We are always driving through Sonoma Valley on or from our way to some place else. This time (last weekend), we were returning from a 2 day trip in Lake County and decided to stay a night in Sonoma. In Lake County, we visited only at Steele. We were not planning a wine tasting tour in Lake County. It so happened that the local Safeway in Lakeport did not carry any local wines. Apparently, the SaveMart had that monopoly. I was determined to try a Lake County wine with dinner and Steele winery happened to be the closest winery. The Stymie syrah was an impressive wine, although the Shooting Star Cab and Syrah were pretty good wines for their price.
But, it was in Sonoma that we did most of our tastings spread over a day and a half. We had decided to give wide berth to the big castle-like tasting rooms with limos and tour buses on their parking lots. So, we did not go to Ledsons or Chateau St. Jean or St. Francis.
Though it was not planned, we ended up trying and liking a lot of Cal-Ital wines. The VJB winery has an unassuming tasting room right on the highway and it is easy to miss. We enjoyed their crisp 2006 Tokai Friulano as well their 2004 Dante (a bruiser of a wine in the Super Tuscan style) and 2004 Primitivo.
A stone throw away was Adler Fels. Their reputation is built rightfully on their Gewurztraminer. This is not your grocery store variety Gewurz, but a very aromatic (flower garden) and dry kind from the Russian River area. This would be the kind of white that I would keep sipping until the tapered bottle was empty. And so many dishes to pair come to mind! We also liked very much their Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Noir also from the Russian River, and Syrah-Petit Sirah blend called Eagle Rock red.
Next stop- Loxton. Started by an Australian expatriate. We ran into Chris Loxton, an amiable Aussie whose Port wine was the one that was most memorable.
Last stop for the first day was Wellington and we were getting a little wine-weary. What would you know- they had almost 15 wines on the list for tasting. For the sake of Science, we limited our tasting to a mere 3-4! They were pouring a non vintage $8 wine called Duke that was a pretty good for the price. They also had an inky purple Alicante Bouchet that is worth mentioning.
We had dinner that night at the Harvest Moon Cafe- a potential topic for discussion on another forum.
Next day, we limited our tasting to just one winery since it was just a little past 10 am and we had few hours of driving left. Although, I earlier admitted our intention to eschew castle themed tasting rooms, we couldn't resist visiting Jacuzzi winery. The place looked like a Tuscan castle with one tour bus on the lot and one wine-country limo parked as well. But the pourers were attentive and it wasn't crowded at all inside. The wines were impressive too. Our favorites were the Barbera, Nero D'Avola and a Merlot which went by Rosso di Sette Frattelli. We really enjoyed a Bordeaux-style blend called Valeriano. As an aside, the winery derives its name from the family that invented everybody's favorite water jet bath tub! They also happen to be related to the Clines whose well known winery sits right across the road!
We had restricted our Sonoma experience in the past to Dry Creek, Russian River, Chalk Hill etc..but the Valley does definitely has it's stars. Will revisit this place again.
