Sequoia Grove Winery

In the back of our car we carry a box which is full of winery stuff.  Amongst the maps and brochures we have a collection of Two for One Winery coupons.  Some of them may be five years old or older but they all seem to work no matter what their vintage is.  Last Saturday we were driving up Highway 29 from Napa on our way to find an establishment to watch the Kentucky Derby.  We are not big horse racing fans but we have always looked for a spot to watch the Derby dating back to a couple of back to back years maybe fifteen years ago when we watched it at the Naughty Dog Saloon in Tahoe City at the end of the ski season.  I had put the box in the back seat so Maureen could grab it and I asked her to start looking for some coupons.  Since we take this route a lot our prime Napa Valley coupons are kind of thin.  She found a coupon for Sequoia Grove and we thought, why not?  

Sequoia Grove is located in Rutherford and is the winey just past Cakebread while driving north on 29.  It is actually set amongst a small grove of towering sequoia trees.  The winery has been here for over 30 years making it older than many wineries in the area.  The tasting room is housed in a refurbished 150 year old barn.  The tasting room includes two bar areas, a small amount of retail and I did see one private room for sit down tastings.  Outside were about a dozen tables and tastings were also available here surrounded by the trees, fountains and gardens.  It is really a very nice setting. 

 Our host was Matt, the Operations and Sales Manager.  He treated us like we were club members or maybe prospective club members.  It was a busy spot but they were well staffed with three or four hosts inside and a couple of additional outside.  Matt never had more than us and maybe one other party to take care of so we chatted quite a bit.  We wondered why we had never stopped here.  We were curious of the ownership as so many of these Highway 29 facilities are owned by large organization.  Sequoia Grove is part of a larger group of wineries.  Sister wineries include Domaine Carneros, St. Francis and Benzinger.  A bit of internet research did not turn up a lot of information.  They are all associated with the French ‘Cobrand’ group although my guess is that Cobrand has the distribution rights for all these wineries and the individual ownerships are more complex.  Matt said there were three Gos (or Goss) sisters with ownership and there is a Gos/Goss street sign near the property along 29. 

The tasting fees were either $20 for four of their current releases and there was a $40 Cabernet only option.  We opted for the $20 version and of course worked him for an expanded list.  There were four whites (Rose, Gervurts, Sauv Blanc and a Chardonnay) and we tried the Sauv Blanc.  Of course it was very good.  We then went down the list of reds which included the Cab Franc, Merlot, Syrah and NV Cab.  The Franc was the priciest at $48 and the Syrah and Cab were both $38.  Yes only $38 for a Napa Valley Cab which is a pretty good bargain.  The Napa Valley Merlot was a big wine and a favorite along with the Syrah which was from Stagecoach Vineyard on Atlas Peak.  The Cabernet was typical of a NV blended Cab with good rounded flavors.  We also tasted a premium single vineyard Cab that was not on the list, so the name escapes me.  It too was good but I see the balance of the single vineyard wine on the list are all in the $100 range so the NV Cab will do the trick for us.  Matt poured us healthy tastes in premium stemware so by the end of our tasting we could feel that we had had some wine. 

We were pleasantly surprised by our stop at Sequoia Grove.  We thought the wines were excellent, the prices were pretty darn good, the grounds and facilities were very nice and out host Matt was excellent.  We would recommend the winery to anyone.

Our tasting ended up lasting longer than anticipated and although we had planned one more stop before the Derby we went straight into St. Helena which allowed us 20 minutes of pregame before the race.  Ana’s Cantina, one of St. Helena’s finest bars was a great spot to watch the Derbry.  Although some may describe Ana’s as just a ‘joint’ it was hopping with race fans.  We got the best seats in the house and the bartender, much to his chagrin, was cranking out Mint Juleps and of course the race was great with a California horse winning.  Everyone in the bar was cheering.  Don’t go to Ana’s for wine though as they only stock the Sutter Home in the mini bottles. 

What we liked (about Sequoia Grove)- Everything

What we bought- A Merlot and a Syrah (and I think we were comped the tasting fees).

Sequoia Grove Winery

8338 St. Helena Highway

Napa, CA  94558

(707) 944-2945

www.sequoiagrove.com

Hawkes Winery

Alexander Valley, Sonoma County

Continuing with our Sonoma Weekend reviews we visited two more wineries.  Again one was new to us and the other, Medlock-Ames, was a winery we had been to and reviewed previously (and really enjoyed).

Hawkes Winery is actually not completely new to me.  I had visited their tasting room previously in downtown Sonoma.  I was really impressed with their wines and wanted to visit their Alexander Valley tasting room which although is not exactly the winery, it has a bit more of the being part of the winery feel to it.  Many of you have probably driven by Hawkes before at it sits right on Highway 128, the main Alexander Valley byway and the road that takes you over to Calistoga from Sonoma County.  The tasting room is right next to the Jimtown store which is a noted lunch stop and mercantile.

We actually popped into Hawkes first and there was a bit of a crowd so we headed next door for a tasty sandwich at Jimtown.  When we were done we popped back to Hawkes and the crowd had died down.  We hit the tasting room at a good time as everyone left were wine club members.  There were three staffers behind the bar and Andrea became our main hostess.  She was enthusiastic and down to earth and we totally enjoyed our visit and she was a big part of it.  Hawkes main focus is Cabernet but they also produce a merlot and chardonnay.  We tasted the chardonnay and it was fine.  We next went to the merlot and on to the cabs.  On my previous visit to their Sonoma Tasting room I had really enjoyed the merlot and I did again.  We then tasted the Alexander cab, a blend of several vineyards and then a couple of the vineyard specific cabs.  We enjoyed them all and would be happy to serve the basic cab, the Alexander alongside any basic Napa cab. The vineyard specific wines were also good, and a bit pricier.  We’ll need to taste those again to really appreciate them.

Our bonus with the rest of the crowd being wine club members is that we got to barrel taste all the vineyard specific cabs.  The wine club members all seemed to be seasoned cab drinkers and definitely big fans of Hawkes.

We enjoyed the wines and the experience so much that we signed up for the wine club.  We chose the ‘reds only’ lower end club.  It is our first wine club in the Alexander Valley and they promise good parties at the winery in the Chalk Hill area which kind of sits in the south eastern reaches of the valley.  The Monday after we dropped another club that really was not providing us fringe benefits other than the discounted wine (and great location).  The wines at Hawkes would be a bit cheaper than what you will find in Napa, but not inexpensive.  The tasting fee I would think would not be more than $10 (we were comped  with the Wine Club).

What we liked- The combination of good people, especially Andrea, and excellent wine. Hawkes is less than 10 minutes from Healdsburg and probably only 30 minutes to Calistoga on Highway 128. 

What we bought- We came home with our wine club shipment which was three bottles including two bottles of the Alexander Valley cab and one bottle of the Red Vineyard cab.  We took it straight home and put it in the wine fridge. .  We’ll open one in the fall.

Hawkes Winery

6734 Highway 128

Healdsburg, CA  95448

(707) 433-4295

www.hawkeswine.com

Mazzocco Sonoma Vineyards

We spent last weekend in Sonoma County and although we got a late start (10:45 or so) we were able to make it to a few wineries on Saturday.  Two of the wineries we had been to before (Ridge and Medlock-Ames) but two were new.  This week we will talk about one of our new stops and one of our revisits and then in the next post we’ll review our other new tasting room.

We went up to the Healdsburg/Dry Creek/Alexander Valley area with no plans at all.  That can work in your favor because you have no high expectations.  As we got up to the Dry Creek exit I said would you like to go left (Dry Creek) or right (Alexander Valley).  Maureen chose left and since we had so much enjoyed Ridge Vineyard the last time we were up there we headed up Lytton Springs Road off of Dry Creek Road.  We saw a nice looking tasting room on the right side so we pulled in.  I recognized the name Mazzocco and I think this label has been around for quite some time.  I tried to do a little research when I got home and there is not a lot of mention of the history of the label.  The winery is now owned by the Wilson Family.  The Wilson’s own several Sonoma and Mendocino County wineries including Pezzi King and Soda Rock.  I have noticed their ads over the years and honestly visiting these ‘corporate’ type wineries is not my first choice which may be a mistake sometimes.  When we pulled in to the winery it did not occur to me that Mazzocco was part of this group.

We were of course pleasantly surprised.  What a good looking spot.  There were several smaller outside tasting areas and then a big horseshoe bar inside.  From the start you can see that this winery is all about Zinfandel.  There are about 20 Zins listed on the tasting menu.  There were a few other parties at the bar but we got our own pourer/host named Sebastian.  He must have thought we were going to be big buyers because he treated us like royalty.  The list pointed out eleven wines that were being poured that day but Sebastian took us off the list.  They do make a Gewurtz and a couple of Chardonnay’s but other than that it is Zin, Cab and Pettite.  Most of the standard Zins run in the mid to low $30 range although there are a couple of Special Selection (Member’s only) wines over $100.00 

We tried the Chard and it was nothing memorable.  Then we started on the Zins.  Every Zin we tasted was of high quality.  We were equally happy with the standard bottlings as the reserve wines all priced at $52.  We also tried a couple of Cab/Zin Blends as well as the Inheritance Cab.  I think my wife was influenced by our neighbor tasters as the Inheritance priced at $40 was their favorite.  Amazingly although the Zins are what this place is all about I think we left with one of the Blends (Caz, Dry Creek) and a bottle  of the Inheritance.  Sebastian was great.  He is from a family involved in the wine business, has poured at some Jackson Family wineries and is a student at Santa Rosa Junior College with aspirations of UC Davis.  We had to cut him off at around eight tastes as, after all, this was our first winery.

I would recommend Mazzocco to any serious Zinfandel drinker.

I’m not sure there is a tasting fee at Mazzocco.  Their website shows a $10 fee for groups of eight or more.  We did not pay a fee although that may have been because we purchased two bottles.

Afterwards we headed to Ridge Vineyards which is maybe a half a mile down the street.  We have previously reviewed Ridge as we like their wines and their tasting room.  Our second experience was good but not necessarily great.  What we really did notice during our tastes was the real difference in the Zins that are coming from different regions.  Ridge puts our Zins with area/location designations (Geyserville, Lytton Springs, Dusi (from Paso Robles).  As was the case the last time we visited our favorite was the Paso Robles which I believe is the best priced wine also.

 What we liked- Great service and quality wines in a quality setting.

What we bought- The one Red Blend and the Inheritance Cabernet.

Mazzocco Sonoma

1400 Lytton Spring Road

Healdsburg, CA  95448

(800) 501-8466

www.mazzocco.com