J Vineyards

Sonoma, CA

In the past year we visited Rodney Strong Vineyards just off Highway 101 just south of Healdsburg.  It turns out right next to Rodney Strong is J Vineyards.  They even share part of the same driveway.  Unfortunately our plans earlier did not include going to J so when we were back in the area for a pickup at another winery we made it a point to visit J as well as Seghesio Family Vineyards, another long time established winery that we have never visited before.  Most of us are familiar with the J labeled sparkling wine but it may not be the standard sparkler we purchase for special events because we think it is too high end.  We tend to buy the Domaine Chandon or Mumm or Korbel that you can find on sale for $10.00-$15.00.  I think the sale priced J is rarely found  for less than $20.00.  Generally if we are going to spend $20.00 we’ll opt for the Roderer, mostly because we have visited Roderer in the Alexander Valley pretty much every year for the past 20 years or so.  Now that we have visited J, I think J will be a regular consideration for those not so regular special situations.

 

Entrance to J

 

 

J is actually run by the daughter of the better known Jordan Winery, known for world class Cab and Chardonnay.  Jordan is another spot that has been on our ‘must visit’ list.  J was founded by Judy Jordan who after graduating from Stanford and working at the family winery for a few years, started a winery focused on sparkling wine in 1986.  The winery moved into its present facility in 1999.  This facility previously was used to make Piper Sonoma, another sparkling wine (and bargain priced) that every year competes strongly in our annual sparkling wine tasting in January. 

 

The best time to visit a sparkling wine facility is early in the day.  We were on our way to taste Zinfandels and other reds so this was especially important this day.  The advantage of visiting a winery that specializes in sparkling wine is that since sparkling wine is usually made from Pinot Noir grapes or Chardonnay grapes they usually pour a still (regular) wine made from these grapes.  In our case we get excited about the Pinot.  At J they offer several different tasting formats.  The most basic, and the one we chose, is called the Signature Tasting.  This includes five tastes ending with the J Cuvee Brut.  This runs $20 per person.  The other tastings done in the (stand up) tasting room are called the Legacy Tasting and this comes in two formats, the all sparkler tasting or the tasting that includes the higher end wines also.  This runs $30.00.  They also have some seated tastings that come with snacks at $45 and the Bubble Room experience that costs $75.00 

 

Tasting Room

 

 

Our Signature Flight was certainly fine for us.  The tasting included a Vin Gris, a nice salmon color Pinot Gris; a perfect first taste.  Then we had the Russian River Chardonnay which was towards our liking.  We then got to taste two Pinot Noirs.  The list showed seven different Pinot’s ranging from $37.00 to $70.00.  We tasted the Russian River Pinot priced at $37.00 and a vineyard designated Misterra Pinot at $50.00.  I personally liked the standard blended Russian River Pinot which is priced pretty close to what you find out their these days.  We finished with the J Cuvee.  Of course the sparkler tasted great.  My palate, along with most folks I think registers that we are drinking a premium sparkling wine but I think sometimes does not register all the subtle differences from one premium sparkler to another.  This one though was definitely up with the better California sparklers we have tasted.

 

The facility got busier as we were there a while so arriving when it opens at 11 is a good choice.  And certainly if you went with one of the premium seated tastings you would avoid any crowd.  My choice would be to go with any one of the Signature or Legacy Tastings and you’ll be fine.  The staff, all dressed in black handled the bar nicely and were as attentive as needed.  I think when it comes to sparkling wine tasting, J is as good or better than you will find at Domaine Chadon, Domaine Carneros or Mumm. 

 

What we liked- Quality Sparkling wine as your first stop on a Sunday of wine tasting.

 

What I bought- We bought a Pinot Gris at $20 and the J Cuvee at $28.  I think you can get the Cuvee at Safeway right now for 30% off for about $20 and even as low as $17.50 when you buy six wines at a time.  It is nice to go home from the winery with that classy looking bottle with the big J on it though.

 

Vitals-

 

J Vineyards

1147 Old Redwood Highway

Healdsburg, CA  95448

(888) 594-6326

www.Jwine.com

 

 

 



 

Sonoma Plaza Tasting Rooms- Part 1

Sonoma, CA

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

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. 

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

www.rochewinery.com

 

Walt

380 First Street West

Sonoma, CA  95476

(707) 933-4440

www.waltwines.com

 

Hawkes Winery

381 First Street West

Sonoma, CA  95476

(707) 938-7620

www.hawkeswinery.com







Robert Mondavi Winery

Oakville (Napa), CA

I wondered if any locals like us actually visited Robert Mondavi Winery?  I think the general impression is that Mondavi  is a respected and established winery but that it probably is not the winery today that it was 20 and 30 years ago when it was really instrumental in establishing the Napa Valley as one of the premiere wine growing regions of the world.  Back in our formative years of wine tasting in the late 70’s and early 80’s Robert Mondavi Winery was one of the must stops for us.  I remember the stories of why Robert Mondavi went out and established his own winery after disagreements with his father and brother at Charles Krug Winery.  I remember the talk about how Robert wanted to use new technologies including stainless steel in the wine making process where Charles Krug was somewhat stuck in their current techniques.   But I kind of thought that maybe that Mondavi was getting a little tired and the story a little old especially in light of the fact that Mondavi is now part of a large corporation.

We visited the Robert Mondavi winery over the weekend.  We had friends in town from Hawaii and they had requested this stop.  Of course I thought if it was my choice we would have gone somewhere else but I think that would have been a mistake as we had a perfectly delightful tasting experience here.  I have to admit we visited Mondavi a couple of years ago as part of the now defunct Napa Mustard Festival.  This was an event though with lots and lots of wineries pouring and different musical entertainment so it really was not a ‘Mondavi’ experience.  I do remember that we were really impressed with the grounds and all the buildings on the property and the classic feel of the operation.  I’m not even sure we tasted any Robert Mondavi wine at his event.  Our visit last weekend though was a total ‘Mondavi’ experience.  We still heard many of the same stories that we had heard 30+ years ago but we also heard about how far Mondavi wine had come since those days. 

 

I researched the website prior to making our tasting appointment.  They have a variety of tasting experiences available at $15, $20, $30, $50 and $55.  At first I thought I would make an appointment for the fairly quick in and out $15 Discovery Tour but then I thought that with some out of town guests that may not have had the full educational tour and tasting we opted for the 75 minute Signature Tour and Tasting at $30.  We arrived prior to our 10AM tour and the facility was almost empty.  You check in at the Hospitality Center and received little badges which identified our tour.  We had made reservations at least 10 days prior which I am sure is a necessity during busy summer weekends.  They do charge your credit card when you make the reservation.  Our group consisted of 10 people, the eight in our group plus a couple from Brazil.  Our hostess was named Laura.



The view out the back of the property

We started our tour with a walk to a small conference room where we got a bit of an education on the winery, Robert Mondavi, the vineyards and the Mondavi brands.  We learned that the Woodbridge label sells about 10 million cases and that the Mondavi labeled wines from Monterey County sell around 4 million cases.  Wow!!  The wines made on the property (and there are a lot of them) are produced from Napa grapes only.  We then went out on a stroll to the vineyard.  The winery has a couple of hundred acres surrounding the property as well as vineyards in the Carneros and Stag’s Leap district and they also purchase grapes.  Of course it was a beautiful day in Napa.  The whole backside of the facility faces the Mayacamas Mountains to the west.  We then entered the winemaking facility on the property which was completed in the year 2000.  It is a big facility which makes you wonder what the Woodbridge facility must look like.  The facility is several levels with winemaking on the upper levels and barrel storage below.  Everything looks new and clean.  Laura took us through the basic winemaking process and when done we went to another room where a table had been set for us and we started our tasting. 

The Red Barrel Room

Laura took us through the three steps of wine tasting.  The first is to smell the wine, the second to sip and swish to shock/prepare your mouth (hold it in as long as possible), and then the third sip is when you really enjoy all the flavors.  I think there is some substance to this methodology but something you can forget to do pretty quickly. 

 

We tasted four wines (three on the list plus a bonus wine).  The first was the 2011 Carneros Chardonnay Reserve ($50), next the 2011 Carneros Pinot Noir Reserve ($60) and then the 2010 Stag’s Leap Cabernet ($90).  I thought the Chardonnay was well balanced and not over oaked or overly creamy.  The Pinot smelled and tasted terrific and we all agreed the Cabernet a little too tannic and probably could have used 5 hours of decanting.  I bet the Cab will taste fantastic in 5 years.  We also got to taste a Moscato which was definitely our dessert.  We were also treated with just out of the oven Parmesan and Rosemary Crackers.  The recipe was provided and everyone agreed to make these at home. 

 

At 75 minutes into our experience Laura told us our time was up.  Obviously we were having a good time because it is not often that we have to be ushered out of a tasting room.  I think they run these tasting on a pretty tight schedule.

 

We were then led into the sales room.  Laura hung with us a bit to help with any purchases.  One of the members of our group asked me if we needed to tip our host.  This thought had also occurred to me as she really did a fantastic job.  I said the answer was no but I have to admit it was the first time that this had ever occurred to me at the end of a wine tour.

 

What we liked- There was little to not like about the experience.  I think everyone thought the $30 fee was reasonable.  Certainly you do not do the full tour experience too often and you do not want to be throwing out $30 here and there on a regular basis but I would not hesitate to bring anyone, especially people that are newer to wine and wine tasting, to Mondavi.  A bonus if you are a Robert Mondavi wine club member is the free tasting at five other wineries including Franciscan and Simi Wineries. 

What we bought- We did not buy it but we came home with it- A 2008 Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet purchased by one of our guests.  We are not worthy but we will certainly enjoy it.

 

Vitals

Robert Mondavi Winery

7801 St. Helena Highway

Napa, CA  94574

(888)766-6328

www.robertmondaviwinery.com