on the
property.
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| Unknown Art Exhibit |
But we came to check out the tasting rooms this
time. It was a classic cold and rainy
day. A perfect day for winetasting. The first tasting room as you enter the
property is Meadowcroft Wines so this was our first stop. Tom Meadowcroft began working in the wine
business in 1979 in Bordeaux. He spent
most of the last 30 years as a vineyard manager and has managed dozens of
properties throughout Napa and Sonoma.
Meadowcroft produces three lines of wines. The reserve wines use the Meadowcroft label,
a second label is the Foyt (as in AJ Foyt the racecar driver) label and the
lower end label is named Thomas
Henry. Both the Meadowcroft and Foyt
label source grapes from premium Napa and Sonoma vineyards.
Although it was rainy and cold we started with a
Sauvignon Blanc as it seems winter has made us forget about this varietal for a
while. The Sauv Blanc was from the
Thomas Henry line and at $18.00 was very good.
We tasted through a several reds including a Syrah, Cabernet, Merlot and
Zinfandel. We particularly liked the
Zinfandel produced from Knights valley grapes and both the Meadowcroft and Foyt
Cabernets from Mt. Veeder grapes. I
thought the Meadowcroft at $36.00 was a pretty good bargain. We left the tasting room with a split case of
Thomas Henry Sauvignon Bland and Syrah.
The case price was phenomenal and really at an everyday wine price.
Our second stop was the Keating tasting room a mere 40 steps
from stop one. Keating takes a slightly
different approach. They make only red
wine and not a lot of it. We tasted a
Merlot, two Zins and two Cabernets. The
Keating goal is to source from well known and respected vineyards and making an
average of 10 barrels of wine from it.
The vineyard designated wines run from the Dry Creek ‘Buchignani’,
Sonoma ‘Montecillo’ and Napa- Beckstoffer ‘Georges III’. We loved the Monticello Zinfandel as well as
both the Monticello and Georges Cabernets.
The Georges III Cabernet was priced at $95.00 which I am guessing is
pretty standard for a Cabernet from this world renowned vineyard.
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| The Flying Fence |
Both of the tasting rooms had $5.00 tasting fees which is
a pretty good deal these days to taste premium wine. While these spots are nice and cozy in the
winter they would be even nicer in the summer.
Keating has a roll-up door that would bring the whole outside into the
room and the grounds around each tasting room are nice. The whole area is great. Across from the entrance of Cornerstone is
the Gloria Ferrer Sparkling Wine facility and within two or three minutes other
tasting rooms (Jacuzzi, Cline, Anaba). Just
down the street is a great antique store, Sonoma Country European Antiques, and
on this day they happened to be pouring a couple of Keating Wines. A great bonus! While we had plans to make another stop we
decided we really got our wine fix for the day so headed home.
What we liked- A really cool spot. Even if you are not a fan of the art stuff
you are going to appreciate it. The
businesses are good and the whole place has a nice vibe.
What we bought- That bargain split case (Syrah, Sauv
Blanc) from Meadowcroft and a Buchignani Zinfandel (for a gift) from Keating.
Vitals:
Cornerstone Sonoma
23667 Highway 121
Sonoma, CA 95476
Meadowcroft Wines
(707) 934-4090
Keating Wines
(707) 939-6510
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