DEL.ICIO.USFROM ATLANTA TO ... SONOMA COUNTY, CALIF.
One taste of Sonoma County isn’t enough
Newhouse News Service
Thursday, October 09, 2008
SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. — Tasting 64 wines in two days is no chore, believe me. It’s also no recipe for tipsiness. The goal, after all, is to taste, not to drink.
There are few better places to pursue this noble mission than in Northern California wine country, especially on gorgeous summer days. The terrain is breathtaking — rolling hills and placid valleys laden with vines whose grapes will become Bacchus’ favorite beverage.
Donald Rosenberg / NNS
Raymond Burr memorabilia is on display in the tasting room of the late actor’s winery in Sonoma County, Calif.
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Two California counties an hour or so north of San Francisco are magnets for wine lovers — Napa and Sonoma. Hundreds of wineries in each county are engaged in the magical process of fermenting prime grape juice. They produce varietal wines in virtually every imaginable style — from sweet dessert varieties and immediately drinkable whites and reds to wines that will benefit from years in cool storage.
Napa is the largest and most imposing of California’s wine counties, but my brother and I chose Sonoma — due west of Napa — to avoid crowds and explore a bevy of tasting rooms. We used a map, a good GPS system and our oenological instincts to navigate the pleasures of Sonoma’s bountiful wine industry.
MAPPING AN INTINERARY
Winemaking in California began in Sonoma County in the mid-19th century. It is home to some 250 wineries in four major viticultural areas, each with a climate suited to different grapes. The largest, the Russian River Valley, has 130 wineries, which do their thing with grapes grown on 10,000 acres.
With the county’s embarrassment of winery riches, it’s wise to pick several tasting destinations before heading to Sonoma, which stretches from Petaluma (a 45-minute drive north from San Francisco) to Cloverdale (55 minutes farther north).
We decided to visit the sources of some of our favorite wines — Kenwood, Ferrari-Carano, Seghesio — while letting the fates lead us elsewhere.
The trick to wine tasting is pacing. If you vow to stop at a half dozen wineries per day, you need to be careful that morning and afternoon enthusiasm doesn’t lead to a twilight headache. Munching on snacks while tasting will help absorb some of the alcohol.
Wineries with tasting rooms tend to offer visitors three to five 1- or 2-ounce pours. Some tastings are free. Most wineries charge $5 to $15, though many waive the fee if you buy a bottle, join their wine club (for special discounts), flash your “I Love Sonoma Valley” sticker from the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau or let the server know you’re booked in local accommodations.
A DIFFERENT VIBE
We arrived midmorning in the city of Sonoma, home to Sebastiani and other noted wineries. Our first stop was Ravenswood Winery, whose “Department of Zinformation” wine list trumpets its primary focus, zinfandel.
Tasting five Ravenswood County Series wines costs $10. For $5 more, you can try five Ravenswood Vineyard-Designated Zinfandels, which are slightly higher-end.
Servers often veer from the rules when visitors show some knowledge of wine.
At Ravenswood, we were poured splashes of two extra wines: 2005 Icon, a luscious, spicy syrah priced at $75 per bottle (available only at the winery) and 2004 Bedrock Cabernet Sauvignon, abounding in berry fruit ($50).
As we made our way north on Sonoma Highway (commonly called Highway 12), we came upon B.R. Cohn Winery, founded in 1984 by Bruce Cohn, who made his fortune as manager of the Doobie Brothers. The tasting room is festooned with the pop-music group’s memorabilia, including guitars.
Cohn’s $10 tasting fee introduced us to four excellent wines (sauvignon blanc, rose, pinot noir, petite syrah), most available only in California. Two others, 2007 Sonoma County Chardonnay and 2005 Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon, are distributed coast to coast.
Kenwood Vineyards, several miles farther north, has been a favorite since we first visited California in the mid-1970s. Its rustic beauty and friendly staff make it a pleasurable stop. And the price is right: $2 per taste or $5 for three, with several more wines included free.
We reveled in five wines (pinot noir rose, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, two zinfandels) before the server poured two others, including an aromatic 2003 cabernet ($75).
Continuing north on Highway 12, we arrived at Chateau St. Jean, whose hospitality building is a bona fide chateau.
The tasting fee of $10 reaped five appealing wines (pinot blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot, gewurztraminer) poured by a server who recited the local motto: “Sonoma County: Good wine, good food, good-natured.”
CHARMING AND QUIET
Healdsburg, the center of Sonoma County, has a charming town square bordered by tony shops, restaurants and tasting rooms of wineries whose headquarters out in the country can’t handle traffic.
Before stopping in town, we drove a few blocks to Seghesio Family Vineyards, whose zinfandels are especially mouth-filling. Seghesio, founded in 1895, is among the most generous wineries for visitors: $5 for everything on the tasting menu.
We tried seven wines, including three zinfandels, pinot grigio and pinot noir, as well as 2005 Omaggio (a blend of cabernet sauvignon and sangiovese) and 2004 Venom (sangiovese; the grapes hail from the winery’s home ranch on Rattlesnake Hill in the Alexander Valley).
Back in downtown Healdsburg, we walked into the tasting room of Gallo Family Vineyards, the premium-wine arm of E.&J. Gallo Winery, the largest winery in the United States (2.3 billion cases a year on 57 labels worldwide). You can choose from six tasting possibilities ranging from $7 to $24.
Around the corner, we found the tasting room of La Crema, a winery in nearby Windsor.
La Crema offers a free flight of five wines, all exceptional, especially pinot noirs from Anderson Valley and the Russian River Valley. (Both are $34 per bottle retail in California.)
RAYMOND BURR’S PLACE
Seven wineries in one day were enough for us, thank you, so we headed to our overnight abode, Dry Creek Inn (a Best Western), and a fabulous dinner at Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar in downtown Healdsburg.
The next morning, we rose to a typically clear-blue Sonoma sky and the prospect of more enticing wine. While waiting for Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery to open, we drove along winding West Dry Creek Road and happened upon Raymond Burr Vineyards & Winery.
Yes, that Raymond Burr, television’s Perry Mason and Ironside, who planted grapes here with his partner, Robert Benevides, in 1986. Burr tasted barrel samples of the first vintage (released in 1995) months before he died in 1992.
Burr Vineyards has one of the most beautiful vistas from its tasting facility, which is filled with memorabilia, including the actor’s two Emmy Awards, photos, posters and magazine covers. The wine — from grapes grown on the estate; few bottles leave California — is superbly crafted and the tasting is free. We tried two chardonnays, three cabernet sauvignons and a cabernet franc.
We knew some of the wines made by Ferrari-Carano and had heard it is among the region’s most gorgeous facilities. But we weren’t prepared for the opulence of the headquarters (an Italianate mansion) or the grounds, including a lush garden.
Visitors have two tasting choices: On the main floor you can taste four Classic Wines for $5; downstairs, four Limited Release Wines for $15. We headed for the latter and weren’t disappointed. Five wines — including an extra, the succulent 2006 Eldorado Gold (a dessert wine of semillon and sauvignon blanc) — were among the best of our trip.
We also immensely enjoyed the selections at Dry Creek Vineyards, several miles back toward Healdsburg. The tasting fee of $5 for four wines is waived with a purchase. Our tasting included 2004 The Mariner, a blockbuster blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, cabernet franc and petit verdot.
A quick stop at J Vineyards & Winery, named for founder Judy Jordan, introduced us to two of the firm’s still wines, 2007 J Pinot Gris and 2005 J Chardonnay. But the high point was J Cuvee 20, a sparkling wine of animated, tart delight ($32 per bottle).
Our finale was Rosso & Bianco, film director Francis Ford Coppola’s Sonoma winery. (He also produces wine on the former Inglenook property in the Napa Valley, purchased in 1995 on profits from “Dracula.”) Rosso is undergoing a renovation. A new tasting room will open next year. Eventually, the facility will include a pool and a museum of Coppola family history and the history of film.
At Rosso & Bianco (red and white), the wines are ready to drink. A tasting of four wines is $12. We tried the Director’s Cut line of chardonnay, pinot noir, zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon. By the time we sipped our last Sonoma wine here, we knew we’d accomplished our mission.
Almost. We decided that wine with dinner that night wouldn’t be redundant.
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