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Northern California
Our Story and Mission- Ever since we were old enough to drink wine, we have been frequenting winery tasting rooms throughout California. Our trips in the late 70’s involved stops at 6-8 wineries (or maybe more) in a day. My first date with my wife was a day of wine tasting in Sonoma 31 years ago. So we are experienced with this stuff. I think there are several ingredients to a satisfying Tasting Room experience. The wine has to be good for starters and generally the known wineries all put out pretty decent wine. But there are other key factors in making the experience memorable. Sometimes a classy tasting room works for us, but sometimes standing around a barrel outside does the trick. At other times it is just good service that pleases us. Certainly one of the keys is the person serving the wine. So there are a whole bunch of things that make visiting a Tasting Room a positive experience. The point of this blog is to talk about and recommend Winery Tasting Rooms where we have had good experiences.The blog was conceived after spending a weekend with my sisters who normally do not frequent wineries and running into a couple of disappointing stops.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Where we tasted in 2015

2015 was a busy year and with my work schedule being a bit more intense I have not kept up with many winery reviews.  We did get out there a bit but certainly not at the pace we had taken on earlier with visits to wine country maybe every other week.  There are several factors probably.  Interests change.  We stopped going to the larger Tasting events such as ZAP and Family Wine Makers and Pinot Fest.  Not because we did not always have a good time but maybe because of the ‘done that’ factor.  We also belong to a bunch of wine clubs and it does make sense to frequent places where you receive discounts and usually complimentary tastings.  And there is a cost factor.  Tasting fees and wine prices have continued to increase.  Now when we go on a wine tasting outing we will generally only go to one new winery because with the combination of fees and purchases you can easily spend $100 and leave with just one bottle of wine. 



We did visit Napa several times during the year.  Made it to Sonoma, all parts.  Made it to the Anderson Valley and also visited the foothills, both El Dorado and Amador Counties.  We also visited San Luis Obispo County, both the Paso area and the Edna Valley area.  And we now always do a trip in the fall to the wineries around Chico and the foothill areas near Oroville. We also hit a couple of wineries in Calaveras County.  Our most out of the way winery visit was to a winery called Matchbook, operated by the former R.H Phillips/Toasted Head owners, in Zamora, off of Highway 505.
The view from Matchbook (Yolo County- Dunnigan  Hills)
As far as highlights for the year- well, there we no lowlights, all tasting experience mentioned here are good.  But let me go region by region and talk about some of our favorites moving from North to South.
In the Anderson Valley we tasted at a newer winery called Lula Cellars.  They focus mainly on Pinot Noir (also some Zin and Pinot Gris) and we tasted quite a variety.  It wowed us enough that we are now wine club members.  The tasting was a basic stand-up affair in a pretty sparse tasting room but they were really good folks.  Also in the Anderson Valley we had what was probably one of the most enjoyable personalized tastings we have had in quite a while at Handley Cellars.  Goldeneye and Toulouse were also as good as always.
Sullivan Winery


In Sonoma we mistakenly visited the Estate winery at B-Wise Cellars.  We were actually supposed to go to the tasting room in downtown Kenwood but did not read the directions properly.  The Estate Winery, high above Highway 12 is terrific.  An appointment is necessary but it appears to be a great spot.  We did go to the tasting room in Kenwood and their wines were very good.  We also had a fun afternoon, at a Caddyshack themed event at La Rochelle Winery, also in Kenwood.
While in the Napa area we visited Twenty Row Winery a couple of blocks from downtown on Vallejo Street.  They make some of the best value wines in Napa and the room is a bit funky yet fun.  A couple of our premier tastes of the past year were a couple of spots up Highway 29.  Both Sullivan and Foley Johnson were excellent experiences.  At Sullivan we had our own host who sat with us in a beautiful courtyard type setting.  They specialize in Cabernet but also make Sauv Blanc, Chardonnay and Merlot.  All the wine was excellent.  Foley Johnson has access to grapes from throughout the northern California wine country with several other brands in the Foley Johnson portfolio with Kuleto and Chalk Hill being a couple of them.  The wines were very good.  Although these both have steepish tasting fees but we would recommend these to anyone wanting a premium experience. 
We always visit one our favorite wineries in Camino, Bumgarner, but on this trip we visited two wineries down in the Fairplay/Summerset area that were top notch.  Skinner winery in Somerset specialized in Rhone style wines and sits on top of a hill with a great view of the hills looking up towards the Sierra.  This is a very nice winery with all solid wines.  The other winery we liked in this area was called MV.  MV is a small production facility with a small tasting room.  We were hosted /served by John Miller the owner who took time to thoroughly detail every wine.  The top priced wine was $35 and they were all well made wines.


Further south in Calaveras County we visited Four Winds Winery with a Vallecitos address.  These wines are grown in Calaveras County and made in a facility in Napa and are all priced at around $25.00.  We purchased a case of their Merlot for my daughter’s wedding.  Another winery in the area that was a total surprise is called Prospect 772. They have an Angels Camp address and also specialize in Rhone varietals.  Their blends, the Brawler, the Brat and the Truant were all good and priced around $35.00.  This is a spot we definitely want to go back to soon.

We made a couple of trips to San Luis Obispo County this year (location of the wedding) and had a few good stops in the Paso Robles area.  One stop was Villa San-Julliet (VSJ) way up north with a San Miguel address.  This is a beautiful (almost over the top) facility with pretty good wines.  It really is a pretty ride out here and the facility on the east side of 101 and the tasting area is great.  From the warm side of Paso we went to the cooler west side to Jack Creek Vineyard a smaller winery that makes Pinot, Syrah and Grenache.  A great contrast and equally enjoyable experience to VSJ.  We also stopped at Sextant up here who we have been fans of for many years.  We later visited Sextant in the Edna Valley also this summer as well as Edna Valley Vineyards, Tolosa, Saucelito Vineyards and Talley who we are all fans of.
I think the only thing I have missed is our annual Sierra Oro Farm Trail, Butte County event.  While Butte County may not be a hot bed for great wines there are some enjoyable tastes out there.  It is a weekend where various farm related businesses are open.  This year we went to a Lavender farm, a Mandarin ranch as well as a few wineries.  We bought a case of futures from a winery called Hickman Family Vineyards.  Not even sure what it was.  Hopefully they contact us sometime.  One of the events on the tour that we visited a couple of years ago was the Worm Farm.  It was really pretty fascinating. 
So we did ok in the past year plus but just did not write a lot down.  I hope to do better 2016.

 




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