Sonoma Plaza Tasting Rooms- Part 1
Sonoma, CA
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| Roche with Walt and Hawkes just at the corner of 1st and Spain |
I had a mid-day activity to take care of on a Wednesday
in Sonoma so I made the 45 minute drive to downtown Sonoma. My activity really only took a few minutes
which meant I had time to make a stop at a tasting room or two in the Sonoma
Plaza area. The Sonoma Plaza area has
always had great bones. There really is
nothing in Napa County that compares and in Sonoma County only Healdsburg has a
similar town charm. The Sonoma Plaza is
the largest plaza in all of California and over the years we have been to many
events that have taken place there. It
used to be that the main attractions around the plaza were the Sonoma Cheese
facility and the Sonoma Bakery and a few restaurants and a good cooking
accessory store. Today the plaza area is
booming. There are many destination type
restaurants and there are nearly 20 winery tasting rooms located around the
plaza.
I really did not know where to start. I did not take the time to do a bunch of research as tasting wine was not really my reason for going to Sonoma. I looked on-line and found a site called somethingaboutsonomaplaza.com and I recognized the name Roche. Roche used to have a tasting room, I believe at the winery itself in the heart of the Carneros area, so I made this my first stop. Roche
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| Roche's front patio |
is located right next door to the Girl and the Fig, one
of those destination type restaurants.
They have what may be the best tasting facility in the area. The main tasting room is in an old craftmans
style house and they also have tasting bars on each side in the yard area as
well as a small ‘members only’ building towards the back. You can purchase a tasting flight (five
tastes) or wines by the glass and on weekends some small food plates are available
for purchase. There is even a fire pit
in the front which might make your early morning or late afternoon outdoor
tastings a little toastier. They make 8
white wines and 8 red wines and a couple of specialty wines. I opted for the $5 red flight as only chardonnay
was available in the whites that day. It
was Wednesday morning at 11AM and there were six other people in the tasting
room already. I chatted with a couple from
New York that loved the experience so much (after spending a day in Napa) that
this was the only wine club they were joining.
I had fun with them because they were buying prosciutto at 11AM for an
early lunch (from a well stocked case of snacks and cheeses) proclaiming they
were true New Yorkers. Most of the
grapes for Roche wines come from their property on Highway 121 just south of
town although they did have an Amador County zinfandel which I tasted. I think I liked the barrel sample of syrah
the best which was available as a future at a 50% discount from the projected
release price of somewhere around $45.00.
The hospitality was great, although the host pushed the wine club to me
about 4 times and the place had a nice relaxed feel and I bet on a weekend this
place could be party central.
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| The Walt tasting room |
I told myself I could go to one more tasting room so I headed
out and within 30 steps saw the Walt Wines tasting room. We are familiar with
Walt Wines because they are the sister winery of Hall Wines in Napa. The Hall’s bought what was originally Roesller
Winery and renamed it to Walt in the last year or two. While Hall focuses on sauv blanc, cab, and merlot,
Walt is pretty much all pinot noir with a little chardonnay thrown in. Walt winery is in another old house which has
a great event worthy back yard. Ezekiel
(Zeke) was the host and gladly accepted my Hall membership to comp my tasting
which normally run $10 and $20. Here I
met a couple of gals from North and South Carolina riding rented scooters who
had bussed over from downtown Napa for a day in Sonoma. My first taste of the ‘La Brisa’ pinot noir
was terrific. It was pure Sonoma County
(mostly Russian River) pinot. The single
taste alone was worth the price of admission.
Walt makes pinots from vineyards throughout northern California including
the Anderson Valley, Sonoma Coast, Santa Rita Hills and Santa Lucia Highlands. In the past they also had an Oregon
pinot. Zeke had six different pinots
open for tasting but since it was mid day on a Wednesday I limited myself to
just four. Everyone was excellent.
Looking out from the window of Walt I spotted the Hawkes
Winery tasting room. I was familiar with
the name as they have a tasting room in the Alexander Valley. On one of our last trips up that way the host
at Medlock-Ames Winery had recommended it and said they made some great
cabernet. Zeke from Walt agreed so I
strolled across the street. The tasting
room borders the back side of the Girl and the Fig so in total I have gone no
more than 150 feet from where I started at Roche. The tasting room hostess had gone to lunch
and would be back in 10 according to the note on the door so I waited out front
in chairs and tables set up for outdoor tasting. The tasting room is in another old house. The hostess, Yanni, arrived and she told me about
the history of Hawkes. They have been
mostly grape growers and have been making wine for the past 10+ years and
opened their Alexander Valley tasting room in 2007. They focus on mostly cabernet but also make
chardonnay and merlot. The tasting fee
is $10 and included four tastes. I
tasted the chard which was my style. It
is completely dry, does not go through any malolactic fermentation and sees no
new oak. At $20 it gets a big ‘thumbs up’. Next up were the 2009 Alexander Valley merlot
and then the cab. Both were really
good. The cabernet is priced at $50
which is pretty close to Napa pricing but probably pretty fairly priced. The final pour was a single vineyard 2010
cabernet, the Red Winery Cabernet. This
was premium priced but I honestly preferred the blended vineyard cabernet. The tasting room at Hawkes, as with Walt was
void of knick knacks for sale.
I would certainly go back to all three of these
wineries. I think the spot that Roche
has is really great and I think out of towners might like this spot a lot. I think if I was staying in Sonoma I would
stop towards the end of the day and have a glass of wine and sit outside. For really good wine I would probably go to
either Walt or Hawkes depending on if you were a pinot drinker or a cab/merlot
drinker. Both are no frills kinds of
places but their presentation was very professional and you got the feelling
they really know what they are doing making wine. There will definitely be a Part 2 and Part 3
of the Sonoma Plaza Tasting Room reviews.
What I liked- Midweek wine tasting is great. Sonoma is really a great destination these
days.
What I bought- Nothing but anything from either Walt or
Hawkes is good.
Vitals-
Roche Winery
122 West Spain Street
Sonoma, CA 95476
(707) 935-7115
Walt
380 First Street West
Sonoma, CA 95476
(707) 933-4440
Hawkes Winery
381 First Street West
Sonoma, CA 95476
(707) 938-7620
